Ireland might as well be called Neverland

Today I joined Colleen and Adi on an afternoon trip to Malahide, Ireland. It is on the DART line, with trains coming about every half hour. So after Colleen got back from class and we ate some lunch, we set out to see what the town had to offer.

Upon our arrival we decided to check out the Malahide Castle. However, we were soon distracted by something even better - a fantastic playground. That's right, we may be some of the oldest students in our classes but we still know how to enjoy a big saucer-swing and some of the largest slides I've ever seen. For the slide, you actually had to go up a small climbing wall to get up towards the top. Not to mention the zipline!

Also along the path leading to the castle were various things to test your balancing skills. Like a "rolling log" that would spin around as you tried to walk across it. Adi and Colleen had both (somewhat) successfully walked on the rolling log, so I decided to give it a try. Big mistake - I fell within the first ten seconds. Luckily nothing was bruised too badly, other than my right knee and my ego.

At some point we finally realized it was time to focus and actually get to the castle before it closed for the day. That, and we'd gotten enough strange looks from parents who probably felt we were too old to be acting like children.

The castle tour was, well, a little bit of an odd experience. The outside looked fabulous and it was nice to see the inside with all the ornate woodwork and furnishings. But the tour itself had to be one of the cheesiest things ever. I mean, it's all narrated through large speakers, room by room. They don't even have a guide walking with you. On the plus side, that meant no one to scold me for taking pictures. Honestly, the first picture I took I didn't know photography wasn't allowed. But the second photo, I take full responsibility - it was just too tempting to resist.

As for earlier this week, Monday I discovered the yumminess that is banoffee pie. Colleen, Adi, Liz and I went for some tea at Avoca - a restaurant/bar near campus. However, once we got there, dessert sounded so much better than just tea. We ended up ordering three slices of banoffee pie.

Here is the before:And the after - clearly it was delicious:
This week I also had the opportunity to continue with my sports club activities. I went to both softball and archery on Tuesday. Archery is getting to be more fun now that I'm not ending up with bruises on my arm from the bow string. I'm also getting better on my form and learning the proper techniques.

Anyways, classes are starting to pick up and there are a few assignments due in the next couple weeks. My family is also arriving in Dublin in about 8 hours! I'll be gone for the weekend, driving around the country with them - so probably no blog updates for a couple days. But I'm sure there will be lots to share from my visits with them to Cork, Dingle, and Limerick.