Oh Doolin

It's funny where you end up, the possibilities that arise, when you don't worry about filling in too many details of a plan ahead of time. I tend to get a bit lazy, a bit comfortable. In general, would prefer a slow day on my porch over a day in the city, packed full of restaurants, shops, and other activity. But during my trip, I tried to say "Yes" to as many suggestions as possible (within a broad definition of "reason"). This is how we found ourselves in Doolin, how we found ourselves there again, and even once more. We are now at my favorite part of the trip, and the reason I am so late in finishing this blog: it was so awesome, I didn't have any time to spend on the computer; and it was so awesome, I am finding it difficult to explain to you.

Galway Girls

Dear everyone,

Even though I'm leaving Ireland in a matter of too-few hours, I do intend to finish this blog, if for no other reason than to never forget how awesome my trip was.

Belfast City

For our last full day in Ulster, Abby and I were taken into Belfast to spend some time in the city. The first half of this post will just be photos with descriptive captions, rather than a detailed entry. In the evening, we met with some more friends for dinner, so you can read about that, too.

A Day with Gareth

On Monday, we planned to meet up and visit Scrabo Tower and Donaghadee, and then go to the Titanic museum. Gareth was able to take some time off work that coincided with our visit to Northern Ireland, so he was our tour guide for the first part of the day.

Scrabo Tower is just an old tower that you can see from almost everywhere in the county; I find that comforting. Being so high up, it affords a great view of the countryside and of Strangford Lough. It's also a sentimental site: When my dad filmed a video in Northern Ireland, we obtained permission to haul a grand piano to the base of the tower and get footage of him playing a song — I think, "This Is My Father's World" — at an incredible overlook. Donaghadee is seaside town, a favorite for many reasons: the picturesque lighthouse, the lack of tourists, and the fun of saying its name.

The North Coast

On Sunday, we got up to go to a couple of spots on the North Coast: the Giant's Causeway, and Dunluce Castle. The Causeway is an impressive natural rock formation comprising thousands of hexagonal rocks — a natural wonder —, and Dunluce Castle is known for its kitchens having fallen off the cliff on which it's built and into the sea.

First post from Northern Ireland

Tonight we find ourselves in Dundonald. Even as I type this, I am drifting off to sleep in the home of Gordon and May, the parents in my Northern Irish family. I got in touch with an old friend of mine over here today, and she said to me, "I can't believe you're home!" What a lovely thing to say. I can't believe I am, either.

Warsaw catch-up, Part II.

I have now landed in the Dublin airport. The story of how I got here is a bit crazy, but you'll have to wait til the end to find out what happened. No scrolling down (or up, Lion users) first.

Warsaw catch-up, Part I.

As I begin this post, I am in the air over Poznan, Poland, on my way to Dublin. It was very hard to leave Warsaw this morning. I almost cried, but thanks to the thought of two weeks in Ireland I was able to contain myself. In addition to Krzysiek, Dorota, and Przemek accompanying me to the airport, I gained one more person: Joanna (Asia, pronounced like Ah-sha; I don't understand how that is derivative of Joanna but it is pretty), my flatmate. Though I was out of the flat most of the time, and we only had a few opportunities to speak, I think we got to like each other pretty well. She seems a very sweet person, and I look forward to seeing her next time. Asia, let's plan to go on a photographic expedition when I return.

I'll try to give you a rundown of the days I spent in Warsaw, and insert photographs as necessary. Some repetition to begin.

Wedding

The main reason for my trip to Poland was to see the wedding of two good friends, Krzysiek and Dorota. I think that I met them both in 2008, but not on any intimate level. I consider that I became friends with Krzysiek in 2009. I got closer with Dorota in 2011 when we were partners on the winning team at a game night, and then we had a good opportunity to know each other better over tea. They both have extremely good English. In particular it's crazy how good Krzysiek is with idioms. Can you imagine what it's like to hear a Pole say, "I don't want to be a wet blanket"? Just guess how much I laughed.

Magda

I first met Magda in 2009. She knew Joe, one of the Americans over here, and through him she volunteered to come to Łazienki Park to be a tour guide for our group. She has a very nice way of speaking; she is extremely intelligent and beautiful. When I came back to Poland for 3 months in 2010, we got to spend a lot more time together. I got to meet her parents, her sister and sister's then-fiancé, and one of her grandmothers.

Hit the ground running

Earlier today I went to Coffee Heaven and bought a sad lemon meringue tart so that I could have internet and write a quick update to you. When I was about 5 minutes away from posting, I was disconnected, my password having expired. Tiger Latte still tastes amazing, but the meringue was like a marshmallow. Speaking of marshmallows, I was describing the ingredients of Goo Goo Clusters to Joanna, my flatmate. (I brought her some as a thank-you gift.) I tried to describe them, and she said, "Ah, yes, it is like that film, Ghostbusters -" "Yes!" I exclaimed, and we both laughed a lot. One of the cutest Polish moments so far.

Blue skirt is ready for adventure.

God, You are good, you are perfect, you are awesome. And you are awesome as a noun, not just as an adjective.

The title of this post is a text message my mom sent me on Sunday. I had her alter a skirt for me to take on my trip, and she finished it while I was out and about. It's pretty much the best text message ever; it describes me and my trip, my hopes and expectations and even my image of myself, so perfectly.

Another time I left

Five years ago, I had just made my way to Alaska, where I stayed for 5 months. It was 7 weeks after my dad had died. It was terrible, weird, amazing... My grief made me self-destructive and belligerent at times, but there were some wonderful people who kept me from completely losing my mind, whether they knew it or not. I couldn't have been more different from some of the people who became my friends. We were all there for different reasons, but I think most of us were simply trying to figure something out.

This is how it began.

It's 20 til 9 on a Saturday night. I'm heading out the the pub to hear some Irish music and think about my trip. In just over two weeks, I'll be leaving for Poland. It's a week for me in Warsaw, and then off to Dublin, where I'll meet up with my friend Abby to spend two weeks in Ireland. We plan to spend the first week in the North, and the second week in the south. We won't be planning a lot more than that.