Pub Crawls and Tapas Bars

As the title would hopefully suggest, this entry will catalogue my weekend of, oddly enough, a pub crawl and my first visit to a Spanish Tapas Bar. Most of you probably know of the beer Guinness, and its origins in Ireland, but few know that Arthur Guinness' famous recipe dates back to the eighteenth century! On September 23rd, 1759, the Guinness factory was opened in the middle of Dublin. Because of this, Dubliners started the "tradition" that September 23rd would officially be Arthur's Day, even though it was not even official at all. This "long standing tradition" began, last year, for the 250th anniversary of the opening of the factory. So this past Thursday was Arthur's Day and at 5:59 p.m. (17:59) there was a toast to the good man himself. That was when our pub crawl began. The crawl was made up of the members from the badminton, tennis, and squash teams (I had joined badminton and tennis, but more on that later). We partook in the toast at the Gingerman, a pub not too far from Trinity College. With a pint of Guinness in one hand (it is really not that bad) and new friends around me, it was a great way to start the crawl. From the Gingerman, we trekked on through the night with our stays ranging anywhere from a quick drink to, well, more than a quick drink. As the night wore on, everyone started to break off from the original thirty or so. At the end of the night, I found myself at Doyles, which is right by Trinity College, whereas Max was at Howl at the Moon, which is not right by Trinity at all. Both ready to head home, I made my way over to the nightclub with the help of many locals, because everyone wants to help a stumbling American, and we got a taxi back to Howth.

Friday night was Tapas night. Max and I drove into Dublin with Emily, Max's sister, to meet their cousins for dinner. We met them at Salamanca, which has apparently won the best tapas restaurant in Dublin multiple times. Going into it, I felt that it could have been a little bit awkward for me, but it really was not at all! Obviously the five of them got along great but I did not feel like an odd man out at all. But the food at this place was amazing. Tapas are a really good way to go when you're with a group: everyone gets two dishes, and you share everything. Being the American that I am, I got the chicken wings (which really compete with Sherwood's) and the beef and lamb stuffed peppers. In reality though, you kind of have bits of what everyone has. All in all, it really was a great night. Filled with great food and friends you really couldn't ask for more.

Summer officially comes an end today as classes start tomorrow morning. To tell you the truth, I'm actually really excited to start the semester. Sticking to my major track, I'm taking two history and two psychology courses. I thankfully lucked out with history because they are worth double the credits of most other modules. But I will quickly rattle off what I'm taking then I will have to go: Ireland and the Wider World, 1534-1641; Renaissance Florence, 1348-1527; Developmental Psychology; and a Cognitive Neuropsychological Approach to Drug Addiction. The last one sounds extremely intense, but I hope it will be a good time and I'll find out soon enough!!! Talk to you all later!

FMS