Dublin
A couple of weekends ago, Mauro and I went to Ireland to visit Maggie my cousin. She is studying abroad in a small city outside of Dublin called Maynooth where we stayed with her in her flat. On Thursday we flew out of Lisbon and after many delays and long taxi rides we made it to her place and talked for another 3 hours. It was good, and really weird, hearing so much English spoken around me even if it was in an Irish accent.
The following day we all took a train to another small city called Howthe that's on the other side of Dublin. We hiked all through this small peninsula and saw a bit of those beautiful Irish cliffs. On top of that we were able to talk with a bunch of local townies and they were extremely friendly much like the people in Cáceres, but I could actually understand everything they were saying for once. We had lunch at this pub in the middle of the trails and had this amazing chowder, aptly named Howthe Chowder. It may have been because we had been hiking for a while or that I was still tired from sleeping, but that chowder was phenomenal. It had two or three different types of fish and other seafood in there and then with a big pint of milk...couldn't ask for something better.
That night, Maggie took us into downtown Dublin to the Temple Bar district with one of her flatmates. The Temple Bar district was exactly what I had imagined drinking at pub in Ireland to be like. It was where I had a my first true Guinness among other things. The whole district was packed, which added to the fun. Towards the end of the night we stopped by and got some taco chips (stellar french fries) and headed back on the 40-minute-long bus ride to Maynooth.
The next day Mauro and I woke up relatively early and made our way back into Dublin to tour the Guinness Storehouse, and boy did it deliver. There were seven stories talking about how it's made and all of the advertising over the years. One of my favorite parts were in the taste testing room where we got a mini pint and were told what to look for when drinking Guinness. It was really cool because they had this fog machines that had a concentrated version of the esters, hops, malts and other things that are evident in their beer. It helped pick out some different tastes, but the thing is, Guinness just tastes different in Ireland. It's so strange. It's just smoother and, well, tastes better. After looking through all of the other artifacts they had, Mauro and I received a free pint to continue 'taste testing.' It was amazing obviously and I thought it was just an awesome experience. Also on the way back we talked to a bunch of teenage Irish kids who wanted to know anything and everything about the States. They were in that funny age where they want to be super cool but are still really cute with how excited they are to meet foreigners haha.
The Black Stuff
We had a pretty chill time, just watching Christmas movies and making some enchiladas before we headed out. Lisbon was a trainwreck again getting back, partially because the Portuguese refuse to speak Spanish. Imagine that! We got back to Cáceres fine but I wish I could've stayed for longer.
Mérida y Trujillo
This past week we had twelve or so professors from K come to Cáceres and eat at our houses and go to our cultural project sites. I never had any of them for class, but I have talked to the two chemistry profs before so I was able to meet a ton of awesome people. Everyone that came was very excited to be there and see some of us that they knew.
Their last day we went to two towns that are very close: Mérida (the capital of Extremadura, the "state" I live in) and Trujillo (a small town somewhere around here). Mérida is very rich in Roman history with many of their structures still standing and it reminded me a lot of Rome. No matter where you dig in the city there are Roman ruins and a lot of the city is under constant excavation due to that. We visited the amphitheater, the theatre, and an old Roman bridge. Up until recently, cars were still driven over the bridge but they stopped doing that to try and preserve it. After an exquisite three course lunch of paella, pork and chips, and a homemade cake we made our way to Trujillo for an hour and half.
Trujillo appeared to me to be much more interesting for some reason. It was very foggy and damn near nighttime but we toured a bit of the old city. The thing that I found to be the coolest part was that this city was the birthplace of Francisco Pizarro and Francisco de Orellana. For those of you who can't remember history of the Americas, they were two of the fiercest conquistadors who conquered the Incas and traversed the Amazon River, respectively. We saw what they're wealth was able to build with them and how there lives were beforehand. For example, Pizarro went from living in a small home in the old city to constructing a massive palace on the Plaza Mayor because why not? Our guide told us that these guys were basically insane, but I have to imagine you had to conquer a people over an ocean away that you didn't even know existed 20 years before. I just love being in cities where there's history even semi-related to the us and I thought it was surreal walking through the same streets as these men.
Well after these cool little cities we went to tapas with the profs and got to know one another even more over some drinks. Although I didn't know these people that well beforehand I hope that I can get into some of their classes if I have free time in my last year.
All in all, I'm doing well and excited to see my fam that's coming next week. Miss everyone and if you still want a postcard, let me know!
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