South of the River Liffey

Last week was pretty slow around Leuven. My one class on Monday was canceled, so I just had Law on Thursday. I really like the law class even though most don't. He's not that energetic of a teacher, but he loves what he's doing and is in the middle of it all, so it's interesting. Tuesday and Wednesday I didn't have to go into work because of an Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE) party meeting in Barcelona that the assistants and my MEP were at. I've been researching "environmental refugees" from home though.

The weekend was fantastic though. Six of us (Seda, Caitlin, Jen, Allison, Bridget, and I) went to Dublin, Ireland for Friday to Monday. Getting to the airport in Charleroi (where Ryan Air flies out of) was an expensive adventure. Our flight was at 9:30am, so we left around 6 to give ourselves lots of time. Except for the fact that every train we were trying to catch was late. So we got to Brussels-Midi and had to take a cab to Charleroi, which is about a 40 minute car ride. 100 euros later, we got to the airport with time to spare. After buying a train ticket we didn't use and paying for a cab, it would have been the same price to take the more expensive flight from Brussels. But alas, you live and learn. Once we got to Dublin everything got better. We took a bus in from the airport and found our hostel, The Four Courts. It was really nice and in a great location (near the Temple Bar area and Christ's Church). We got rid of our stuff, got a hop-on/hop-off bus tour ticket, and went riding around the city to get our bearings. The bus was nice because it takes you by all the sights and lets you see everything without a ton of walking. We got of the bus near Trinity College and went to see the Book of Kells. Jen, Bridget, Allison, and I were waiting to meet up with Seda and Caitlin when they announced the museum was closing soon and we could go in for free if we wanted. So although it was a little bit rushed, we were able to see the manuscript and also Long Hall with 100,000 of Trinity's oldest books. We explored Trinity a little bit and watched some boys play rugby ;), then went and found dinner. Food is so expensive there....but that seems to be the trend in all of Europe. That night was the Ireland/France game for the World Rugby Cup, so we found a pub and a pint and unfortunately watched Ireland get crushed. We went out for a bit after the game, but called it a pretty early night since we had been up since 5:30 am.

Saturday, we got up and went out to the National Museum of Modern Art on the old Royal Hospital Grounds. I'm not much for art, but some of the exhibits were pretty cool. One was a lot of multimedia things which was neat. After that, we went to the Guinness Storehouse for a tour. Although it doesn't go through the actual brewery it was interesting. They had sections on what beer is made of and how it's made. The upper floors had exhibits on Guinness advertising through the years, which was neat to look at commercials from the 60s and 70s. The top floor of the building is glass enclosed and that's where you get your "complimentary pint" and an amazing view. You could see all the way out to the ocean and all of the city. The weather while we were there was pretty good, so the view was even better. After that, we went to find some food and walk around. Caitlin and Seda had been staying with Caitlin's family, so we met up with some of the boys and they took us out for the night. What a good time. We were out way too late, but it was well worth it. It was cool to be outside of the touristy areas as well.

Sunday, we rolled out of bed and went shopping for the afternoon. Grafton Street has more people and stores that I have ever seen before. After that we took a nap, found some dinner, went out to the Temple Bar area for just a little bit and called it an early night. We got up the next morning at 3:15 am to get to the airport for our 6:30am flight. Once back in Charleroi, we had to take a bus, a train, another train, and then walk 20 minutes to get home. Guess that teaches us to try to do something cheaply.

We got back just in time for class on Monday, and I haven't had to work yesterday or today. I went in yesterday to pick up my security pass, and decided to take the "tourist" tour of Parliament. Waste of time....but it was free, so oh well.

I think thats it for the last week. See you all later.