December 24, 2003

The End.

It takes 28 hours, 45 minutes, and 7 seconds to get from the door of my flat in Dublin to the door of my house in Utah. Or at least that's how long it took me. Starting at 4am yesterday, I caught a bus to the Dublin airport. After some waiting, a flight to New York, more waiting, another flight, and a car ride, I'm home.

A few highlights:
• I had to swap my sneakers for my steel-toed shoes at the check-in counter because my bag was .6 kilograms over the 32 kilo limit (70 pounds).
• Upon arriving in the U.S., I embraced my narrow, green currency with its beautiful exchange rate of exactly 1 to 1.
• The first thing I bought was the year-in-review issue of Entertainment Weekly and the USA Today. Less than 2 hours later, I felt mostly reacquainted with American pop culture and current events.

Once I get my film developed, more pictures will make their way into my Europe photo gallery. I'll make note of that here when it happens. For now, this is the end of the road.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan

December 20, 2003

I'm Done

The title says most of it: my work is done. 8 finals and 45 written pages later. What it doesn't tell you is that things end differently here. In all of my classes, after the final lecture, the students applaud the professor. After my theology final was over, our professor took us to his favourite nearby pub for a round on him. There's something to be learned here....

Now all that's left to do here in Dublin is Christmas shopping, sending a few last postcards, and packing. In 3 days, I'll leave Ireland, and in 4 days, I'll be home.

November 28, 2003

Thanksgiving

Just because you're in a country that doesn't celebrate a holiday doesn't mean you can't do it anyway.

Case in point: Thanksgiving in Ireland. While Thanksgiving is recognised a number of places worldwide, nowhere does the holiday receive the recognition it does in America. That means everyone still has work, classes, and everyday life, but we did our best to overcome that.

Continue reading "Thanksgiving" »

November 24, 2003

Spain (Some Rain, Some Plains)

For the third week in a row, I finished class Thursday and went to the airport. This week's destination: Madrid to see Spain and visit Elizabeth.

As a veteran of many RyanAir discount flights, my AerLingus flight was especially nice. Imagine being served food and beverage on a flight without paying extra!

After I arrived at Madrid, Elizabeth met me and we checked my bag at airport luggage storage. Then, I spent the night in true young-Spainard style: at the discoteca. I can summarize the experience using only times. We arrived at Palacio around 12.30am when the party was getting started. We left at 6.00am when the party ended. It was lots of fun for one night, but I can't understand how people could go to the discotecas very often.

Continue reading "Spain (Some Rain, Some Plains)" »

November 19, 2003

Un-Good News

An uplifting sentiment appeared on the front page of the International Herald Tribune today:

"Dollar falls to new low in trading with euro."

Move along, there's nothing to see here....

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