This last weekend I finally got to do a little exploring! It was such a beautiful day on Saturday that I took advantage of the somewhat sunny day and went to the beach. I went to Killiney beach and although it was not hot it was a clear day.

Clear day on Killiney beach!

I was amazed to see surfers in the water because I was barely warm bundled up let alone being in the freezing water in only a suit! I walked along the pebbled beach collecting stones and simply enjoying the scenery. It was a peaceful way to begin my day.

After I was ready to move on I went to a neighboring village (Sandycove) and explored the many shops. One shop in particular ended up being my favorite because it was full of interesting knick-knacks and local handmade jewelry. I also ate at a local café, which for the life of me I can’t remember the name of although it had the word moon in it. The food was delicious! The bread was homemade and fresh same with the soup. Definitely have to go to that café again!

On the way back home I made one more stop in Dun Laoghaire, which I had debated about all day. I had already been to Dun Laoghaire and at this point was getting tired so I almost didn’t stop, but I am sure glad that I did! Dun Laoghaire ended up being my favorite place that I went to that day. The reason being is a local musician had set up shop at a place called the Pavilion, which is right next to the water. He was playing the electrical guitar and was quite good!

The street musician doing what he does best…

Look at the puppet dance!

The atmosphere was relaxed and to top it off just before leaving the town I got to see another musician this one being a woman on the flute with a dancing puppet. It was the perfect ending to an amazing day.  The rest of the week went by mostly uneventfully. I have started to develop my schedule of waking up in the morning getting ready for work and so on. The days have started to go by relatively fast, especially now at work. I have started getting more work load and projects, which makes me busier allowing the time to past faster. I am starting to really enjoy my job and have already learned quite a bit. I did go out Wednesday night with a few people to a pub. It was an interesting experience, because the group consisted of several people from Spain, Brazil, and Italy.

What an amazingly diverse group!

It was fascinating to talk with all of them and just get a feel for each culture. If I had to choose one thing to take away from this week it would be embracing my emergence from my bubble. Tonight I was talking with my host mom and I was telling her before this trip I hadn’t travelled much and my ignorance of even the basic things were astounding. For example there being different plug-ins all around the world. It is not necessarily significant information, but what it represents is significant. My untraveled self has been living in a bubble where, I realized, I view the world from. Meaning I have assumed the rest of the world is similar to what I know. This has continuously been highlighted these last two weeks with each new piece of knowledge that becomes known. This became especially evident Wednesday night I found myself surrounded by several different cultures. I am forever thankful I choose to embark on this journey, because I want to shed my ignorance and hopefully grow in the process.