Missed Meeting My Soulmate?

I feel like I missed out on meeting my soul mate on our trip to Berlin.

Luckily, the trip to the airport was far less stressful than the one to Tours and far less obnoxious than the 10 hour wait in the Shannon airport. A friend and I were waiting for our other friends to get through security when we spotted him.

Security had to go through his bag, and that was when I knew. He unzipped his bag, and you wouldn't believe how organized he was. I am talking about everything folded uniformly and perfectly. He literally flipped the stuff out then flipped everything back in. It was amazing. Then I noticed what he was wearing - a hoodie under a leather jacket. Then he did the emo-boy hairflip. The sad thing, I realize, is that I noticed how neat he was first.

Unfortunately my carry on to get home consists of a bag full of glass - 14 Guinness glasses, 2 Jameson glasses, 1 mug. I am bringing a friend's glass home, too, so no, it's not all mine - and a bag with my computer, camera, and a couple books to read on the plane. It won't be nearly as organized. Although, my friend and I decided to wrap all the glass in clothes, so at least the checked bags won't be overflowing with clothing.

"Dreaming of the Hills of Donegal"

Dublin was an excellent introduction to Ireland. My friends and I got to do all the fun touristy (and not-so-touristy) stuff in Dublin.

We walked around Trinity College Dublin, which is where a lot of famous literary men went to school, including Jonathon Swift (Gulliver's Travels and famous excrement poems), Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Grey), and Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot).

We went to the Irish writers museum, which was really interesting. At the time, I was reading James Joyce's The Dubliners  and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Joyce is a very well-known Irish writer - Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake.

We also went to Kilmainham Jail, which is where a lot of the major political prisoners from the 1916 uprising were held (and many were executed here, too). It was interesting to hear more about the history of the Republic of Ireland.

What I am going to miss the most about Dublin, though, is the dark pubs with live Irish music. A couple of my favorite songs that several different bands played are Molly Malone and City of Chicago, which doesn't sound Irish, but it's about the people who immigrated to Chicago during the famine.




My friends and I celebrated my 21st birthday in the only way it should be celebrated - in an Irish fashion, of course. We toured the Guinness storehouse, which was funny because we saw where the water Guinness uses is from just a few days earlier (in Wicklow). Then we toured the Jameson Distillery (and I got to do the whiskey tasting - it's official Jameson is better than Scotch and Jack Daniels).

Dublin was so fun. I really enjoyed this city. And I will have to search for a dark pub with live music in America.