dublin - day 2.

i went to the National Library of Ireland today to do research on samuel beckett and painter jack b. yeats! it was pretty legit, i got a reader's card and went into this beautiful, turquoise-painted, domed reading room. unfortunately, though, a few of the sources that i was hoping to look at weren't available, and i also ran out of time before meeting with one of the librarians. but at least i can say i've achieved my objective of coming to dublin.

w.b. yeats. yeats yeats yeats.

(no photos of the interior allowed)

then at 12:45 i met with one of the librarians, Paddy Hawe who my NYU professor got me in touch with. as soon as we met, he started pointing to different surrounding buildings and telling me about how they relate to samuel beckett and/or jack b. yeats. paddy is a 54 yr old man who's been working at the library for 10 years. he's really really knowledgeable about beckett, yeats but also irish literature/history and dublin in general. he's a true dubliner, born and raised right here. we grabbed lunch at the alliance francois and he just started telling lots and lots of stories. how dublin has changed, how beckett was a cynic, how yeats was interested in circuses/piracy and most extensively about his family! apparently his uncle was a big shot athlete in dublin who collected a lot of art and books, and owned several yeats pieces. most of his anecdotes were filled with references to his many family members, and he mentioned them so often that i think i can draw a limited family tree for the Hawes.

while we were talking about beckett and yeats' relationship despite their 35 year difference we realized we're exactly 35 years apart as well! kinda weird, but also cool. one of my favorite quotes/jokes was "there was no sex in ireland until the arrival of the television in '63." maybe because it was that taboo until this mass media made people more prone to exposure to the subject. he said his lunch hour was until 2, but for some reason he seemed fine talking with me until 3:45!! it did cut into the time i was planning on sight-seeing, but i enjoyed chitchatting with a knowledgeable local who loved to share stories. tomorrow he's taking me on a short walking tour, including the national gallery to see yeats' paintings in the flesh.

from there, with only an hour and fifteen minutes until the tourists sights closed, i frantically started running around to see as much as possible. thankfully, it was a really sunny day so i had a great time wandering.

St. Stephen's Green. beautiful park right by the national library.

St. Patrick's Cathedral. went, saw it, and crossed it off my list. i didn't go inside because it was expensive and i was running out of time! perhaps i would've been more impressed it i'd seen the interior.

marsh library.

i got there at 10 'til five so the keeper (librarian) let me in for free!

built in 1701, marsh library is the first public library in ireland and one of the earliest in the british isles. beautiful dark oak bookcases, leather bound books, and wooden ladders! really small, perfectly preserved 1700s library. the glass cases are part of the exhibit on exotic animals. so, i was specifically told that photography is prohibited, but how could i not? so i snuck in these 2 shots.

you see the old man with the bicycle? when I stepped out of marsh library and was taking photos, he approached me and asked "did you enjoy the library?" and i answered yes and he started conversing with me. unfortunately, i didn't understand much of what he was saying because of his super thick accent, but more due to his mumbling. so i just smiled and nodded along. he asked me if i was traveling alone and i said yes, and he was very impressed. a few other words i caught were "tribes.....london.....italy.....abraham lincoln" and this whole sentence, "the british occupied us for 300 years, but in the end we beat them!" i guess that sums up the whole irish sentiment about the british. the fact that the topic of their independence would come up within 3 minutes of conversing with a stranger shows how lies at the very core of the irish identity.

grafton st. main shopping strict/area.

amazing vegetarian dinner, except it was very pricey. in fact, dublin is quite an expensive city in general.

trinity college main gate.

temple bar on a friday night.

people spilling out onto the cobble paths, with guinnesses in head, just hanging out. very low-key.

lonesome street musician providing background music for temple bar.

as this is the party district in town, it's getting very loud outside. not sure how i'm going to fall asleep with all this noise....

DUBLIN!

my first two hours in dublin, ireland were great!

before arriving, I was planning on spending the night resting and on my computer. BUT! when i stepped off the bus and saw the streets bustling with people and flooded with neon lights, I knew i couldn't waste my precious time in dublin inside.

im staying in temple bar, which is a little strip at the heart of the city center and right near the liffey river, and just around the corner from trinity college. it's a so-called "party district" filled with bars and restaurants. so i grabbed my camera and headed out to the street of dublin.

temple bar (specifically fleet st). cobblepaths. neon signs.

lower liffey st. (north of liffey)

merchant's arch. (south of liffey)

over the liffey on the O'Connell bridge. in view is the Ha' Penny bridge. love the green.

colorfully lit buildings lining the liffey on lower ormond qu.

after wandering along the banks of the liffey, i decided to head back to temple bar. but on the corner at the head of fleet st., i noticed this bar.

palace bar since 1823.

live traditional irish music! i obviously had to go. normally, i would've been hesitant/awkward about walking into a bar alone, but i have less than 72 hours in dublin, so i just went for it.

locals hanging at the bar (i only heard irish accents, and no american accents. yay!)

traditional irish musicians! i was surprised they were guys in their late 20s, instead of fully bearded men in their 60s 70s.

they were just playing away, tucked in the corner providing musical entertainment for the pub without being center stage or anything. no theatrics, simply down-to-earth. just a natural part of the pub.

i love love love this photo, but I had to get awkwardly close to the guys in order to take the photo. so, i just scurried away after sneaking this one shot. haha

since I was in ireland, i got myself my first half-pint of guinness! and it was much better than i thought it'd be. while sipping on my guinness and listening to traditional music, I asked the bartender if live music happens every night. she said it only happens on thursday, sunday and tuesday nights, so i'm extremely glad I decided to stop in tonight! then, she started talking to me about the different bands and different types of music that happen throughout the week. we went on to chitchat for a good 15 minutes about irish music, london, boston, and winter weather. apparently, this is the coldest winter ireland has had since the 60s! and ireland also happens to be one of the few countries that's even less prepared for snow than england! so within my first two hours in dublin, i managed to get irish beer, irish music and a nice conversation with an irish lady! (she was super sweet, but her thick accent made her even cooler)

i spent about 45 minutes there just sitting at the bar, listening to the music and taking photos. surprisingly, i didn't feel awkward about it at all! it was all great fun.

now, i'm going to bed since i have a big day ahead of me tomorrow. i'm getting down to the "real" reason i'm here: research of jack b. yeats and samuel beckett. i'm going to read at the national library, then i'm going to meet with one of the librarians, who's a friend of my nyu professor, and he's going to show me some cool/pertinent stuff there and around the city!

retracing my steps.

today was my second week volunteering for the Reception class at St. Aloysius. Since last week, I now help out with the reception class, which is 4 - 5 year olds. When I stepped into the class, I didn't get the big fat welcome that I was expecting or hoping from the kids because they were all fascinated by the substitute teacher for the day, Mr. Campbell. I had never seen a male teacher teach nursery and younger kids, so I was fascinated by the whole situation as well.

with the reception class, it's relatively little learning and lots of activities or, using one of the students words, "doing whatever they like." Im basically there as an extra pair of hands. Today was particularly manic* because the substitute had absolutely no idea what to do! after the first 45 minutes of doing the alphabet, it's activities time and all hell breaks loose. through my shift, mr. campbell would look at me worried and just utterly confused. he was clearly asking for help, but what could I do, it was only my second time there! so we just kinda let the children do their own thing at their respective stations. I helped 4 girls paint animals. during this time, mr. campbell came up to me and said "it's pure mayhem!" and that pretty much sums it up. we chitchatted a little bit at a time while patrolling the class, then we took a coffee break together.

this was my first interaction/conversation with a real british person. mr. campbell, i awkardly forgot to ask him for his first name, is probably in his late 20s early 30s and he's a floater teacher that helps out at different local schools when they need help. today he volunteered here because the teachers were at their training. So, we chatted about london and traveling, and turns out we had both lived in japan for three years and neither of us bothered to learn the language haha. I told him that I plan on walking around Soho in the afternoon, and he lamented the fact that the area's losing its essence as chain restaurants like "pizza express" are taking over. but he recommended one of his favorite italian restaurants, "lorelei." apparently it's one of those places that's been there for years, has little decoration but serves real hearty meals. ill definitely be going there since I want to explore where the locals go, and stay away from chains like "spaghetti house." (what a horrible name)

the best part of the conversation was when we talked about london weather. he said, "londoners spend 9 months in anticipation for good weather, and 3 months in disappointment." apparently londoners are pretty consistently miserable, until they get a glimpse of the sun and they whip out their shorts and shades. seeing that mr. campbell was a substitute teacher, i'll never see him again, but at least I've had a enjoyable conversation with a brit!

during the two hours, a couple student cautiously approached me and told me they remembered me, and that made my day.

russel square

little alleyway leading to great. osmond st.

lonesome fruit and vegetable stand at queen square.

the espresso room! my new local coffee shop. since this was such a great find, i intend to go to all the coffee shops mentioned in the nyt.com article.

lunch at goodfellas that I found in bloomsbury yesterday.

then i headed to the national gallery to go to a free lecture. don't be too impressed because I had to go to in order to fulfill a lecture requirement for one of my nyu classes. nevertheless i still found it interesting. It was about the artist carlo crivelli, whom I had never heard of before, and I always like learning about the under dogs. afterwards I spent an hour looking through the 17th century collection. lots of rembrandt and claude and peter paul rubens. then, I walked back from the national gallery to campus, which I've never done. turns out it's only a 20-25 walk in straight line pretty much. again, putting london pieces together and london's feeling a little smaller and more manageable.

trafalgar square.

nelson's column, big ben and whitehall.

i had an interesting experience on the tube today. I frantically got off the tube at leicester sq. because I was running late to the lecture. I was also slightly bummed out the today wasn't as sunny as it was yesterday. as I made my way towards the exit, I heard busker playing "here comes the sun" on this guitar. how weird that i should hear him play that song, the day after it was the title of my blogpost and I had been humming it all day yesterday. the busker put me in a good mood.

here comes the sun.

today, i celebrated a rare occasion in london: the sun was out! Not only was the sun out, but there wasn't a single cloud in the sky! It was a really warm beautiful day, that got me excitedly out of bed despite only 5 hours of sleep.

i realized what a big difference the weather makes. when I stepped out of my building, the sun made my mundane and tedious walk to school seem more enjoyable. It instantly got me in a good mood.

the highlight of my day was from 12 - 2, during my break between my morning and afternoon classes.

it started with my venture to find a coffee shop. my friend aspen sent me a NYT.com article titled "London Sips a Different Cup," about "london's emerging status as a coffee town." Until then, I was struggling to find a good, local coffee shop and had been frequenting Cafe Nero, which is my favorite chain coffee store in London. (I refuse to go to a starbucks here, or any other american food chain). Though nero lattes are tasty, going to a chain store didn't feel very authentic. So, I decided to try "the Espresso Room" mentioned in the article because it was conveniently located in Bloomsbury, which is where my campus is. This required that I venture to a new part of Bloomsbury: the west side of Russell Square. Every day, I walk down Woburn Place and turn right or east on to campus, but after class I walked west for the first time.

To my surprise, I found "the Brunswick," which is a small, pretty modern, local mall. It had lots of different american brands and little delis. While strolling around, I stumbled upon "apostrophe," which i've been looking for since I got here. It was less hole-in-the-wall and more posh than I thought it'd be, but I got a sandwich there anyway. I got it to "take away" (their equivalent of to-go), and sat out on the plaza. It was so sunny that I eventually had to take my jacket off. There, I munched on my sandwich and watched the locals go about their daily business.

Then, I walked down Southampton Row in search of the local coffee shop. I turned onto Great Osmond street and found a tiny little square called, Queen's Sq. very modest and not particularly green, but there was one fruit and vegetable stand where a few locals were buying stuff, and chitchatting away. After ten minutes of pleasant wandering, I found the Espresso Room. it was very much like what I had envisioned. a hole in the wall with people lining outside. I got a flat white, as opposed to my usual latte, because the article had raved about it. It's basically a smaller, but stronger, latte and it was infinitely better than nero latte. (or maybe i'm just convincing myself it is.) I like their coffee so I'll definitely be returning there and hopefully i'll become a regular before I leave london.

With a flat white in hand and an hour and a half to kill before class, i started wandering. i walked down random streets to get myself lost, and I found myself in an area that resembled the east village of new york city. low brick buildings, quiet pathways and my favorite part, local shops! I found cheap delis and local bookstores that i'll be going back to. Then, half an hour later, i was able to recognize where I was, back on bustling Southampton row, but further south. I loved that moment when everything made sense again, and I was excited to be able to locate myself. london is a huge city, so i've been seeing it in bits and pieces . So, when I accidentally end up in a familiar place while exploring, I'm able to put two or more pieces of london together. it's very much like completing a mental puzzle of london. slowly but surely the fragments of london are coming together to create a bigger, a more cohesive, picture in my head.

I decided to spend my remaining hour simply sitting at russell square and enjoying the sun, which I had yet to do in london. I grabbed a seat on a bench near the fountain and started to peruse my 'little black book on london.' Reading through the guidebook, I realized that there is so much of london that i have yet to see and experience! I hadn't even fully explored my area of islington, and clerkenwell and smithfield! After exactly 7 weeks, or half my semester in london, I realized how much more active I have to be in order to know the city. but better late than never, right? im just glad that I caught myself slipping into lethargy.

then, I just sat and watched the scenery of the park. I watched the students hanging out on the grass, the old lady reading, and people eating their lunches. the greenery, the students and the fountain all reminded me of washington sq. back in nyc, except I'm in london. that was my moment of epiphany. the moment where i became extremely grateful that I'm studying and living in london, in EUROPE! the moment when i re-realized how amazing this city is. i regretted that I let london seem jaded, even for a moment.

With this thought in mind, I watched a group of spanish middle-schoolers fool around the fountain. They all cheered for this one boy to run through and jump over the fountain, and he successfully did without getting wet! This sparked a competition among the boys, and lots of chanting. a few of them got wet, and few of them fell, but they were all laughing regardless. their carelessness made me smile and it made me want to stay in the park indefinitely. that hour in the park made me feel like i was really living in london.

perhaps it was the sun, or the coffee, or the spanish children that got me excited for london again. whatever it was, it livened the city again for me. today's casual stroll around bloomsbury made me reevaluate my past 7 weeks, and look forward to my remaining 8 that Im determined to make more exciting than my previous 7.

on my first day here, our tour guide quoted samuel johnson, "when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in london all that life can afford." for the past week i may have been tired of the academic humdrum, so i didn't really pay attention to london. but london's too great a city to be a mere backdrop, and I'm definitely too young to be tired of life.

i wish I had brought my camera around with me today, but im going to retrace my footsteps tomorrow and take photos so ill make sure to put them up soon.

to those reading this blog, especially those in nyc, i encourage you to rediscover your surrounding city!

lots of love.