Hello all,

I’m back! I’m three days into my internship with HotPress and there’s already so much to tell you guys! However, I haven’t forgotten about my time with Papa, so I’m going to talk about that first before delving into my internship (probably another day – don’t hate me!).

Hmm. So, where did I leave off?

At this point in my little narrative, Papa and I had decided to spend one of our last days together taking the Irish Rail to see Malahide Castle. Sounds simple enough, right?

Wrong.

One thing you need to understand about the Irish Rail system is that it doesn’t tell you when to get off or if you need to change trains to get to your final destination. Our tickets simply said “Malahide,” so we simply thought it would be one simple train ride.

It was not.

We had already passed by several stops, and each one was noted by a woman’s amplified voice asking us to “mind the gap” between the train and the platform.

This lovely woman’s voice did not, however, tell us when to get off. So you can imagine how alarmed we were when Papa and I reached Howth and were told that this was the final stop.

Sure enough, when we asked the garda what we did wrong, he told us that we missed our junction a few stops back. Apparently, switching trains at the junction would have taken us straight to Malahide.

But don’t worry – our mistake did not slow us down whatsoever! Soon enough, we were hopping off the train at the Malahide Station and making our way to the castle grounds.

I can’t post all of the photos I took that day, but I’ll put a few of my favorites down below to give you a taste of what the castle looked like on the inside and outside (which was, of course, beautiful!)

And, finally, to conclude my time with Papa in Ireland I will post my absolute favorite photo that I’ve taken so far on my journey. I cannot stress enough how amazing it was to have this time with my papa. I always feel more intelligent after speaking with him, because he has a way of explaining things that just makes sense.

(I love you, Papa!)

In my next post, I will (finally) get to start talking about Global Experiences and my internship with Hot Press magazine! So, stay tuned, folks!

With love,

Kinsey

Kinsey Keys

aspiring memoirist rummaging through my noggin, stubbornly clutching the past to my chest like it’s a newborn babe starved for mother's milk.

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