Author Archives: swarkoski1@gsu.edu

A Day in Dublin

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Friday morning, we discussed three texts from Dubliners which I really enjoyed. Our discussion focused on how the stories correlated with each other, and everyone had some really interesting points to bring up. However, the events following were a bit more exciting than class our discussion. Maddy, Karson and I ventured into the city for some shopping. Walking through the streets of Dublin, I really began feeling like I knew the city and what it meant to the people in Joyce’s stories. Later that night, we went to a pub crawl that exposed us to some of the landmarks mentioned throughout Irish literature. It was really interesting to see these places in real life because it gave me something real to relate the stories to. The fact that the bar Davy Byrnes was written about so much in so many pieces of literature made the experience so much better. Aside from the literary element of the pub crawl, the pub part was pretty great as well. I wasn’t really sure what to expect in the first place, but my expectations were definitely exceeded! Each pub was so different and unique, and the people were fun to meet and speak with as well. Everyone I have come in contact with has been incredibly kind and helpful so far, and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. As we explore Dublin and visit the places we are reading about, I gain a continually better understanding of what it meant, and what it now means to be a Dubliner.

Expectations v. Reality

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This photo was taken on the walk back to UCD from The Dark Horse on our first day in Ireland. I feel like this picture represents two identities of Dublin that I have seen so far. On one hand, the bus ride from the airport to UCD gave me a very urban view of the city. There was a fair amount of traffic, plenty of shops and restaurants along the way, and tons of people everywhere. On the other hand, our walk to Blackrock showed me a completely different view of a more urban Dublin. On our walk we encountered beautiful scenery and wildlife as well as quaint houses and shops. Though this picture was taken on the way back to the college, the first half of our journey was much more eventful. As we departed UCD, the weather was fairly decent: somewhat chilly but not raining. About five minutes into our walk, the rain began; drizzling at first, but it quickly escalated to a steady shower. My first thoughts were pretty negative, but as we continued walking I realized that I was no longer in my element and had to adjust my mindset. I expected that it would rain in the first place, so why should I be surprised and disappointed when it does? Thinking about a place and experiencing it first hand are completely different, and I really understood that yesterday as we tread through the rain like real Dubliners.

Honey Bubble Hideaway

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The photo above shows my best friend and I, if we were two delicious servings of bubble tea. I had never even tried bubble tea until last Fall when Hailey, my best friend, insisted that I simply could not live another day without trying it. Honestly, she was pretty offended when she found out. However, once she took me to the little shack across the street from Walter’s and robbed me of my bubble tea innocence, I knew my life was about to change. This may seem dramatic, but I kid you not, from that day forward, Hailey and I had a bubble tea date once a week. We eventually set our roots at Honey Bubble, a quaint spot on Ponce de Leon that served top-notch tapioca. We came here just about every single Sunday with the intentions of studying and preparing for the week ahead. Of course everybody knows that even the best of intentions can be lead astray. Week after week, Hailey and I found ourselves abandoning our studies and engaging instead in the most absurd of conversations with perfect strangers over specialty teas. The baristas know our names, Instagram handles, probably even our horoscopes. Yet they were still surprised by how quickly we burned through our “punch cards” and earned free drinks. Eventually Hailey and I began to wonder why we still bothered bringing out laptops and school work to our bubble tea dates, yet we never stopped. I think part of us still wants to believe that we’ll get some work done at Honey Bubble one of these days. Maybe next semester…

GSU Library

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In the two years I have been at Georgia State, there is one place that has always been there for me: the library. Until I came to GSU, I never realized the relief one big, concrete building could bring. Everything you could possibly need is located inside this place. Printers, scanners, caffeine, even books (believe it or not) are only a small fraction of all the resources I’ve come to utilize here. But to me, the library is more than just a coffee stop before class, or the place I print my essays at. The library is where I spend the majority of my free time on campus. Whether I am killing time between classes by browsing the aisles in search of some Bukowski I have yet to read, or internalizing a mental breakdown during finals week, this building has seen every mood I have to offer. And the library has shown me many things as well. It’s incredible the kind of things you will see when you take a few moments to plop down on one of the chairs over looking the bridge, and take in the scenery. So many of the friends I have today I met at the library, or we find ourselves consistently meeting up there, and I have definitely claimed the role of reserving a study room every time a group project is assigned. It may seem silly to place so much importance on a place as simple as a library, but I don’t know how I would spend my long days on campus without it.