the land of saints and scholars...

Day 26 - Tuesday was just the right mix of school work and play.

we met B.Love at Powerscourt to hammer out some final project details and talk about our current status.

i’ve never known anyone better at giving completely nondescript answers to very direct questions (which was all by design, of course, as he teaches us to “think like professionals”)

after our meeting, some of our group grabbed take-away lunch and ate in St. Stephen’s Green.

i FINALLY found the Indian food I’ve been searching for. it was (not super expensive) Koma curry and it was delicious!

after lunch, we went back to get changed for our 3rd office visit, to take place that afternoon. we met with Wilson Hartnell PR, a section of Ogilvy.

it’s a very large, successful company and was one of the pioneers of the PR business in Ireland.

one of the executives sat down with us, told us about his career and talked with us about the current state of media and the PR business in Ireland.

it was interesting, though this guy could rival our Galway tour bus driver for the ability to speak in a monotone voice with out taking a breath for hours.

after the visit, we dispersed for a quick dinner. Hillary, Tracie and I went to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. speaking of which, Irish beef is SO good.

to top off the day, B.Love squeezed just a bit more history and culture into our trip. we met up with everyone's favorite tour guide, Garbhán.

the coffee shop that we started the tour in, The Bald Barista, was fantastic!

<--written at the top of my Mocha in chocolate!

first stop of the tour was the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church to see the statue of Our Lady of Dublin held in a shrine there since 1915.

the whole story behind the statue is pretty incredible. little tidbit – at one point, the back of it was carved out and it was used as a pig trough on a farm to keep it safe from the British.

after leaving that church we headed towards St. Patrick’s Cathedral, stopping to look at little things on the way. for instance, check out this residential building.

<- Garbhán haha

it has scenes from Gulliver’s Travels carved into it

close up ----------->

upon arrival at St. Patrick's, we admired the incredible cathedral, walked around the gardens (where St. Patrick baptized the Irish), listened to the afternoon bells, and settled into the grass so that Garbhán could tell us old Irish stories.

lounging in the gardens ->

the stories were really interesting and entertaining. they continued when we moved over to Christ Church Cathedral. want to hear a story/song?

the rest of the tour was filled with more stops and more stories.

POP QUIZ – how many people/bands can you name from the Wall of Fame in Temple Bar??

(don't cheat!)

once we were finished with the academic part of the day, Garbhán joined us for a pint….or two…at a pub off of O’Connell Street.

they have their own house beers. each of us got a tray that had a sample of all 5 of them.

maybe not fun for the bartender, but certainly fun for us.

after a day/night like this, it only makes sense for Garbhán to come back to the dorm and watch movies with us. that’s not weird, right? haha

just another brilliant night at Roebuck Hall.