jeez louise, i'm practically a native.

just kidding. but i have been here for over a month! cuh-razy! i remember the beginning of this little journey like it was yesterday - frantically taking clothes from my only-slightly overweight bag, meeting everyone for the first time on the awkward group flight, getting my butt KICKED by jetlag. and now i'm spouting off bus routes, shopping at the moore st. fruit market, and going to rugby games. sometimes class. (kidding mother, i've only skipped one). gosh, i knew dublin and i would be friends. off topic, but making it over here with one suitcase UNDER 50 pounds is seriously one of my proudest achievements in life. now it certainly doesn't mean i will pack light forever - a girl's gotta have options - but at least i know i can. in other news, it hasn't rained in 20something days. a modern miracle i'd say.

but now let's talk guinness!! ohmygoodness. september 24, 2009 will certainly go down in the record books. it was a day to celebrate, that's for sure. classes were let out early, the city centre was swamped, and arthur guinness and his beloved drink were toasted to affectionately (sloppily...) all night long. the big 250th celebration was no small event - pubs had been selling tickets for a while, and all of them were sold out. typical, i thought we could just show up sans tickets, or at least buy them there. not so much the case. we got to temple bar and every place was jam packed. we stood in the plaza and joined the countdown until 5:59, the official time of arthur's day. it was like new years - as the clock hit zero, people threw their pints in the air and cheered their little hearts out. since every place was packed we couldn't get a pint to toast with, but just watching everyone raise their glasses at the exact same time was so, so fun. a little while later, we got our paws on a pint and went back into the crowd. of course by then it was starting to get a little rowdy. people had formed a big circle and were throwing their pint glasses into it? dunno why. and then a few really thought they needed to show off their white hineys and moon us all, so that happened quite a lot. shortly after, the garda came around to do a little crowd control. we stuck around a while longer, but then made our way to dame st. where there were places to get in. overall, one of the most fun times i've had. it sure is a great time to be in this town - there's so much going on!

lookie lookie, it's everyone toasting!
and now they're doing it with shoes!

the poor street covered in glass from the crazy irish shenanigans:

this weekend i'm going to glendalough and doing a half-day hike with a group of u.s. study abroad kids. it's this beautiful valley in wicklow county, like an hour away from dublin. there's a bunch of old, historic monuments and churches in the valleys, and two gorgeous lakes. definitely won't forget the camera. then i think a literary pub crawl is on the agenda? ha my friends and i have been dying to do one - people dress up like james joyce and oscar wilde and take you to all these different pubs in the city centre. i'll be like a chautauqua, but clearly 1000 times better. i haven't actually done many of the dublin sites yet, dumb, so that's what this weekend's all about! i am stoked.