Last week marked the end of midterms week here in Vienna. As such, we all enjoyed a long weekend as soon as our last exam was over. I planned a trip to Dublin and Stockholm with one of my friends.
Dublin
First, we landed in Dublin just a few hours after our last exam. Why waste any time, right? Immediately, we found the Irish to be friendly people. We made two friends at the airport who helped us find our way to our bus. Then, we took a scenic ride to our AirBnB just outside the city center. Pro tip: if it’s within the same price range as a hostel, always choose an AirBnB. You experience much more of the local culture this way. We stayed in a neighborhood with lots of young couples and kids. On our way to the bus stop in the mornings, we saw school kids dressed in their uniforms walking to school. This is quite different from the US, where you rarely see students in a uniform. Also, school starts much later. We certainly weren’t waiting for the bus at the crack of dawn.
Once we arrived in the city center, we indulged in the most delicious crepes for breakfast before we met up with Yuki for a tour of Trinity College. Thank you, Yuki for showing us around (and for the student discount at the bookstore). After our tour of Trinity, we took the Dart to Howth for an afternoon of hiking on the coast. The weather was sunny and warm and the flowers were just beginning to bloom. Needless to say, the hike was breathtaking. We even saw a dolphin who was friendly enough to squeak hello to us.
Stockholm
Halfway through our long weekend, we traveled to Stockholm. Stockholm has 14 main islands that it is composed of. We stayed in Langholmen – a former prisoner’s island. In fact, the hotel we stayed at is the original prison building of the island and the layout remains staged as a prison. All of the rooms are decorated as cells and each staff member is dressed as a prisoner in striped clothing. Undoubtedly, the layout added to the historical charm of our stay.
Similar to Dublin, Stockholm has a lot of gluten free food. As always, this is exciting and makes traveling much easier for me. Wherever we went, I could walk into a restaurant and almost always order a gluten free pizza or crepe. I learned much more about the culture than I have on other trips I have taken. One of the very first things I picked up on was the concept of fika. Every cafe or restaurant I walked past advertised the best fika. While there is no exact English translation, fika is essentially having coffee and a pastry with another person. But, you can also bring fika. For example, many professors bring fika to their students instead of hosting a lecture. They sit and have coffee and talk about life. Naturally, I felt compelled to have fika like a local. I enjoyed fika at a beautiful cafe that is filled floor to ceiling with floral decorations.
And that’s a wrap. I’ll see you again after my fika break.