Today was my ideal kind of day. It started off with three lectures (two of which were extremely interesting) on the Irish economy, Irish art, and the last on Jonathan Swift. They were a major uplift from yesterday, and I didn't fall asleep (actually I did during the first lecture, but then had two cups of Costa coffee). After that we found a sandwich place where you can buy a footlong for 3 euro. I'll definitely be hitting that up often.

After that we got a tip off from the Jonathan Swift lecturer about a bookstore on O'Connol street that sells books for very cheap. We went and looked around, and after that went to this awesome coffee shop called 3FE. My friend Andrew, who--among other things--is a coffee connoisseur, introduced me to what an espresso should really taste like. This espresso functioned as espresso is meant to function. While it sits in your cup, the enzymes within denature at a rapid pace. The first sip tastes like regular espresso. After about one minute, the second sip literally, as if by magic, tastes like a patch of raspberries. I was shocked and pleased. Then it becomes more acidic so you have to finish it up before it becomes too strong. Along with a great cup of cappuccino it's a winning combination. We then sat in this coffee joint for about 3 hours, talking and reading. I'm almost done with my Socrates book by Paul Johnson. I highly recommend it to anyone remotely interested in Socrates or ancient Greek philosophy.

This coffee place was also connected to a small book store, music store, and barber shop. I talked to the owners of both the book and music stores. The book store owner is starting his freshman undergraduate year at Trinity--he is at least in his late 20's. When he told me I smiled and actually said, "Well, better late than never," then quickly realized how douchey that sounded. He laughed it off but I could tell he was slightly thrown off. Win some, lose some.

The music store owner was this Irish hipster with a long beige dress coat, tight jeans, Converse sneakers, two earrings and a fro. He introduced me to an American band called Washed Out. Then I asked him where he finds his music and he recommended the following music blogs:

1. nialler9.com (for Irish music)
2. stereogram.com
3. theneedledrop.com
4.gorillavsbear.com

The man seemed like an audiophile, so these blogs are worth checking out.

Tonight I made my most complex dinner yet. For the first time ever I sauteed vegetables with pasta and sweet chili sauce. It actually tasted great, and Brad agreed. Teaching myself how to cook has been cool. It might be time to move beyond pasta soon.

Anyway, relatively chill day but definitely productive. I feel like the honeymoon period of Dublin is subsiding and I'm finally beginning to feel like an actual resident of this place. Feels good!