Dooblin!

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Hi everyone!

I've arrived safe and sound in Dublin (though slightly air sick- it wasn't a particularly fun 24 hours of flying!) and have had a brilliant first week and a half! For starters, our supervisor at the hospital is very keen for us to have fun and explore Dublin, so is not at all strict about how much time we spend there, which is great! We're spending plenty of time in the operating theatre, and because it's a big paediatric hospital, we've had heaps of interesting surgeries that you don't get to see in good ol' Murray Bridge. The rest of the time we've been doing heaps of sight seeing, which has included seeing the inside of every single shopping mall in Dublin except one (but we're going to the last one tomorrow afternoon); this is what happens when 4 girls travel together! We've also done some actual sightseeing- we visited the Guinness factory, Trinity College and Christchurch Cathedral on the weekend, and we went to this famous jail called Kilmanheim Gaol yesterday, which I found fascinating cos of all the history, but it might have been slightly tedious for the non-nerds among us! We also caught the train north to a small seaside town called Howth (pronouced Hoo-t, ie rhyming with "toe" and with a T on the end- the Irish peple at the hospital nearly fell over with laughter when they heard me try to say it!) where they had a really cool market and a Scottish marching band competition. It was all very quaint and nice (expecially the fudge at the market!). We then caught the train south to Killiney, where Bono lives, and we went to visit his house. While we were taking photos of the front gate, his security gaurd told us over the intercom to "please move away from the gates!" which was a bit rude! He then told a small boy with his dog to move too. I think he needs to take a chill pill!

The weather here has been dreadfully cold and raining, even though it's supposed to be summer. We have only not needed our brollies one day (Monday), and every other day they have been in and out as the weather changes about 50 times throughout the duration of the day. I've been so cold that I've been looking in all the shops to buy a scarf, but for some insane reason the Irish are trying to hang on to the idea of summer, and are only selling bathers and t shirts in the shops at the moment. This Friday, though, we're going to London, where they are a bit more realistic about the weather, so hopefully i can buy a scarf there! We're also planning to go to Wimbledon, though I heard it was cancelled the other day because of poor weather. I can't wait to eat strawberries and cream! We're also gonna go to a West End show, and Lizzie has raved about "Wicked" so much (the story of the Wicked Witches from the Wizard of Oz) that I'm hoping to go to that one.

I hope everyone at home is well, and it's not too cold and rainy in Adelaide. I'll write again soon and let you know how London goes!

Bye for now!
Luv, Rik

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Comments

[Alison]

Hey Rik!
Hey Rik! Glad to hear you're having some fun adventures over there in Dooblin and aren't spending all your time cooped up in a hospital :P Keep up the good work and keep the travel blogs coming :) Take care and goodluck with the scarf hunt! Ciao for now Alison

[Lizzie]

Yay blog for me to read at work
sounds like everything is going fabulously. Have a blast in London, (oooh, sooooo jealous you might see WICKED!!!!!). Please have a boots meal deal and a starbucks brownie for me :)