The Wild midWest
Some people backpack the globe to find themselves. I moved to Wisconsin.
Last week Sean and I headed to “the homeland” aka Ireland. It was awesome to hear our last name pronounced correctly, and to see that someone other than our family has a healthy appreciation for drinking songs and Jameson.
Of all the places I’ve visited on this trip, I’d say I liked Dublin best. It wasn’t the prettiest city (Brussels, I’m looking at you) or the most exotic (Istanbul!) but I just felt so at home the entire time. People looked like me (further proof I am my father’s daughter), everyone looked happy, and everyone was welcoming. Maybe I just miss hearing English regularly spoken, but I couldn’t get enough of Ireland.
Sean and I started the trip with dinner at Temple bar, a few Kilkennys, and then we watched the tail end of the FC Bayern game. We hit the hay early at our lovely firetrap hotel. The next day we checked out St. Patricks, Christchurch, and walked around until it was a reasonable hour to take the Guinness Factory Tour. The Guinness was so fresh it tasted completely different from the stuff we get at home, and I tried the Foreign Extra, which may be my favorite beer ever. Then we headed home, getting lost on the way, and rested up for our literary pub crawl. While enjoying scenes from Oscar Wilde and James Joyce, we drank a number of pints. We met a great guy, Chris, who hung out with us for the remainder of the night. He had just quit his job and was on a 2 month tour through Europe. I ran into another study-abroader from Pittsburgh who knew a friend of mine from Case (small world), and then we got Schwarma. In typical style, I got food poisoning from that too.
My stomach hates me.
The next day, we had a flight to London to catch, so we spent the morning grabbing souvenirs and had lunch at Wagamamas. Again. En route to the airport bus, a bird pooped on my head in St. Stephen’s green. We had an entertaining conversation with an Irishman who watched the whole spectacle. Needless to say, I arrived in London with style. Or poop in my hair. fml.
