Wednesday, Sep 6, 2023 at 8:27 p.m.

Long day today. Got in a little early at 10am. Didnt sleep much on the flight so pretty knackered. Got to skip the long non-UK/EU immigration line thanks to my British passport. Bought a three day tourist bus pass and bussed to my hostel. Had some time to kill before check in so dumped my bag in the overflowing storage room and walked down to temple bar.

It's a mad house down there and not very Irish. Since I've arrived I've noticed there's a surprising lack of Irish people. Lots of Americans though. You can always tell if someone's american by the touristy outfit and backpack. I ditched mine after I realised this. You can always tell if someone's Irish by the highball fade and complete disregard for crossing signals. I seriously don't know why they even have pedestrian lights - no one uses them. Maybe I should get a haircut.

Things are pretty expensive in the touristy areas which isn't surprising. Looking for food, I ended up in a Czech grocery store. It wasn't what I was expecting but got some decent pastries, yoghurt and a weird Czech cola substitute for pretty cheap. Also shopped for misc toiletries such as toothpaste and soap. Realised I'm probably going to have to ditch the >100ml tube of toothpaste when I fly to Scotland...

Visited the customs house museum. Free entry today. Basically all about the architecture and also how the IRA burnt most of it down in a large-scale attack in 1921. It's a beautiful building.

After checking in and rearranging my bags for the third time today, I attempted to have a nap. This was impossible as my unventilated sleeping pod tried to cook me alive. I headed to trinity college. It's also covered in tourists but absolutely gorgeous. I found a shady spot on a bench near the main pitch. 20mins later I woke up to a rugby practice in front of me. I was definitely catching flies while they got set up... Further along the pitch, students were practicing hurling (not lacrosse as I first thought). Final stop was the business school. Newest building on campus of course. Quite the contrast between the original 1592 buildings that make up a lot of the campus. Found a brochure on the MBA program. Looks like I need 3 years professional experience and a high GMAT/GRE score. Could do in a few years..?

Back to the hostel and searching for dinner. I found a highly rated, but cheap pub online. Clearly a local spot as I was the only non-Irish person there. It shows too because I had no idea you're supposed to let a Guinness settle before drinking it. Bartender was suuuuuper Irish. There were only four other people at the bar and they all seemed like regulars. Chatted to one of them for a bit. He told me he had a long distance girlfriend in Ottawa for 10 years but had never been to Canada. Seems like every couple nights he'll go for a pub crawl on the way home. This was his third pub of the night. He was going to hit a couple more before getting home - on a Wednesday mind you. He recommended I try the smoked coley at the chip shop down the road. Had a bit of a wait there but it was delicious. Went and ate it on the roof of the hostel. So much food I had to trash the last bit because there's not a fridge here.

Skipped tonight's pub crawl and went to bed early to try to catch up on lost sleep. Wet face cloth to keep me cool and have to keep the privacy curtain open so it's not a complete oven. Night!