This officially marks the end of my last weekend in Dublin. Colleen, Adi and I have been all studying for our exams. I have two, both of which are tomorrow. First is Media Regulations at noon and then Employment Law at 6 pm. Why they force us to take exams that don't even start until 6 pm (ending at 8 pm) I don't understand. But after a semester here, I've decided that it's probably unreasonable trying to understand because they don't make decisions based on logic.
Anyways - Friday was pretty quiet. Ha - the sad thing was that going to get dinner was probably the highlight for that day. Luckily Saturday was much better. Saturday afternoon Colleen, Adi and I went to Cafe Java in Blackrock to have a study group session on Media Law. Overall it went pretty well until Adi ended up in a fit of giggles and we realized we had clearly "hit the wall" for the evening. So we went back to the dorms and made plans to go see Trad (Traditional) Irish music.
Little did we know, City Centre was completely overtaken by Christmas party-goers. People dressed in tinsel and Santa hats packed every street and sidewalk. The bar we had originally planned on going to was so packed that by 9:30 pm they were saying that no one else would be getting in for the night. We realized it was unrealistic to limit ourselves to Trad music pubs, so we set out to find a pub in general. That's when I remembered The Bar with No Name. I was hoping that since it 1) has no name and 2) is up off the street and, in general, is kind of hard to find - that we'd have enough luck to at least get in. And we had success!
Basically this bar is like a house party but with bartenders. For the Minneapolis people - it may be comparable to the Kitty Cat Klub. It was still really packed but we managed to find a small area to stand. I don't know how it started, but we apparently felt like we needed to guard/protect our space - which resulted in Adi and I acting a bit tougher than we really are and Colleen got some really fantastic photos.
On Sunday morning Colleen and Adi were moving out of the dorms to spend the last few nights at a hotel in City Centre. But since they had 5 pieces of luggage, 2 backpacks, and 2 Ikea bags full of stuff to donate, I ended up going with to help out. After dropping the stuff off we went to the Dublin Christmas Market. Adi and I both had bratwursts, Colleen had a crepe, and we all got to sample what was probably the best brownie in the world.
After going through the market and getting to see some kids put on a dance show, we went to a coffee shop in the nearby mall for some tea/hot cocoa. Then Adi and Colleen went back to their hotel and I set out on a mission of shopping. After getting the things I had wanted, it was back to the dorms to pack. Yes, I am basically packed up and ready to go - which feels really weird.
I've had an amazing time here in Dublin and I really am going to miss parts of it. But at the same time, I am ready to get home. It will be nice not having to wear flip-flops to shower or worry about how much of my food was stolen from the fridge overnight. I'm also excited to have my car back - though I will have to re-orient myself to driving on the right side of the road (which seems wrong now every time I try to picture it). Then of course there are the people that I have been missing and am anxious to see. So yes, I'm ready.
Once I get back, I'm sure life will be busy. There are the holidays, concerts, and tons of other things. But I will try hard to blog about the things that I did this Fall but didn't manage to write about yet. And at some point I will manage to organize the 1500+ photos that I took and share them with people.
So Merry Christmas* and hope you all have a great New Year!
*Side note: over here it seems to be "Happy Christmas" instead of "Merry Christmas", and I really can't figure out why. I know they mean the same thing, but it just feels wrong to say it that way.
