We spent an exceptionally lovely few weeks together here in Dublin – I did have classes, unfortunately, and so wasn’t able to escape quite as much as I’d wanted to… but we had a very lovely time none-the-less, including the traditional adventure off to Trinity College’s Old Library, around campus, and through the whole Book of Kells exhibition!
No photos could do the visit justice, but I’ll still do my best with this short compilation of some of the best from the tour.
Similarly to the Guinness tour, I’ve already done the book of Kells tour. It was on my list the first time I visited Dublin – back in 2023, checking the city out to see if it’d be a good spot to rest my head for a year of MBA adventure.
Well, it’s been a bit over a year, and Trinity’s redone the Book of Kells experience. Brian’s visiting, I can get in for free now since I’m a student…
So we went.
Brian and I explored, read about the book and how it was made, checked out the book. Basically all the things about the Book of Kells that I remembered from the last time. We walked through to check out the old Library, and… Whoa.
That’s when we set into the new bits – a huge globe art installation in the Old Library. An amazing immersive video about how the Book of Kells made its way to Ireland. A whole interactive scene about the building of the library… Definitely worth the second visit.
Wow… How long has it been since I’ve done an international trip? How much longer since I’ve gone international solo?
Let’s see. The last international trip was to Scotland, right before the Pandemic hit. When I had that really bad flu… right before the Pandemic. With COVID. That presents sort of like a flu. That I’ve somehow avoided getting, as if I’d already gotten it and gained an immunity… Okay we’re not going down that road the last time I went abroad was January 2020. Three years and change.
The last time I went on a solo international trip? Well, that’d be New Zealand, back in 2012. 11 years.
It’s high time I explored.
I got accepted to Trinity College’s MBA program back in November, and accepted the offer that same month… though I delayed admission until 2024, to give me some time to finish up in Oregon and save up a bit more money. While talking to the admissions officer though, I learned about a Business forum put on by Trinity in March – a perfect opportunity for me to stretch my international adventure legs and see if Dublin would make a good home for a year or three!
I planned, I packed, and I set off on my first solo international trip in over 10 years…
(Please note that these are my raw notes from the trip. I’m proofreading them for obvious mistakes… but they’re still short-hand. Because life is busy, and blogs don’t need to be perfectly edited.)
Monday, 06-Mar-2023
Plan = Wake up early, yoga, run to the fitness center, quick shower, then head off to find some coffee. Then Dublin national gallery, then tour of Trinity then… not sure? Grocery run?
Actual = Hit the Trinity gym, and do some lifts… felt good! Ran there, ran back… the run back didn’t feel as good. Knee was tweaking, so I put on my neoprene braces for the rest of the day. Felt better.
Headed to the national gallery in the light rain, and felt great! Loved the exhibits, especially the one using huge tapestries of legendary Irish figures!
Then walked around Merrion Square Park and St. Stephen’s green before heading back to Trinity for the tour! Got a great tour guide (a physics student!) who showed us around campus before dropping us at the Book of Kells and Old Library tour – which was really cool! The Book of Kells was neat, but the old library… *muah*, super cool! They store books by SIZE, not name or anything, with the smallest on the top shelves (for safety / stability, maybe?).
After that, headed to the grocery where my knee started hurting again… but not before I was able to get a full grocery run in, thankfully! Food wasn’t expensive… but it wasn’t so cheap that I didn’t notice, if that makes sense? I headed home, made dinner, and rested for the evening with an episode of The Mandalorian!
