Library & Gym

May 27 – Day 46
There are signs of me officially settling into life in Dublin. I joined a library and a gym this weekend. The library is one room probably the size of my parents family room. It is a satellite library and I’m told that the library in Dublin city centre is quite large. However, I was able to find travel books on Turkey and London in the small library down the street from me, so that was exciting! I haven’t done much planning and I leave in 4 days for Istanbul. I just checked the weather and they are forecasting sunshine in Istanbul. YEAH! It has been cool with intermittent rain for the last week in Ireland. I think the high today was only 52. It’s crazy to think when I go home in July that I am planning to bring a fleece back with me. I definitely haven’t worn any shorts around here!

The gym is quite nice. Just like everything else here it is very expensive. You can’t get a gym membership here for less than $150 per month. I checked about 4 gyms around me and gave up trying to find anything cheaper. That makes those $20-30 membership fees at home so much easier to swallow!

I also went to the outdoor market today in Dun Laoghaire with Lauren. We walked around, had falafel for lunch and went grocery shopping. She has a car and she took me to the big grocery store near her. I was like a kid in the candy store! It was the largest grocery store I have seen since I have been in Ireland. She gave me about 45 minutes to shop and I had a blast! I even found some silverware. There is still the lack of peanut butter, ranch dressing, mac and cheese, chocolate chips and other normal foods from home. But I did buy a steak :) and some gouda cheese and good looking fruits and veggies. They even had individually wrapped chicken breasts that were less than $5 a piece. Who knew grocery shopping could be so exciting!