Today was our last day of class. For our travel writing class we had our final travel writing piece that we read aloud to everyone. These were my favorite classes because I could hear what stood out to everyone else and see what’s important to them. Our class lasted 2 hours and then we got a break for a quick lunch. We had a final discussion with Tom on the movie In the Name of the Father (still highly recommend). Our group met back up a little bit later to hop on the bus for ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Kilmainham Gael.
Our tour guide Ben was great. He made all the stories so interesting and was enthusiastic about it all. He later told Laurie that his Great Uncle was part of the 14 IRA leaders who were executed in 1916 and some other connections he had. He said this Irish history was his family stories that he grew up hearing, which I thought was incredible.
The jail held many of the IRA leaders. It was also where Gerry Conlon and his father were wrongly imprisoned for 15 years (seriously watch the movie). It was amazing to have seen that movie then come to the place not only where it was filmed, but where all that history actually took place. It made it even more special being there.

After the tour, we had some time in the museum where I read “The Last Words” of many of the prisoners and letters they both sent and received. There was one story about a couple. Joseph Plunkett and his wife Grace were actually married in the chapel in the jail because Joseph was imprisoned there for being an IRA leader. Grace only got to visit him once more the night before his execution, which happened shortly after their wedding. They had 10 minutes to say goodbye and sat in silence the entire time. Reading the love letters he sent her, one asking her to marry him, was heartbreaking. Grace found herself in the same jail a few years after his execution. She used to paint on the walls of her cell, where her artwork is still vibrant. We got to see her painting of the Virgin Mary on that wall.

Tom brought us on a “short walk” for our next tour at the Guinness Factory.
This place is amazing! When I say it is the adult version of the Wonka Factory I mean it. It was the same thing except the focus was on beer and not candy. Each floor is a different focus of the process. There was a floor dedicated to the smells that looked like the white room from Charlie and the Chocolate factory. We got mini Guinnesses but had to save them for the next room. This room was dimly lit, the complete opposite. Here we learned how to drink Guinness the right way. This was very cool because I did not realize there was a right and wrong way to drink a Guinness, but trust me there is. My favorite floor out of the exhibits was definitely the advertisement level (duh Smaddie after all). It was so cool to see the progression of time through their ads and the different choices they wanted to focus on. This was the last floor before the most famous of them all, Guinness Academy. This was the time where we learned how to pour the perfect Guinness and even got to pour our own. I did it perfectly and got a certificate to prove it. We then got to take our perfectly poured Guinnesses to the top floor called ­­­­Gravity Bar. There were no walls just glass that gave us a 360^o view of Dublin. It was beautiful! We stayed up here for a while, enjoying our beers the right way and taking our time.

The 5 of us decided to walk back to Trinity, which was about a 20 minute walk, so we could stop for some dinner along the way. We ended up getting too impatient and stopped for some burritos at the Irish version of Chipotle, although I’m sure you all already know, it can’t compete. Our final presentations were due the next day so we knew it was going to be a long night. A few people grabbed some supplies (snacks) so they’d be able to make it through. Back at Trinity, I worked in my room for a while trying to finish everything I could before I headed over to join the group work. It’s nice having them there and always awake (seriously one is always up no matter what) so I could get their opinions, ask a couple questions, and bounce other ideas off them. I finished up the last of it in my room and went to bed, planning on waking up early to go through it all one more time before presenting.