A Breath of Fresh Air in Howth

Today was the first weekend day of our trip and we LOVED taking a break from class to head out of the city and visit Howth, a lovely seaside village near Dublin.  We spent the day hiking, taking pictures of the gorgeous scenery and eating fish and chips.  When we returned to the city, we got to enjoy the Dublin City Spectacular, which was an awesome street fair with a lot of performers and vendors. 

Our participant, XinXin Duan, reflected on this exciting and relaxing day.  Here are her thoughts: 

What was your favorite part of the day?

Just the hiking in Howth.  It was really fun.  It was really peaceful and nice getting away from the city and the view was really really nice.  Oh and I liked the fish and chips too! 

How did Howth compare to what you've seen so far in Dublin? 

Howth was pretty different because it was a lot smaller and Dublin is a really big city.  Howth was near the ocean and there were a lot more grassy areas with mountains and hills. 

What was the City Spectacular like? 

It was very interesting.  There were a lot of different things like trendy Instagram foods as well as hand-made crafts that people were selling.  I also really enjoyed the performances- there was a person standing on a wooden box with music and they were acting like a doll which was really interesting.  The person who was juggling the balls was also really cool. 

If you could sum up our trip so far in five words, what would you say? 

Independence. Friends. Entrepreneurship. Culture. History. 

XinXin is a rising sophomore from Albany, California.