Tag Archives: Dublin Ireland

Oct23

Dublin is pretty in the Spring

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Spring, in Dublin. 2025


Dublin is pretty all year round. But for now, here’s a few views from spring, 2025.

In full candor – this MBA was kicking my butt. Term 2 kicked off pretty well, but quickly became a bit overwhelming… constant groupwork, near-infinite readings, and constantly conflicting schedules and overwhelming deliverables took their toll.

I wasn’t able to get out of town at all, in the spring, and my time in the gym dropped down to a quick workout once a week, at best. Now, I did get my daily bike rides to and from campus… but that can only keep energy going for so long. Climbing? Nope, the trip there and back was too much – I legitimately didn’t get a single day of climbing in between February and… well, July or August.

But!

I had my phone on me, and was able to carve out a few seconds here and there to appreciate the beauty of this city that I now live in. Europe is great, even when I’m overwhelmed and busy, and it helped to remember that by snapping a few quick shots as life flew by.



One neat set that I’ll keep separate from the others: These were a series of placards on a nearby building, telling stories from some of the residents. Very neat, and nice to include in a neighborhood quickly gentrifying.

Oct18

The EPIC museum – Irish emigration

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Sunday, 12-Jan-2025

As the New Year kicks off, it felt rather right to start off with a glimpse back into the past.

Andrea and I had both been meaning to visit the Irish Emigration museum, a spot very demurely named EPIC, for a while… so now felt like a perfect time to take an afternoon and walk through some of Ireland’s history.

I can happily report that it’s a very worthwhile museum – There wasn’t too much that I hadn’t known before, but there were lots of little connections that it helped me make, and a whole host of good stories and personalization that helped make the story a bit more real, if that makes sense. I felt it was similar to the Nordic Museum that I saw in Stockholm, where the style of explaining history through the voice of those who actually lived it worked wonders for my understanding of life back in the further reaches of Nordic history.

We walked, we learned, and we appreciated the excellent curation and design of the museum. Light-up books, a passport full of stamps, everything was well done and synchronous. It flowed, and I definitely look forward to going back with friends and family as they visit.

Sep30

Some Christmas Adventures

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End of December, 2024

2024 has been a year. Traveling, adventures, schoolwork, new friends, and countless little adventures. Christmas isn’t the end, of course, and I’m sure there’ll be more adventures before the year closes out… but here, with Christmas getting closer, it feels like this is the beginning of that wind-down before we close the book on an excellent year.

It starts with the 12 pubs of Christmas, which I learned is really more like the “three or four pubs, then we get bored”, or “As many pubs as we can stand before we realize that all of Dublin, half of Ireland, and a good quarter of the United States appears to be invading every pub”.

Frankly, I was excited for having a plan to hit 12 pubs, and sticking to the idea of grabbing a quick pint at each before moving on… But hey – I’m new to town, and I’m learning the ways of the land. I’ll follow the team’s lead, and then consider sprucing it up on my own later.

From the 12 pubs, we move onward to a cozy home, warm in spite of the cold and drizzly Irish weather outside. Andrea and I have tracked down some clay, and some paint, and are decorating our lovely Christmas tree with some cute homemade ornaments.

She’s being her usual meticulous self, and making a stunningly realistic  sled to hang next to a cute snowman.

I’m being my slightly ridiculous self, and making a “Christmas Octopus” which somehow looks like a frog, as an homage to (and reclamation of) a similar Crappy Christmas Craft that I made years and years back.

Together, we’re making “MBA” letters, alongside a rather adorable little statuette of ourselves, kissing on the rocks of Giant’s Causeway.

Were they high quality? Absolutely not.
Were they adorable and fun? Absolutely yes.