City Livin'

Well, my loyal blog followers (family and teachers), the day has come. Today was our last day of exploring Ireland for tomorrow we take on the treacherous journey home via 8.5 hour flight. Today wasn't super eventful, but every second on this trip has been nothing but wonderful.

We hit the road around 9:00am, and made the 3 hour drive from Galway to Dublin. The ride was peaceful, and I think I've finally perfected my Ireland playlist so the underscore of the ride fit nicely. Here's the link to the playlist if you're curious: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2sMy6d3Vb1SWswBPqBDNhI?si=ad5da87b1de448ac. A lot of U2 and a lot of Hozier and then a blend of other artists from there.

Tour Guide John gave us a drive-thru tour of his home city, proudly describing the beautiful architecture and important events. Every so often we passed by a more modern building, and John would begrudgingly grumble about how ugly they were compared to the city's more ancient builds. I will miss Ireland as a whole when we leave, but I'll definitely miss John the most.

Then, we got out of the coach at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. I'm going to be honest. It was anti-climactic. I'm all for mindbendingly ancient objects with harrowing backstories of survival and victory, and the Book of Kells perfectly fits the bill. I just wish there had been more to the book's display. We walked into the exhibit, and into a dark room. There it sat. Then we moved on. For such an epic tale, the experience fell through.

What did not fall through was the Long Room. Past the Book, up some stairs, and to the right is an extravagant, well, long room. In it, a massive sphere with earth's surface projected onto it, and rows and rows of bookshelves. Only a couple rows were actually filled with books, but the splendor of it all does wonders. The air smelled of fresh wood, my ears rung with history. Trinity College has been preserving and restoring ancient/historic books, manuscripts, studies, and scores for 20 years. Some of these archives include original copies of Shakespeare's plays, traditional Irish sheet music that would have otherwise been lost, and research data, all dating anywhere from the 1200s to today. All that history, all those stories slowly being uncovered and retold; it makes you feel small. Maybe even Shakespeare felt small once, too.

After Trinity, John drove us to our hotel. We ended up having dinner at Nancy Hands, where apparently former President Obama has also eaten! The mac and cheese was delicious, but all the desserts had nuts in them so Rowan and Chizzy couldn't even consider a brownie sundae. Out of solidarity, no one got dessert. Tomorrow, I'm making it my mission to get those two nut-allergic heroes a solid, nut-free, American brownie. Eagle noise.

This past week has been really eye opening for me. I've learned more about who I am as a person through both the shared blood of my past and shared bonds of my present. I've reconnected with family and strengthened connections with friends all while exploring vast and dazzling Irish landscapes.

I got closer to God, whether that be Love, nature, or a specific divine presence I don't exactly know. Maybe all three. Maybe none of them. A mish-mash, perhaps, it doesn't matter. I have witnessed what it takes to stand the test of time through Irish values of storytelling, family, and stubbornness and witnessed it with rainbows overhead. I wouldn't trade this week for the world, even with a take-home math test due in three days.