Episode 45 - Ireland 🇮🇪
Federico and I remembered that we have free will
I’d like you to find a chair next to you, and look at it closely. You can see the different parts of it — the back, legs, seat, maybe even some armrests. Now, let’s zoom in on the seat of that chair.
At the front of this seat is the edge — some may even call it “the edge of the seat”. Now imagine that edge, but the very edge of that edge. The front millimeter, on which a tiny ant could barely fit.
That is exactly where Federico has been sitting these last few days. The very, very edge of his seat. Already, I’ve gotten so many “how’s the blog going” and “is the blog coming out soon” texts from him, eagerly anticipating the recollection of our epic Ireland trip.
So finally Federico, here you go!
If this is your first episode and you’re like “what in the world is happening”, start off here!
Thursday, April 10th, 2025
The flight over to Dublin from Bristol was nice and easy, except for two things.
Numero uno: There was no line to get through security, but they still made all ~2 dozen people walk through several 50-meter rows to get to the border force guards. Bruh moment. But as I wanted to preserve the peace and prevent any breakdown in social order, I decided to walk with everyone through the half mile of zigzagging lines1.
As for unfortunate thing #2: at the security checkpoint, my nice jar of Nutella was confiscated because “technically, it’s a liquid since it can be spread”2. Bruh. That really sucked. I was planning on eating it with Federico!
After that debacle, I headed over to the airport lounge, where I enjoyed some super yummy food and a nice glass of wine (had to treat myself to get over the Nutella situation). Made it onto the plane with no issues, and just like that, I was off to Dublin!
It was a super easy flight, and we landed after just 40 minutes3. I walk out of the security area, and there’s Federico! Just standing right there! Crazy! I hadn’t seen Federico in person since he left UCLA last March, so it was pretty crazy to see him in 3D again.
But. This has been happening with every friend I’ve seen on this trip, so I was completely expecting that feeling this time.
We got some bus tickets to get into the city4, and spent the entire ride catching up about Federico’s dating life, and my oh my, has it been interesting! Lots of tea, that’s for sure, and we arrived at the hostel in what seemed like no time at all. We checked in, and thanks to a tremendously fortunate accounting irregularity by the hostel we were staying at, we only had to pay 10€ for both of us to spend one night there. Let’s go!
Once we dropped off our things in our room5, we went back to the lobby downstairs to plan the rest of our three days6. We decided to take the train to Killarney, which I was strongly recommended to visit by my UCLA geology professor, Kevin (if you’re reading this, hi!). Federico and I wanted to wait to book tickets until right before (in case the weather wasn’t great there), but it was forecasted to basically be perfect7. Epic.
With the next few days planned, Federico and I headed outside the hostel to find some food. And it was rough. The hostel’s neighborhood was not good at all, and there were a ton of crackheads all up and down the street. I must add that the homeless people in Dublin are very proactive, and actually approach you directly to ask for change.
Sorry, but we don’t have any cash.
We ordered pizza at the nearby Il Capo8, and walked along the river for ~20 minutes while it was being baked.
That conversation was great — we caught up more about work life and school, especially about BCG and our thoughts on productivity. He worked at the Milan office last summer while I was at the Seattle one, and it was super fun sending each other Slack messages every day for three months. What a time.
We picked up the ready pizza, ate it back at the hostel, and went to bed. Big day tomorrow!
Friday, April 11th
I mentioned that my geology professor, Kevin, recommended I visit Killarney on my visit to Ireland, and I think some context behind that recommendation would be quite helpful. Especially for everyone who doesn’t know the full story (which is pretty much everyone except me, Federico, and Kevin).
So here you go:
Long story short, I really liked rocks and mountains growing up9, so I decided to take a geology class at UCLA to fulfill my physical science elective. Kevin taught that class, and I loved it so much that I just had to take more geology classes with him. I ended up taking two more10 and Regional Geology), and I was even a declared geology minor at one point. lol
These geology classes were super epic because, besides being really small (~20 students per class), each one had field trip components where you’d travel and camp with your classmates as part of the curriculum. Coming from the 150-person lectures in my economics major11, I absolutely loved these geology trips. We’d hike and be outside all day, then stargaze and have a campfire each night. And around the campfire, we’d naturally tell each other stories — Kevin’s favorites to tell were of his trip to Ireland, which he visited for 6 weeks between getting his master’s and PhD degrees.
And so when I started planning a trip to Ireland myself, I naturally went to Kevin’s office hours12 to get his list of recommendations. At the top of that list was to visit Killarney and the nearby Dingle Peninsula, home to some beautiful coastlines and the tallest mountain in Ireland13.
And many months after I got that list, the big day was finally here. Federico and I were heading to Killarney! Wow!
Federico and I left the hostel at an early 6:15 am for our train at 7, and got on a tram across Dublin to get to the station. I debated with Federico over whether the tram was a tram or a train, but he basically won that argument with something along the lines of “I’m from Milan, we have trams there so I know what trams look like, and this right here is a tram.”
To be fair, there’s no way an American will ever beat an Italian in a debate about trams. I still don’t really know what one is.
We got breakfast at the station14, and had a bit of time to kill before our train departed. Luckily, we found a vending machine that had a bag of very loose chips (crisps), which Federico knocked down after ramming his shoulder into the glass a few times.
Bag of chips, secured 💪
We got on the train, and it was SO nice. There was a really cool LED train map that showed the different routes through Ireland, and then we got to our seats. We are BLOWN away — above them are little electronic tags, and on the tags are our names! I’d definitely never seen that before, and surprisingly, neither had Federico.
Thus began our great appreciation for Irish trains.
After about 2 hours, we got off at the Mallow train station to switch onto another line heading to Killarney. We had ~15 minutes before we departed, so we decided to walk around to check out the sights and sounds of the town15.
There wasn’t much. We saw a blossoming cherry tree and some cars, and that’s about it. It was honestly such a crazy feeling, because here Federico and I were, in the middle-of-nowhere Ireland, on a grand adventure to who-knows-where. It’s pretty crazy that over a year ago, when we met in California, neither of us would’ve ever predicted that we’d be here in Ireland together.
We didn’t even know Mallow existed. Yet here we were!
We made it onto the new train heading to Killarney (sitting right across a lady with a Trader Joe’s bag lol), and Federico and I did some work for the hour-long ride. It turned out that Federico got an interview offer at a top PE firm in Zurich, so we were both pretty hyped about that — it was good for him to have something to chase again.
And suddenly, unexpectedly, we were in Killarney! It was actually really nice, and super super gorgeous — Federico and I thought it would just be a tiny village with a bunch of sheep, but it was actually a very nice town with lots of people and gorgeous streets. But there were a ton of sheep — that prediction was 100% correct.
We walked through town to get to our hostel16, and chatted with a family lawyer when we popped into a courthouse to check out the interior. That was random. lol
Eventually, we made it to the hostel, dropped off our bags, and chilled for a bit while drinking tea. Our big plan for the day was to hike Carrauntoohil, the highest peak in Ireland, just ~10 miles away from town. Fortunately, it wasn’t too far away. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a car or any way to get there, since no bus lines went to the trailhead.
So the only option left was hitchhiking.
We made a nice little sign for an extra piece of cardboard we found in the hostel, packed my hiking backpack, bought some groceries17, grabbed some quick lunch at a nearby restaurant, and walked out of town to find a nice hitchhiking spot.
From my time in Alaska18, I learned that the best way to get a ride hitchhiking is to find a nice area of the side of a major road (but not a freeway) on the outskirts of town heading in the direction you’re going. That way, you have the best chance to find someone who is going in the direction you need to, and having a pullout after where you’re standing gives them time to stop and pick you up.
Federico and I found such a nice spot after the last roundabout leaving town, pulled out our sign, took some pictures (mostly for this blog tbh), and started to wait and hope for the best. Federico was extremely skeptical that this was going to work, so we decided that if no one stopped in 30 minutes, we’d just get the taxi to the trailhead for ~30€19.
AND LITERALLY WITHIN 2 MINUTES OF US STANDING THERE, WE SUCCEEDED!!!!!! We had barely finished taking our pictures when someone pulled up on the roadside, waved us over, and offered us a ride.
The funny thing was that he didn’t even see our sign, just our outstretched thumbs. And he wasn’t even going to the Carrauntoohil trailhead, but offered to take a detour and drive us all the way there!
Holy shit. This hitchhiking thing literally could not have gone any better!
The entire ride, we chatted with the driver (whose name I unfortunately forgot), and he was quite the interesting dude — he was German, moved to Nigeria to be a blasting engineer at a mine (classic move I guess), and moved to Ireland just to switch things up. He was so friendly and nice, gave us a ton of recommendations for what to do in Killarney20 and Dingle, and laughed really loud when we saw a person trying to tackle their running sheep. Unsuccessfully.
We eventually made it to the trailhead21, where there was a lovely teahouse for people starting and ending their hikes. Of course, our goated German driver knew the lady who owned the teahouse, and recommended that Federico and I get a pot to split between the two of us. We decided to get one to thank our driver, and said bye to him as he drove away. We’ll almost certainly never see him again, but thanks so much for the ride. You’re a legend.
And then we were off. Tallest mountain in Ireland, here we come!
Right away, the hike was gorgeous. The first 3 miles were relatively flat (before a straight uphill section to the summit), with beautiful rolling hills and sheep the entire way up. One of these sheep actually crossed the trail, so naturally, I ran after it to try and catch it. I failed, and was immediately scolded by another hiker descending the mountain.
This was quite humbling because 1) I got scolded, and 2) I was easily outrun by a pregnant Irish sheep.
We continued up after the failed sheep-catching attempt, seeing stunning rock formations, green grass, and pretty lakes for miles. Eventually, we arrived at the Devil’s Ladder, which was basically just a large cliff face of loose rocks that had no official trail up. It was super steep and honestly a bit crazy, but we ascended pretty quickly to the ridgeline and saw the final home stretch to the summit. We took a quick break, passed another group of Ukrainian hikers22, and suddenly, we were at the top!
It was absolutely stunning — unobstructed 360° views of the entire Killarney basin, Atlantic Ocean, and Dingle Peninsula, with perfect blue skies and not a cloud to be seen. It was actually unbelievable how perfect the weather was23, and we spent a long time just sitting at the top, eating our Snickers, and enjoying the view. Federico was super proud of himself, especially after talking about Casey Neistat’s “do hard things” video the entire way up. He sounds like Akshat. It’s crazy.
We took some pictures, and then quickly began our descent24. The Devil’s Ladder was a LOT easier on the way down than up, we crushed the entire hike down, and were back at Cronins Yard in no time at all. And we even saw an actual black sheep. Just like our hostel!
We celebrated with a cider at the teahouse, then came back to the parking lot to look for a ride back to Killarney. We figured we’d just ask the other hikers there if anyone else was going back to town, and fortunately Federico stepped up to do so (translation: I told him to because I was so tired at this point).
Federico secured us the ride back, we got in the car, and it turned out that we were being driven by another legend.
She was another non-native Irish person, born in St. Petersburg and moving to India. She met an Irish man there, married him, moved to Cork, and then became an ultra-long-distance swimmer. And we’re talking ultra-long-distance.
Like she swam 38 kilometers from Scotland to Ireland. What the actual fuck. She said to Google her, and we did. She literally has news about her. You need to read it here.
She dropped us back off near Killarney (she was heading back to Cork), Federico and I walked back to the hostel, and we chilled the rest of the day.
Nice hot showers, a delicious Asian dinner with a great discussion about Italian politics, and an early night in the comfiest bed I’ve ever slept in. What a day!
Saturday, April 12th
We woke up super well-rested after sleeping in the most comfortable bed in existence. I mean, this hostel is just amazing.
We got some free breakfast (nice!), then headed off for a nice walk in the nearby national park. We were thinking about biking around, but we wanted something a bit more chill after the crazy day yesterday.
And the walk was just lovely. Right near town was Killarney National Park, which was full of nice trails, nature25, and Irish ruins26. Every few minutes, a horse-drawn carriage full of tourists would trot by on the road, and we’d have to move over as they went by. So many of these carriages have gone by over the years, in fact, that the entire center of the road was eroded from hoof prints and full of horseshit. lol
We explored a good portion of this national park, and the best part by far was the amazing beach we found with the greatest rock-skipping rocks I’ve ever seen27. We spent a good hour there as I skipped SO many rocks, built some crazy towers, and entertained Federico with my antics. There were truly some amazing skips — I’m talking 25+. Simply wow.
After a few hours, we arrived at Ross Castle, a big fancy ruin in the middle of the countryside. We got some great pics outside of it, then looked around the interior — they wanted us to pay 10€ to get a private tour of the upper rooms, but when we heard that we wouldn’t even be able to get on the roof, we happily stayed with the free exhibit and called it a day. We’d rather spend that money on a pint, thank you very much!
We walked around the park some more, found a few geocaches, waded through a random marsh28, then walked back to town for lunch. We bought some vegetables at the store to make some scrambled eggs29, cooked them back at the hostel, and then just took a big break back at the hostel.
We were really exhausted, after all. This traveling thing can be super tiring.
In the evening, we went back toward the main street (Killarney has like two roads lol) to investigate the pub scene, and it was surprisingly popping off. The funniest part was that there were a bunch of girls wearing clubbing clothes in the freezing weather, and we had no idea where they were going.
Why are you running? Where are you going! Mad respect to the Killarney girls here, they’re truly all on a mission. We just don’t know what that mission is.
We eventually walk into this one bar, and it is packed. There were so many rooms inside, and every one was full to the brim with people. We grab a Guinness for the vibes, learn that there’s a wedding happening (Killarney is so random), watch a few shots of the Master’s tournament being broadcast on the big screen, and promptly leave.
We’re super hungry, and Federico the Italian is craving pizza. Again. We walk over to the nearby 4 Star Pizza, see a grandma hit a HUGE vape outside a random store, easily destroy a “Fun Meal for 2” at the pizzeria, and head back to the hostel perplexed as to what’s happening in town.
Killarney is so random. So great. We love Killarney!
Sunday, April 13th
Sunday was a sad day, because it was the day Federico and I departed from our beloved new home in Killarney, Ireland. But alas, all good things must come to an end.
We made some nice thank you notes that we stuck under the glass table in the hostel, ate our breakfast30, and were on the train out of there at 7:45 am sharp.
The train to Mallow was again lovely, and we sat right next to a Ukrainian couple heading to Cork. They were actually from the Russian-speaking part of Ukraine, so naturally I ended up chatting with them for about 30 minutes.
They were from Kharkiv and used to own a hotel right on the Azov Sea, but moved to Ireland when the war started a few years ago. Now, the guy’s a mechanic and the lady works at a restaurant, and they’ve really been enjoying living here!
Their stories were great, especially from Andrei (the guy). He was the classic Soviet man — slow to open up, but once he gets going, those stories start flowing like wine. He was telling me that he really wished he traveled more when he was young31, and commended Federico and me for getting out and seeing the world while young.
Federico doesn’t speak Russian, so he just smiled and nodded along while having no idea what we were talking about.
I must also add that they both said my Russian was very good, which made me feel very proud. Thank you Mama and Papa!
We transferred at our beloved Mallow station and were back in Dublin quickly. Along the way, I wrote some Irish sheep fan fiction (iykyk), and Federico of course, read some of his romance book. You gotta do what you gotta do.
Aaaaaand the first thing we did when we arrived in Dublin was get coffee. We got some cappuccinos at a nearby cafe, and Federico surprised both himself and me by actually liking it.
Turns out, the lady running the coffee shop was Italian, so the delicious cappuccinos made a lot more sense. Federico then had an Italian chat, which made me happy. Ciao!
On top of the delicious cappuccinos, this Italian lady endorsed our observation that the north side of the River Liffey in Dublin is super sketch and should be avoided, based solely on our experience at the hostel our first night in Dublin. Which just so happened to be on the north side of the river.
What can I say? We might just be sociological wizards.
After coffee, we went to the Guinness Storehouse, which was by far the highlight of our Dublin visit — it’s where all Guinness beer used to be brewed, and is now a 7-floor museum about the company (love the propaganda arc there).
I mean it was simply unbelievable, with beautiful surround-sound exhibits, lots of historical artifacts, free tastings for guests (that was a lot of fun), and just great attention to detail and craftsmanship all around.
Surprisingly, my favorite part of the museum was the barrel making exhibit, which turns out to be much more complex and involved than you’d think. At one point, Guinness employed hundreds of “coopers”32, who made thousands of barrels a year. And Federico and I were honestly so impressed by the technical skill involved in making a wooden barrel completely waterproof without glue or nails. It’s actually crazy.
So much complexity all around us, and it’s all so underappreciated! Federico says it best:
The best part of that museum by far was the rooftop bar — every guest was allowed one free pint33, and it was such a delight drinking with Federico while overlooking Dublin. We spent a good hour there just enjoying ourselves, and of course read some Jack Raines to keep ourselves entertained in the process. Good stuff there.
The unfortunate thing about going to the Guinness Storehouse first, however, was that the rest of Dublin was a pretty huge L in comparison. We got some pizza, walked around Trinity College and a nearby park34, but at this point I’m starting to get used to the big cities so it was nothing special lol.
Federico and I checked into the hostel35, dropped off our bags, and decided to do the classic Irish thing and go find a pub for pints36.
At the pub, we got some yummy ciders at the recommendation of the two women next to us37, then starting chatting about how there are so many Italians and Ukrainians in Ireland — I mean just in three days, we must’ve seen at least 15 groups of Ukrainians and another 10 of Italians. Out of curiosity, we asked the two women where they were from, and of course, one was from Italy38 and the other Ukraine.
You really can’t make this up. 🤦♂️
We didn’t have any dinner plans, so a few hours into sitting at the pub, I asked the random Irish group sitting next to us where they recommended we try Irish food nearby. They gave us a spot, and the conversation evolved into the classic “where are you from, how long are you here for” conversation.
And it went something like this (obviously I’m paraphrasing, it’s been a few days now):
Me: Where are you from?
The Irish dude, whose name I forgot but it sounded super duper Irish: Cork
Me: Whoa! We were in Killarney the last few days, and took the train back to Dublin today. The first train we were on was heading to Cork.
Irish dude: Killarney, no way! I was in Killarney yesterday for a wedding.
Me: Really? We walked into a random pub yesterday in Killarney, and there was a huge wedding happening.
*shows the Irish dude a picture of Federico in the Killarney pub*
Irish dude: Oh that’s my friend right there in the picture. I was standing right around the corner watching the Master’s Tournament on the big screen.
*Pulls out his phone to show us the Instagram of his friend that is literally in the picture with Federico in this random Killarney pub*
Me: We were literally watching the Master’s on that screen, too, we must’ve been standing like 10 feet from you yesterday!
Also me:
*losing my shit at this 1-in-a-billion chance that we literally were in the same pub as this Irish guy yesterday in Killarney, on the OTHER FUCKING SIDE of Ireland, and the very next day were sitting at the table RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO THE EXACT SAME DUDE in Dublin*
I mean, you literally just can’t make this shit up. What an EPIC coincidence!
We got dinner at the restaurant the guy recommended (it slapped, 10/10 recommend), walked back to our hostel on the sketchy north side of Dublin, and called it a night. What another amazing day!
Monday, April 14th
We woke up nice and early for our last morning in Dublin, and were surprisingly well-rested after our antics the night before. Federico and I got some breakfast at the janky hostel we were staying at (it was alright), went on a nice walk along the much safer south side of the river, and arrived at the bus stop.
And then the bus came. Federico got on. And just like that, our epic Ireland adventure had come to an end. ☹️
I went back to the hostel myself, cried a little (not really but I was super sad), got my things, and headed back to Trinity College to do some blogging there. When I arrived, I found that there was a campus tour guide group walking around, and as I was a UCLA campus tour guide myself39, I was intrigued.
And like so many great things in life, what happened next is a tale best told in the form of three voice memos, all recorded within a half hour of each other:
And here is that random piece of brain coral. What a random side quest in Dublin. Hooray for the blog!
After that fun little side quest, I walked back to the chemistry building, found myself a nice study pod, got some coffee, and locked in for a bit40. 1 pm rolled around, I got on the bus back to the airport myself, ate some yummy food in the lounge, and was off to England.
Liverpool awaits!
Some interesting anthropological observations and other notes about Ireland:
Ireland seems very focused on sustainability and limiting single-use waste. None of the bathrooms had any paper towels to dry your hands, only modern air blowers. Plus, there aren’t any single-use plastic or paper cups at cafes, but rather hard plastic ones that you pay a deposit for and receive back when you return the cup. Well done, Ireland!
There is a lot of public trust that people pay for transit and don’t steal free rides. Federico and I never got our tickets checked going to and from Killarney, despite the tickets being 35€ each and the route traversing the entire country. It reminds me of the Munich metro, where ticketing isn’t enforced due to a deep culture of honesty. Well done again!
I really enjoyed reading Kevin Kelley’s travel tips (thanks Justin for the rec!). It was really interesting for me that Federico and I were on the same trip, but they were different types — mine was more exploration, and Federico’s was more rest and recovery. Interesting stuff!
I just love these grand European train stations. The one in Dublin wasn’t nearly as nice as the ones in Frankfurt, Milan, or Berlin, but it was still really cool to me!
Those who know me well know that this was quite hard for me, as I like pushing the boundaries of social order when possible
That logic didn’t really make that much sense to me, because the security guard didn’t try to confiscate my cheeks. But that’s another story
I barely noticed the time passing as I was just reading my book
There was some weird thing where we had to rebuy the tickets because the lady bought one joint return ticket rather than two individual ones, and said the Irish equivalent of “Bruh”
This hostel had these really cool pod beds, and I felt very very fancy all night
It may seem strange, but I really like traveling in this flexible manner — I have a general idea of what I’m doing, but fill in the gaps along the way. I love the flexibility this kind of travel provides, which is best described as building the bridge as you’re driving across it. It makes me feel alive!
Federico later described the weather as “two standard deviations above the norm in the positive direction”
I found it so funny that Federico’s first meal in Ireland was a pizza. Flying from Italy to Ireland to eat a pizza would be like flying from Paris to LA to get a pain au chocolat
On one hike up Mt. Diablo, little Dennis carried an entire bag of really cool rocks down from the summit
These were Geology Mapping (in which I got the highest grade on the final geologic map of the lovely Rainbow Basin despite not even being an Eps Sci major, flex
I can assure you these economics classes definitely did not have field trip components
Kevin’s office hours are the stuff of legend, with a wide selection of teas and cookies for visitors! 🍪
That’s called foreshadowing!
With Federico in particular distraught over the sky-high cappuccino prices
We were let out the station by one of the workers there, who spoke in such a thick Irish accent that I had no idea what he said — Irish is the first accent of English I've ever encountered that is so strong, I just don't understand a single word
We stayed at the Black Sheep Hostel in Killarney, and it was by far the nicest hostel I’ve EVER stayed at. Kevin recommended we stay there and it did not disappoint — I later learned that it was ranked the best hostel in all of Ireland
Federico asked for a plastic bag so that he could “have a bag to carry up the mountain”, but I instantly vetoed that terribly idea and did a sanity check to make sure he was ok
That was a funny little side quest lol
So I guess hitchhiking wasn’t the only option, but we’re cheap and didn’t want to spend the money
When we asked what his favorite pub was, he said he didn’t have one but just gave us some solid advice on determining good ones — ignore any pub that has sports on, and instead find one that is full of conversation and ideally, live music. Any place like that is guaranteed to be a good time. Pretty solid advice, I have to say
Cronins Yard, to be exact
We saw like 10 Ukrainian families on this hike — I later learned that Ireland brought in many Ukrainian refugees when the war started, so there were many now living all across the country
This hike is notorious was being super dangerous from the rapidly changing weather conditions and kills several hikers each year
We also took a super scenic piss 💦
There were a lot of mini muddy lakes that had formed in the depression from uprooted trees, quite cool. We saw these all the time on our stroll
One such ruin had a chimney hole at the top, in which were planted some thorny blackberries to deter climbers going inside. I thought that was very clever
The entire beach was made of eroded shale cliffs, which create some amazing skipping rocks
This was related to the geocaching, don’t worry
The hostel had free eggs for guests, graciously laid by the chickens out back
Since breakfast was starting at 7:30 and the train was leaving at 7:45, the plan was for Federico to walk ahead to the train station with both of our things, I get breakfast as soon as it’s ready, and then sprint to the train station to meet him there. Fortunately, the breakfast was actually laid out at 7:10, so we just ate early together and had a chill walk to the station
I’m pretty sure all young men (can’t speak for women because I’m not one lol) have a desire to travel and explore when he’s young. It really doesn’t matter where to, but just somewhere. Most don’t because of societal expectations to get a job immediately and Andrei, unfortunately, was in this camp
People who made barrels barrels were called coopers, so if you’re first or last name is Cooper, it’s likely that you’re descended from a barrel maker of some kind. I’m looking at you, Jess! Kinda similar to how someone with the last name Smith likely had a blacksmithing ancestor
I say free, but we spent 25€ each to get in the museum lol. 100% worth it though, no doubt about that
Really fun getting an ice cream cone in the part while it was raining!
Abbey Court to be exact, but it was honestly a bit sketch and smelled really weird, not a fan
We stopped at this random perfume store along the way, got free samples, and promptly left
They were having a CRAZY conversation about their ex-boyfriends, oh my. Highlight quote was “I don’t regret that one, but definitely learned my lesson”
The Italian lady was saying that she’d already lived in Germany before, and Ireland was the only other EU country where English was the official language. And so though Brexit was a huge L for pretty much everyone involved, it did succeed in keeping Italians out of the UK. Well done there
In a former life, back when I was in college 🙃
My laptop and phone both automatically connected to eduroam, which made me chuckle for some reason. Eduroam is honestly such a wonderful thing, and I’m so happy that it exists — it’s basically a partnership between many universities around the world to give free WiFi to visiting students and researchers, so most major universities have eduroam on campus. Any traveling student can log into eduroam from their home university, and then connect to other universities’ WiFi for free! Hooray!
40 footnotes HAHA I've created a monster