Just Kidding.
Now, most students (read: All students except me) use Spring Break to flee the country and see more of Europe for about 10 days. I decided for a number of reasons, to stay in Dublin for the time. How can I travel to a new country when I feel like I hardly know the place where I am? (Plus I am going to Venice for Easter and London in 2 weeks.) I did so many activities this week, but the most importantly, I had an opportunity to spend some time with my favorite person (me) and do a lot of writing, which I had been neglecting. It was a lovely time to unwind, linger at cafes, and catch up on my leisure-life.
Thursday at 12pm I finished my last (second) exam and the official beginning of Spring Break. I had a coffee date at 3 in the city, and we went to this crazy cool cafe called Foam. I had a delicious Chai latte (Chai is hard to find in Dublin!) and the decorations were like an indoor luau. There was a hawaiian style tent, couches, and random art on the walls. From the ceiling, hung paper party decorations. Foam was crazy, but I loved it. That evening, I finished watching Annie Hall after having a pizza party from Domino's with a couple of friends.
Friday was the true beginning of break, though. I headed into the city quite early, around noon and sought out the Roasted Brown Coffee Shop, which is on the second floor of FilmBase, which has classes and workshops, and screenings of movies. It's the filmmaker's haven, but also a place for delicious coffee. Their prices aren't the best, but the drinks are worth it, and they have baskets of oranges and clementines which are free for the taking and a wonderful surprise! The environment is perfect for writing, and I got a lot of creative work accomplished. I hung out around the city afterwards, and stopped at a couple more cafes, but neither compared. At 8pm, I went to see "Purple," a play about a group of high school students who form a rock band and the relationship the guitarist has with "girl." It was interesting and the acting was really impressive.
Saturday morning I made blueberry muffins (which were delicious) and went to a creative writing hour at the Irish Writer's Centre. Afterwards, I met a girl from the program who was celebrating her birthday, for lunch, bought hiking shoes, and then hung out at my apartment, cooking, reading, and watching When Harry Met Sally (great film!)
Side note: I know this is too detailed, but I don't care.
Sunday morning, I went down the road and enjoyed an Irish Mass. However, the mass was in Irish (Gaelic) and I couldn't really understand anything (despite my Irish lesson.) After that, I met up with my friend Alanna's brother, Daniel, who I hosted for the night. We went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art and saw the photography exhibit, which was mostly foreign (American and European) photographers, but I really enjoyed it because I had seen lots of the names before in my "History of Photography" class Sophomore year. We picked up felafel afterwards, and hung around.
Monday, I got crochet supplies (which I still can't figure out), went to a couple thrift stores, (I highly recommend Lucy's Lounge), bought "Rebel Without a Cause" (How had I never seen it before?!) and met a cool Canadian girl, who was the cashier, and got more coffee and writing at Roasted Brown (I couldn't help myself!)
Tuesday, I changed things up and went to Twisted Pepper for coffee/writing and then went to a reading at The Irish Writer's Centre, where the only perk was free wine. The poet I was looking forward to hearing was sick, and the two others weren't terribly interesting...
Wednesday I went to a Lunchtime film screening at the Irish Film Institute for free! The film was really awesome too, Bosanova, I think it was called. I hung out in Dublin for awhile afterwards, and saw an exhibit at the Temple Bar Gallery. It's hard to explain, but there was a video of a boy and girl having a discussion, but it was largely repetitive, saying the same phrase with emphasis on different words and different intonations. It made me think a lot about what is said during arguments. When I came home, I listened to the slam poetry stylings of Andrea Gibson (look her up, right now!!)
Yesterday, I headed into the city for a free lunch at Skinflint, this pretty cool pizza-ish place. I arrived early and found The Gutter Bookshop and an Art Co-op that I need to investigate further.
Today, I tried to go on a hike into the Dublin Mountains with my friend Brian. We took the bus to Grange Road, like the directions said, but Marlay Park was nowhere to be found! We walked down some random roads and through some interesting, nature-filled areas, but didn't make it to the mountains. However, the day was wonderful and I'm glad we tried (Don't worry, I'm going to try again!)
Anyways, the moral of my Spring Break was that I enjoyed immersing myself into Dublin for a week. I have a much better understanding of the geography of the city now, and after going into Dublin for a few days, I felt like staying in, but I said to myself, "Leanne, you need to go out there again" and it was really worth it. As you might know, people-watching and walking are some of my favorite activities, and while traveling might have been nice, I had an incredible time learning more about where I'm living.
That's all for now!
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