Global Citizen

Had my first exam today! Quite an interesting experience. Students wait outside the exam venue, you have to make sure you check your seat number, otherwise you might be sitting for the wrong exam paper. After exams, there were some students waiting outside with Student Study Packs- filled with ‘brain food’ and one of my favorite candies here…not a bad deal. With one exam done I was feeling pretty good, but I was starting to realize that my Trinity experience was coming closer to its end.

Well the excitement of Trinity Ball is still being talked about; however, it is now finals time…

Thus, now here at Trinity we have begun study week and visits to the library will be often. I have four exams to study for, the norm at Holy Cross after a semester’s work, but some friends have up to seven or even ten, so I consider myself lucky.

In between studying, perhaps a bit of procrastination, I walked around Dublin taking some pictures of my favorite spots and had lunch in St. Stephen’s Green.

TRINITY BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So its really here and you can tell how excited everyone is. We started our morning collecting our tickets for the Ball and relaxed for the afternoon before getting all decked out. It was great because you could hear the sound checks going on, all of Trinity was closed for set up, and soon enough it was time for us all to get ready. (Yesterday, I took some photos of what the tents looked like during the day, so I coud see if I recognized them at night…haha).

Everyone looked so gorgeous- all the guys in their tuxes, the girls in their dresses, it was a little chilly outside, but we were too busy taking pictures.

So, how was the Ball? Amazing. It started at 10pm, it had 5 stages with different bands playing- a couple of favorites were The Script, Ladyhawke, and Fight Like Apes, Calvin Harris. We got into the Ball around 11ish and we left at 5am. The last bands were only starting up at 4am. It was truly a great experience to bounce around from stage to stage with friends and dance.

Really, there’s no words to describe how wonderful a night/event/ extravaganza it is. I was speechless, Trinity looked great with all the lights, thousands of people, it was so fun. I can now understand why my Irish friends were so pumped and why they say it’s the largest and greatest private European party.

All I can really say is that it was fantastic. I was with my friends, listening to great music, dancing, and got to really enjoy the whole night. Walking home with my roommate at 5am listening to the morning birds chirp was hilarious. Really Trinity Ball is hard to describe; it is just a fantastic experience!

Well, you can definitely tell that Trinity Ball is almost here. It’s not just in the air but all over campus as they are setting up all the tents for each of the different bands playing. Everyone is talking about it and getting really psyched, last minute plans are being settled, and since classes are over for Trinity term this week, its nice to say see ya Friday at the Ball to fellow classmates.

Yea, back in Dublin! And sticking here for my last four and half weeks. I am excited because I know how beautiful Ireland can be in the springtime and I am hoping to take some nice pictures of some of my favorite outside spots in and around Dublin (in between studying for finals of course!). I was also back in time to celebrate our friend’s birthday so we went to another new place- Café en Seine- we were lucky that the 4^th was a bank holiday, so there was a good crowd out on a Sunday night to celebrate.

Had my last French class here at Trinity yesterday and this morning I am off on my last European adventure outside of Ireland: Venice and Croatia! The last four days were filled with gelato, espresso, and pizza. Yes, even in Croatia. We visited a small port town- Rovinj- in Croatia on the Istrian peninsula and took in some wonderful sights and ferried over to one of the islands. It was an amazing few days there. We then ferried back to Venice and visited the Peggy Guggenheim museum and the Gallerie dell’Accademia Venezia. I think Venice is probably one of my favorite cities in Italy. It was truly charming and each view from one of its little bridges over the Grande Canal was quite picturesque.

Great afternoon and evening today! Four of us girls headed out to Sandycove, where Silvia lives, to take a stroll and visit the Joyce Tower before dinner with Silvia. A small little tower, but with a great view. We saw pictures of James Joyce and his family and read a little bit about his few days stay there with former friend Oliver St. John Gogarty; it was a bit of a small space so I can see why Joyce left after 4 or 5 days. After our visit we walked down to Silvia’s and played some ping-pong before it rained. No worries though, it was a great time and Silvia really treated us to a gorgeous dinner. It was nice to catch up with Silvia and the rest of our gang. It seemed a very different gathering now as well because we spoke of the things we love here in Dublin and how accustomed we have gotten to Trinity and life here. Already, some of us are starting to miss Ireland.