it's that day. yes, it is. and i love this day. it is my favorite holiday. you will not find any american with as much irish pride as this lass. i decorate my classroom. i do irish jigs. i use my irish accent all the day long. (and it's not too shabby of an accent). i sing raucous drinking songs. but i do not wear green. just like a real irish person.
and so, in honor of the land that i love, the land that is god's own country, i am posting an email i sent just after meeting ireland in february 2004.
***
it's me. sweetpagene. writing from the land of guinness and leprechauns. and boy is it great. oh i mean it's lovely and grand and brilliant. apparently those are the proper adjectives. sara and i got in very tired and disheveled on thursday morning. we somehow found our hostel in the centre of dublin and hauled our suitcases down o'connell street, dublin's main thoroughfare. what a sight we were. our hostel was a 10 bed room with a friendly italian man thrown in for free. he kept inviting us out to the pubs and we reluctantly declined. there were also 3 americans who came to dublin for the sole purpose of getting drunk and sleeping in. when we heard that, sara and i knew that dublin was the place for us. we spent the day doing not much but orienting ourselves. let me tell you, it's quite exhilarating and overwhelming being in a large city in a foreign country where you know nobody and nothing. i daresay it was the first time i've ever REALLY been on my own. the time difference threw us off enough that for the first few days we didn't sleep past two am so it feels like we've been gone forever, the days seem so long. we spent friday job hunting and flat hunting. we found a flat in the center, but were a bit too hasty and in our desperation to leave the grips of luka our italian friend, we said yes to a flat we shouldn't have. it was horrid. mostly the smell. and 3 to a closet, i mean room. oh and did i mention the discoteka that was going on our first night there? we were priveleged to hear the entire abba gold cd at 3 am. brilliant. we moved out and were homeless for a day and hit the streets with our luggage again. we went to look at a flat that sounded nice...until we got there and met the polish guy with leather pants. a wee bit dodgy. sunday we went to church. we met some really great people who were very helpful to us. as far as we know they were helpful, we couldn't understand everything they said. it's like my first few weeks (months?) in russia when all i did was smile and nod. we ended up finding the PERFECT (but dear...that's another lovely word) flat in center. no smell, only one flatmate, two beds, it's great. that night met some really cool people our age among whom was chris, from england who with his charming accent, dashing good looks and sparkling personality swept me and sara off our feet instantly. because we both claimed chris immediately we decided that the only fair way to settle it was to have a paper rock scissors match. the winner got the double bed and the loser got chris. i won and lost my one true british love. but the bed is just brilliant. so here i am still looking for a job. i found a copy centre job, but the hours wouldn't allow for traveling at all so i'm still looking. cross your fingers that i find something soon. anyway, dublin is great. it is, of course, an old european city and it looks like it, but the architecture is just grand. i love it. and the irish are SO friendly and helpful. we pull out our map and there are suddenly people surrounding us offering their help. there are a LOT of foreigners here, we meet as many non-irish as we do irish. and we have come across scads of russians, it's been fun to speak russian with russians again. we've had some adventures and some good laughs, but it's not as exciting in the retelling. sorry about that. so i guess that's it for now. i hope all is well on the other side of the atlantic. things here in the emerald isle are nothing but smashing....and lovely. not a bit dodgy...except for my lack of employment. ok that's all.
sweet o'pagene
***
and so began the best 5 months of my life. i ended up finding a job and awesome friends and a great chipper. it was the beginning of a magical, ethereal and eternal friendship. erin go bragh!!
ps. pog mo thoin.
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