Kiss Me, I'm Irish

Without a doubt, my favorite country that I have traveled to while on Semester at Sea is Ireland!  It wasn't the Book of Kells, Trinity College, the Chester Betty Library, Dublin's Culture Night, the Doorway Edible Art Gallery, Dublin Castle, Porterhouse Pub, Blarney Castle, the Blarney Stone, Gino's Gelato, Penney's, St. Patrick's Cathedral, or the Christ Church Cathedral that made my time in Ireland so special.  What did make my stay in Ireland special was the friendly people, sense of community, country pride, family values, and kindness.  Every single person I talked to was so proud of their culture and heritage (which may have had something to do with the championship game Dublin was playing in while I was there) and so willing to stop what they were doing to talk to me about their life and Irish culture.  I became friends with a small Celtic jewelry stand owner named Steve after talking to him every day I was in Dublin.  Steve not only sold me a beautiful Celtic ring, he also gave me a gift to wish me luck on the rest of my voyage.  In fact, my whole time in Ireland was full of similar encounters like this!  After spending such an amazing four days in Ireland, I am so proud to actually be Irish, something I never really thought about before coming to this beautiful country.  Ireland felt like home to me; it was a country I didn't want to leave and a country I would love to come back to in the future.