Weekend 9 - Tír Na Draíochta
Saturday was the day of the pop-up dinner and therefore was fully dedicated to event prep. The theme of the dinner was Tír Na Draíochta which is Irish for “Land of Magic”. It was a reference to the fairy doors that you can find in the roots of trees around Ireland, but also to the magic of the local produce that featured in the menu.
I spent a lot of the morning making crowns of ivy for the front of house team which I was halfway through before it occurred to me to make sure I wasn’t using poison ivy. I wasn’t.
For context - while myself and the rest of the front of house team was out galavanting in the forest chopping down branches and foraging for leaves, there was an entire fleet of back of house teams prepping all the food. There was a team for canapes, bread & butter, starters, main, vegetarian main, desserts, and petit fours. Everything came out more impressive than I can really articulate! Afterwards, people were saying it was one of the best pop up dinners ever, but it is really hard to imagine they don’t say that to every group that comes through.
It was a ton of work, and at times was giving me war flashbacks to my production management job at puma, but was very gratifying overall! I’ll just leave you here with some images that don’t do much to convey the vibes I’m sure. Please note me and my resident architect (Sínead) posing in front of our wondrous creation.
Once the event ended, we all had to stay until the entire school was clean and put back together. It actually ended up being one of the most fun parts of the night! Video evidence here
Afterwards, most people headed to the Goalpost for celebratory beers. I fear I am under a non disclosure agreement and cannot speak about the fact that we then went to someone’s 21st birthday. Me, at thirty one American years old, went to a 21st birthday party. I don’t even know why that is a big birthday here in Ireland when their drinking age is 18! It was fun but completely unnecessary.
Sunday understandably had a late start. But a few of us walked down to the beach for a swim and sauna. The waves were monstrous and it was probably ill advised for us to go into the ocean but our hangovers demanded penance to the sea and we were not about to deny them. We then went to Sea Church for lunch and split vegan curries and fries. We decided on another cozy evening in so went to the grocery store to get the ingredients for tomato soup and grilled cheese.
Having these types of spontaneous days where plans evolve and exist because of the close proximity in which everyone lives is by far the thing I miss most about college. And it will be the thing I miss most about this place as well!