My Trip to Ireland- Day 5
I managed to sleep in this morning, after a night of tossing and
turning. You see, it all started when my friend that is staying in my
apartment while I'm away sent me a message and said her key wasn't
working. Longggg story short, I emailed the complex to let her in my
apartment so she could check on things. So I hadn't heard anything when I
went to bed that night and all I could think about is why didn't the
key work. And then I started worrying about when I got back. I got an
email today saying they would let her in. She sent me a message that our
friend was telling her the wrong apartment number this entire
time...whew. sigh of relief...ok back to my day.
So after the stressful night, I slept until 9:30. I took my time getting ready and then mom and I decided to walk around Queens University. We walked around the botanic garden (which was beautiful!!) and then ventured in to the library. You see, there is something very special in this library. One the 2nd floor, which is known was floor 1, there is a magical door. It's a CS Lewis door! It's a solid wood door with all sorts of things engraved in it. And there is a giant rug with half of the face of a lion on it. It was definitely a must see. We venture back to the flat to meet Hailey for the next activity of the day. We hop on the bus and head to the city center. Once we arrive at city center we have to get off of the bus and on to a new one. After asking 3 people where SD Bell was (that's the coffee shop we were headed to) we finally got the right bus.
We arrive at SD Bell a little early, wait a few minutes, and then we get a private tour of their coffee roasting process. Now here are some things you should know. SD Bell is a local, family owned coffee and tea shop. The produce many products that are sold to shops around Ireland, as well as the airport. They only have one location for their production, the place we were touring. Robert Bell, the great grandson of SD Bell, gave us our tour. He taught us all about the coffee roasting process. Now I am sure many of you are thinking, "wait a minute. I didn't think Ashlyn liked coffee." And that's where you are correct. I hate coffee..and I don't like tea either. But this was great. We learned all about the different coffee beans, how they are roasted, etc.
Here are some other interesting things I learned: Other than Brazil, Vietnam is the second largest coffee bean producer in the world. Coffee beans are green before the are roasted. Hawaiian coffee beans are the 3rd most expensive beans this company roasts. You can buy a small bag for 30 pounds. The guy told us we were better to get that back in the states, which is very true. In Hawaii we got coffee for $10. The most expensive coffee beans come from poop, or as the guy kept saying "shit". Haha. No seriously, this is for real. The luwak (which is a civet cat) eats the berry that contains the coffee beans. The intestinal enzymes remove the bitterness from the bean, ironically leaving it "clean". A small bag of these special beans cost 60 pounds. He showed us a small tub of these beans which totally to over $900!!
Alright, now that your mind has been blown it's time to finish with the rest of my not-so-mind-blowing-day.
We head back to city center to buy some souvenirs. I bought a shirt to wear on St. patty's day that says "Ireland. Where the craic is always mighty". Can you say awesome?! Then we come back to the flat and get ready to go to an international "music festival". Now this "music festival" was put on by one of the churches that puts on a social activity for international students once a week that Hailey attends. So we go to this "music festival" without any ideas as to what to expect. Well, how do I say this, let's start with why I keep putting music festival in quotes. Well this was kind of a like cluster of random international students participating in an open mic night. Here's a taste of something we experienced: a girl signing "Jar of Hearts" out of tune and off tempo with a piano player who was trying to keep the original tempo with a drummer who didn't know what tempo to follow, thus resulting in a out of tune song with 3 different tempos that somehow managed to end at the same time. After this music festival we headed back to the flat, but made a quick stop at Centra (convince store) to get gelato and chocolate. Now that was the way to end the night. Actually, I ended the night skyping with my dad who decided to show me outside and brag about the 80 degree weather. And that is how the night ended. Tomorrow we are meeting with a local who is going to take us around the city! Should be a grand time!
So after the stressful night, I slept until 9:30. I took my time getting ready and then mom and I decided to walk around Queens University. We walked around the botanic garden (which was beautiful!!) and then ventured in to the library. You see, there is something very special in this library. One the 2nd floor, which is known was floor 1, there is a magical door. It's a CS Lewis door! It's a solid wood door with all sorts of things engraved in it. And there is a giant rug with half of the face of a lion on it. It was definitely a must see. We venture back to the flat to meet Hailey for the next activity of the day. We hop on the bus and head to the city center. Once we arrive at city center we have to get off of the bus and on to a new one. After asking 3 people where SD Bell was (that's the coffee shop we were headed to) we finally got the right bus.
We arrive at SD Bell a little early, wait a few minutes, and then we get a private tour of their coffee roasting process. Now here are some things you should know. SD Bell is a local, family owned coffee and tea shop. The produce many products that are sold to shops around Ireland, as well as the airport. They only have one location for their production, the place we were touring. Robert Bell, the great grandson of SD Bell, gave us our tour. He taught us all about the coffee roasting process. Now I am sure many of you are thinking, "wait a minute. I didn't think Ashlyn liked coffee." And that's where you are correct. I hate coffee..and I don't like tea either. But this was great. We learned all about the different coffee beans, how they are roasted, etc.
Here are some other interesting things I learned: Other than Brazil, Vietnam is the second largest coffee bean producer in the world. Coffee beans are green before the are roasted. Hawaiian coffee beans are the 3rd most expensive beans this company roasts. You can buy a small bag for 30 pounds. The guy told us we were better to get that back in the states, which is very true. In Hawaii we got coffee for $10. The most expensive coffee beans come from poop, or as the guy kept saying "shit". Haha. No seriously, this is for real. The luwak (which is a civet cat) eats the berry that contains the coffee beans. The intestinal enzymes remove the bitterness from the bean, ironically leaving it "clean". A small bag of these special beans cost 60 pounds. He showed us a small tub of these beans which totally to over $900!!
Alright, now that your mind has been blown it's time to finish with the rest of my not-so-mind-blowing-day.
We head back to city center to buy some souvenirs. I bought a shirt to wear on St. patty's day that says "Ireland. Where the craic is always mighty". Can you say awesome?! Then we come back to the flat and get ready to go to an international "music festival". Now this "music festival" was put on by one of the churches that puts on a social activity for international students once a week that Hailey attends. So we go to this "music festival" without any ideas as to what to expect. Well, how do I say this, let's start with why I keep putting music festival in quotes. Well this was kind of a like cluster of random international students participating in an open mic night. Here's a taste of something we experienced: a girl signing "Jar of Hearts" out of tune and off tempo with a piano player who was trying to keep the original tempo with a drummer who didn't know what tempo to follow, thus resulting in a out of tune song with 3 different tempos that somehow managed to end at the same time. After this music festival we headed back to the flat, but made a quick stop at Centra (convince store) to get gelato and chocolate. Now that was the way to end the night. Actually, I ended the night skyping with my dad who decided to show me outside and brag about the 80 degree weather. And that is how the night ended. Tomorrow we are meeting with a local who is going to take us around the city! Should be a grand time!
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