On Thursday I went to a play that was paid for by Champlain. I was surprised that more people didn't take advantage of this opportunity, but only four of us plus Claire, our head resident, wanted to go. It wasn't at the Abbey or anything, it was an unknown pay performed in a smaller, art-space type venue. But the themes were all about leaving home and experiencing the world--surprisingly relevant to the situation of a study abroad student. It was a little artsy, but the actors all seemed to be about my age which added to the meaning.
Friday our science class had a field trip to the Marble Arch Caves right over the Northern Ireland border. I don't really remember any facts about the caves, but all of the formations inside were really cool to look at, and there was a river running through it that we got to take a little boat ride on. Some of the stalactites had been forming for thousands of years, so it was pretty cool to have the opportunity to see them.
Then on Saturday it was time to Green Up Dublin! Champlain teamed up with the EF Dublin School of English, which ended up being mostly Japanese students, to give back the community we've been living in this semester by sprucing it up a bit as part of the National Spring Clean initiative. We split up into teams and all had different routes to follow picking up litter, cans, and bottles. One good thing about Dublin is that the city is good about maintaining the main walking areas with street sweepers, but my team still ended up with several trash bags full of garbage. Most of what we found were cigarette butts and there was no way we could pick up all of them--there were thousands. But we all put in our best effort and ended up at the academic center where we had a barbecue with our new Japanese friends. I felt a little silly talking to them because most of them were engineers or studying biochemistry or working on space station plasma ions or whatever. But they were really nice and overall I had a good time at Green Up Dublin.
On a side note, I found the best cupcakes in Dublin on one of the most beautiful days of the year. I walked all around the city in the bright sunshine and even went out of my way to go to Merion Square. It's one of the most beautiful places I've been to in the city, and it was practically empty--everyone heads to Saint Stephen's and always forgets about this spot. The weather has been so pleasant here lately, I'm worried about what I'm going to be coming home to in a couple of weeks!
Happy Easter! Look for a post about my trip to Scotland after the holiday.
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