girlbits

finally here.
Dublin, Ireland
i made it!
so i'm here safe and sound. the trip was relatively painless, excluding missing my flight in london and getting lost in the Heathrow airport. luckily there was another flight to dublin right behind it that got me here with no problem at all.
i arrived in dublin, caught a bus to city centre, and met morten (if you don't know, he's the danish boy i'm staying with here) at the bus stop. seems easy, doesn't it?
well, the things i've learned so far are:
1. british "cents" are called "pence"
2. you can only bring one piece of carry-on onto a plane. but if you wear the big shoes in your bag, then stuff your purse into your carry-on bag, it's considered one piece
3. Heathrow airport is bigger than vancouver
4. there are lots of redheads in Ireland
what a learning experience! anyway, i've spent the evening drinking wine, looking at old pictures, and talking (and trying to understand danish conversations)... not a bad first night!
and now that i've been up for about 40 hours, it's time for me to sleep. until tomorrow!
written by  girlbits on September 11, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.

4 danes and a britt.
Dublin, Ireland
well, it's my second day here in dublin and it already feels like home. could be all the beer.
this morning i woke up to the smell of breakfast (about 8am) and found that everyone was sitting at the table waiting for me. preben (morten's boyfriend) had cooked an amazing breakfast for everyone and luckily they had coffee as well.
after breakfast, morten and preben had to go to work, so peter and mette (morten's brother and cousin) decided to take me out to see the city. we went to the mall first (apparently one of the biggest malls in europe) just to look around and get some groceries for dinner. it felt like a bit of a tease because we didn't have much time... i'll go back tomorrow. i saw a huge H&M... jana, i'll buy you something.
anyway, then we got home and went to meet morten for birthday lunch at an indian restaurant by his work. so good. after lunch, we thought we would go downtown and see dublin. {{walk.jpg|center}}we took a cab to city centre and walked to find a specific bar that peter liked, called "The Temple Bar". {{temple.jpg|right}}
we stayed there far too long talking to people from pretty much every country in the world and drinking lots of guinness. then when we realized we were late for birthday dinner, we caught a cab home.
we had an amazing dinner at home, then went back to the temple bar. so that's where i've been for about the last 5 hours, drinking beer, singing irish songs, and talking to people from all over the world. one guy actually asked me to marry him so i could stay in Ireland... i thought about it, but regretfully declined... as i thought it was a little soon.
anyway, what i've seen of dublin is beautiful so far. everyone is so amazing and polite, even the cab drivers are so excited that i'm here visiting Ireland. peter and mette are leaving back to Denmark tomorrow, unfortunately, so i'll be alone from here on in. luckily i think i can find my way around now that i've been around with them. and they offered me a place to stay and a guide when i go to Denmark next week.
i think i'm going to be happy here.
love you all, miss everyone, slainte.
written by  girlbits on September 12, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.

8 hours in dublin.
Dublin, Ireland
it's me again! still here in dublin, exploring the city like a crazy... city... explorer.
yesterday was a bit of a write-off after my night of 100 pints on tuesday. i went for a bit of a walk, but turned back pretty quickly when i realized i just wanted to lie down. my first irish hangover! yay!
so we all went to bed early last night and i got up first thing this morning, very determined. i left the house around 9:30 (or what they call half-nine) and caught the tram about 10 minutes away from the apartment. it stops right at st. stephens green (pictured here) which is a giant park and lake right in the middle of the city. so beautiful. i walked around the park for a bit, then headed over to the christ church cathedral.
{{christchurch.jpg|left}} the church was unlike anything i had ever seen. so big and beautiful. i went in for 4 euros and got to look around the cathedral.
i had some trouble finding it, only because i'm stubborn and won't take a map out on the street. for some reason i think that i don't look like a tourist if i don't have a map? right. i quickly learned that most of the other people were tourists as well, and i would rather look like a tourist than get lost. so i just folded my map up into a nice little square so i could look at it inconspicuously.
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{{tombs.jpg|right}}then as i was reading my "guide to the church", i realized there were tombs downstairs (jana, i immediately thought "funny, i'm going to the tombs by myself").
{{stpatricks.jpg|left}} anyway, no time to lose! so then i kept walking, heading for the guinness brewery and stopping by some other cathedrals along the way. i got a little lost looking for one street in particular, but the locals seem to notice the moment when i realize i'm lost and offer help. they're so friendly.
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i found the brewery. it was a little expensive to get in, and you really don't get to see any actual beer manufacturing (which, i guess, is understandable) but it was still a great tour. {{friends.jpg|right}} you walk around to all the exhibitions, learn about the making of guinness and a bunch of interesting details, then at the end you go up to the top floor which is a bar with a panoramic view of the city.
i'll mention as well that part of the tour is a stop right before the beer is going to be packed up and shipped, and you get to try it right as it's been finished. i think the guy fancied me a bit because he kept giving me samples (pretty much shots of guinness) and telling me to stay and get a fresher one. cute.
so then everyone goes to the top, sits with a pint of the freshest guinness you can get (i thought of you, david) and looks out on the city.
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so, i finally dragged myself out of the bar (this was the first time i had sat down in about 5 hours) and set out to find the dublin castle. this proved to be my most difficult adventure yet. first i could not find "castle street" and ended up in some weird area that wasn't quite what i was looking for. finally someone realized i was lost (once again) and helped me find the street. i got to the end of castle street and saw no castle.
so i walked around a bit, couldn't find it, and decided to "get in the map", as joey would say. i was sitting on some steps then finally asked a local where the street was.
local: are you lost?
me: well, i'm not sure. where is dame street?
local: it's right there.
me: oh. where is dublin castle?
local: you're sitting on the steps.
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apparently it had been a long day. so, i blushed and thanked her, then went to see the castle. that picture does the castle no justice at all. that's just one tiny part, it's actually a huge rectangular-shaped building with a courtyard in the middle, and that is just the clock tower.
i'm not big on guided tours, but it was actually quite interesting as they take you underground to see the ruins of the viking castle and moat. then you get to see the state rooms that are now used for government meetings, parties, and the presidential inauguration.
after the castle, i was so tired and my feet hurt so i walked back to st stephens green to catch the tram back home.
a lovely dinner, some wine, and a movie, and now i'm dead tired.
it's been a great day! i feel like i got pretty much all the touristy stuff out of the way early and i think i know my way around town pretty well now. strangely enough, i still haven't seen the river liffey (i've probably been steps away from it) but i'll see that tomorrow.
thanks everyone for reading this and commenting. i do love the comments. i hope i can keep it interesting! obviously i've been spoiled with internet in my room, i know i probably won't be able to keep this up... and i imagine my days will get less exciting. but thanks for all your support and making me feel at home away from home.
slainte!
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written by  girlbits on September 14, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.

how to lose a river.
well, i know it hasn't been long since my last entry, but i just had to share my experience this morning just to prove what an idiot i can truly be.
i had a meeting at the USIT office (the people i got my visa through) at 11am this morning. they said "it's beside the river liffey, just past grafton street" so i thought that was easy enough, as i have been to grafton street many times already.
i got my map out before i left, figured that i could make it there from the tram in about 10 minutes, and set out on my journey at about half ten. i walked down grafton street, past trinity college, down westmoreland, and ended up on o'connell. sure, most of you have no idea where these are, but they are main streets in dublin (and the bridge i was looking for was o'connell bridge, so i thought maybe it would be around o'connell street).
i found myself walking for about half an hour (now very late for my meeting) and saw no signs of a bridge or a river. i asked someone in a store and they said "yeah, it's about half an hour back that way"... pointing to where i had come from.
i gave up on the meeting, and decided that this whole "bridge" and "river" idea was just some cruel joke that irish people play on foreigners, because honestly... how do you walk over a river and not notice?
well, i did.
i walked back heading for the tram, now a little frustrated, and finally...
at the end of grafton street, just past trinity college and westmoreland. i swear, this was NOT there the first time i walked by. but i guess i did, in fact, walk over the bridge, right past the river, and just kept walking. so weird.
in my defense, you can either walk on the sidewalks or right down the middle of the street... i chose the latter... which means that you can't see the river from the street. in my mind, i would have noticed a giant bridge and river.
anyway, once i came to the river, i stopped, sighed, and looked right at the USIT office (pictured here, the first white building on the left with the USIT sign behind the tree). i had obviously missed my meeting, but was easily rescheduled.
i won't miss the river next time.
i also wanted to post some pictures of the apartment, and of morten and preben, because my gracious hosts seem to have been left out of this lovely travel journal.
hopefully the rest of this day goes a bit better than this morning.

best day of my life.
i titled this "the best day of my life" because, seriously, i think it was the best experience i've ever had. it's about 3am here, i apologize for any grammatical mistakes, but i have to write about it now.
so yesterday was pretty laid back. we stayed home waiting for the cable guy (who never came), had some chinese take out, the drank wine on the patio until the wee hours of the morning.
morten woke me up early this morning to go to glendalough (the city of two lakes) which was, honestly, unlike anything i've ever seen. we drove about an hour through the mountains to get there... and it's really just a tiny road through the most amazing mountains (what we call big hills) in the world.
anyway, morten and i drove through the mountains and kept having to stop to look at the beautiful scenery.
so we continued on, not really knowing where we were going, and eventually ended up at glendalough. it is actually a 9th century monastery and ruins of a cathedral and cemetary from way back when. we spent so much time there just looking at graves and then walked up to the lake, where st. patrick apparently "found god". {{lake2.jpg|right}}
{{cemetary2.jpg|left}}on our way back from the lake we just walked through cemetary some more and couldn't stop just admiring the graves from so long ago, trying to feel the engravings on the stones because we couldn't read them.
so we eventually headed back home, then realized that we were really close to powerscourt, which is a beautiful estate and garden just outside of dublin.
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we went there, but really didn't feel like it was worth 9 euro, so just walked through the building and looked at the garden through the windows. we got an ice cream cone, and headed home.
once we got home, we were both so tired that we just lied on the couch and fell asleep. after all the wine the previous night, and the amount of walking we had done today, we were both just beat. so we lied around a bit, i took a quick nap, then it was time for dinner.
we were planning on going to this cute little sushi place, called aya, in downtown dublin for dinner. when we got there it was too busy and they could only seat us for less than an hour. so we decided to go to another place that we had passed along the way. we went there, and were all amazed with the service, drinks, food, and overall atmosphere.
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it's a brand new thai restaurant that just opened last night, but was truly amazing. we probably spent about two hours in there and the owner gave us a free bottle of champagne for being such fabulous guests. how nice.
so! after two bottles of wine and our bottle of champagne, we were ready to party. i had wanted to go to the "brazen head" before i even got here, and they promised me we would go tonight. we did end up finding it (with the help of a taxi) and had the best time. it was pretty much jam packed, but people just stuff themselves in the pubs to enjoy a beer and the amazing music they have playing every night.
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we had one or two (maybe three) pints of bulmers, talked to a few irish locals (one who may have fallen in love with me a bit... may have been somewhat mutual), then found a taxi home.
sure, we were all a bit drunk on our way home, but it was the most fun taxi ride i have ever had. we took about a hundred pictures of ourselves to get the best one, and i'll post the one that i think is the worst of both of us because i think it's so funny.
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anyway, the brazen head was amazing. we will definitely be back for more irish adventures.
i have decided tonight that i will be staying in dublin. i love this city more than words can describe and i just haven't had enough time to truly appreciate what this city has to offer. i'll be looking for jobs and apartments next week before i head to denmark and will hopefully have something to come home to when i get back.
so, honestly, i can't even describe the experience i have had so far. i really just love this city, the people, and the adventures i have encountered.
i can't wait until tomorrow.

another day in paradise.
well, unfortunately i don't have much to tell you.
yesterday we all just slept in, then moved the party to the couch where we watched movies, napped, and drank lots of water. so much for driving out to howth, but we can save that for another day.
then today i had to wake up early to go to that meeting that i missed on wednesday. i found the place easily today and made it to my meeting on time. after the 2 hour "welcome to dublin" meeting with about an hour an 55 minutes of information i already knew, i ventured out to get myself a "Mobile".
so now i have a cell phone at least. now i somewhat feel like a local... without the accent.
anyway, i went shopping for a bit afterwards, but had to stop at home when the rain was coming down in buckets from all directions. then, 5 minutes later, when it was sunny again, i went to the mall.
the weather is so random here! i love it!
we had dinner, then i suggested we walk across the street to the pub (that they have never been to! just seems wrong.) for a pint of bulmers or two. we were responsible and actually only had 2 pints, then came home.
at least it's not raining anymore, but it is so windy we could hardly walk against it. still beautiful though.
anyway, it's another quiet night here in dublin. i've been searching for apartments and jobs, as i'd like to have somewhere to live when i get back from Denmark next week. i'll keep you posted.
here's the lovely view from our patio here in dundrum, dublin. it's a little funny because at the end of the street you'll notice a brick wall (it's dark, i know) that is actually the entrance to the mental hospital next door. i question that this building is actually part of it, but morten and preben always deny it.
goodnight everyone!

all mod cons...
so here we are... another day in dublin.
the last couple days have really been dedicated to finding a home, getting registered with immigration, and... well, that's it.
yesterday i had to stay home in the morning to wait for the cable guys (remember the ones we waited for all day last week and they never showed up?) who didn't show up AGAIN! i guess i'm not too far from home, now am i. things seem to work the same around here. anyway, once i realized they weren't coming, i headed downtown to go to the immigration office.
speaking of things being like home, the immigration office here reminded me so much of any government office at home... well, the 3 hour wait did, anyway.
so i got my ticket at the front desk, then he told me to go wait with everyone else around the corner. let me remind you, i was expecting this to be a walk-in, stamp, walk-out type deal. i walked around the corner and there were SO many people in there. i looked up at the counter, which said 217... i looked down at my number, 329.
this should take a while.
i sat there for about 10 minutes and only saw the counter go up one number. that's when i decided to go for lunch.
i came back to number 290... ugh... there are only so many things to amuse yourself with in that situation.
so finally they called my number, i walked up to a very angry looking irish man and gave him all my documents. about 10 minutes later he said "look at the camera", i looked around a bit and before i could say "where is the camera?" i heard "click".
that's going to be a good one.
so then after paying my 100 euro and getting what could only possibly be a picture of my feet (i'm actually not looking at the camera in the picture), he told me to go back and wait for my card to be printed. i asked how long it might take, and he said "probably about 10 minutes"... sure...
half an hour later, they called my name, and i have a brand new stamp in my passport and irish registration card! yay! i'm here for the long haul.
i left the office feeling a bit tired and sore, but also very excited for what's to come this year. can i call myself an alien yet? legal alien?
so i walked down grafton street, heading back to the tram as i was already late for dinner, and came across this amazing busking group that morten had already told me about.
it's funny because you don't see buskers like this at home. in vancouver, every once in a while you'll get a crazy homeless guy with a guitar, but here they actually dress up and put together a repertoire, and go outside with their cellos, standup basses, violins, etc to entertain the masses walking by.
after standing there watching in amazement for a few minutes, i got home just as they were putting dinner on the table. good timing. after dinner, morten's masseuse came over to give us both massages. i've never gotten a massage before, let alone a "deep tissue" massage. i got off the table afterwards and kinda felt like i had no bones... she said that was normal.
today i feel like i was hit by a bus. apparently that's normal too.
so, i spent this morning cleaning up the house and preparing for preben's sister's arrival this evening. after dinner tonight i have a flat to go look at, so hopefully i'll have a place to live by tomorrow!
cross your fingers!

london baby!
London, United Kingdom
well, this entry is probably going to be short and pictureless... only because i have a limited amount of time, and no hookup for my camera. should have brought my laptop.
so i'm in london! how exciting!
my trip here was a bit exhausting. i left my cozy apartment in dublin at 8am to catch the tram into town. got to town around 8:30 where i walked to the "aircoach" (shuttle to the airport). now, let me first tell you that when i left the house it was sunny, so i was wearing a long skirt and flipflops. about 5 minutes away from the house it started POURING.
thank god i brought my umbrella.
anyway, the aircoach took about half an hour to get to the airport, and i was pretty satisfied that, other than the rain, things were going smoothly.
i was standing in line waiting to check in for about 20 minutes when i realized i was standing in the wrong line... a minor setback... i guess this is why they tell you to get there early.
i checked in (in the right line), found my gate, and waited. the flight was fine, only about one hour from dublin to london, then at the end the flight attendant went over the intercom and said "oh boy! it sure is pouring in london! have a great afternoon... if that's possible...".
how nice.
i was really regretting the skirt and flipflops at that point.
i got off the plane, things were pretty painless in the airport, then had to look for the bus. i asked someone who said "sure! just go downstairs and you'll see them!".
i didn't see them.
eventually, after walking back and forth through rain and puddles, i found the bus station and bought my ticket (10 POUNDS!). i was wondering why a ticket from the airport into town was 10 pounds (about 22 dollars?), but it turns out that stansted airport is actually like a 2 hour drive from town.
apparently i didn't research that part.
2 hours into town isn't so bad. but my flight tomorrow morning is at 7:30am. so, if i do my calculations properly, i have to be at the airport around 5:30 or 6, which means i have to leave my hostel around 3:30 or 4?
my roommates are going to love me!
oh well. not much i can do about it now.
well, i got off the bus (thankfully i woke up in time) and stood on the street just thinking "so... now what?". i had written directions on an old receipt that told me how to get from the station to the hostel. what i didn't factor in was that the bus stopped on the opposite side of the street from the actual "station" so i was reading my directions backwards. you can imagine the confusion.
but, i eventually found the bank mentioned in my directions and all was well.
so i haven't seen much of london. i got to my hostel absolutely soaked and exhausted, and wasn't really feeling the whole tourist thing today.
did i mention that the minute i stepped in the door of the hostel it stopped raining? yeah. now it's sunny.
anyway, there's a pub in the hostel so i'll probably have a beer and go to bed. i have quite the early start tomorrow!
i'll add photos to this entry later, and i'm sure i'll have some good stories about my trip to Denmark as well. so keep in touch!
pip pip! cheerio!
written by  girlbits on September 22, 2006 from London, United Kingdom

jeg elske deg.
Arhus, Denmark
well, everyone, i apologize for my absence as of late.
i know most of you are wondering what has happened to me and why i haven't been updating you. i've been really busy, and not able to upload my pictures, which is mostly why i haven't updated.
i safely made it to Denmark, where i am now, so no worries there. i will get a good, long, picture-filled entry up as soon as i can, but this danish mac is a little difficult to use and i can't figure out whether i want to "tekststørrelse" or "genindlæs" (i have no idea what those words mean, i just found them on the computer).
anyway, i promise a great update soon on all of my interesting Denmark adventures over the last 5 days. i hope everyone is well at home, and i miss you all.
written by  girlbits on September 26, 2006 from Arhus, Denmark

let me entertain you...
Copenhagen, Denmark
okay, okay... settle down everyone. finally i have some time, a computer, and loads of pictures and stories for you. this could take a while.
{{hostel.jpg|left}}well, i managed to wake up at 3am in london to go to the airport. my hostel was nice, but i forget that if you're sharing a room with 7 other women, you're probably not going to get a lot of sleep. but, either way, i woke up at 3am and (very quietly) left to take the bus. i felt a bit worried and a bit like an idiot walking down finchley road at 3:30 in the morning with my suitcase, but it turned out fine.
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i arrived in århus with no problems. i met henrik (just in case you don't know, henrik is my grandfather's wife's niece's son... very close relation) at the bus station and he walked me back to his place. even though i was really tired, he decided we were going out to see some things.
{{market.jpg|right}}so first we walked down to this open market they have down the street to buy some vegetables and things. then we went back, had lunch, and walked over to "dem gamle by" which is a collection of 18th century houses from all over denmark that they moved into this one "town".
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the town was really neat, and we got to go in all the houses and walk around them. then henrik found some stilts and walked around for a bit. {{henrik.jpg|left}}
he says he got the hang of it... but i beg to differ.
anyway, we walked home and they started preparing dinner. they also invited ash, henrik's ethiopian friend who lives in denmark (we are quite the international bunch) to dinner who ended up coming out with us afterwards.
{{radio.jpg|left}}after dinner, we went out for a beer to a local pub, then tina (henrik's girlfriend) went home and the three of us carried on to another bar (did i mention i woke up at 3am?). the bar, "waxies", had a live band called "on the radio" which was a cover band. they ended up being pretty good, and henrik and i did some great dancing.
we finally stumbled home around 4:30am and went to bed.
the next day, we both slept quite a bit, as you can imagine. but we did end up going out still, as we had plenty to see. i think that day we went to the art gallery and then took a walk down to the harbour.
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we got to bed relatively early that night, i believe, and planned another big day when we woke up.
{{arhus.jpg|left}}henrik had to go to the university to do some work, so i took it upon myself to go out and do some shopping in the city. i found a couple good stores and bought a few things, then met up with henrik to go for lunch, and then to the train station as we were going out to see his parents.
{{tina.jpg|right}}we met up with tina, then all caught a train to "horsens" where we were picked up by henrik's dad. we had a lovely dinner at their place, and talked a lot about my family history and my grandparents, which was really nice to do, as i don't get that side of the story very often.
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we borrowed their car and drove home that night.
which brings me to tuesday, when henrik and i drove over to the west coast of denmark (about a 2 hour drive) to go to "holthstrom" (okay, i think i spelled that wrong) where his aunt lives.
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there was some beautiful scenery on that side, and henrik brought me to see the old german army bunkers that are now lying in the sand on the beach.
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obviously the bunkers have moved a bit because they are on sand, so some of them are upside down and sideways and half underwater. but you can walk around and climb in them and everything, which was really interesting. it was pouring rain, but i couldn't resist walking around and going in all these old bunkers.
{{fly.jpg|left}} we climbed in one that was on its side and came up through this window and decided to take a picture. henrik says there was a fly on his nose... i'm not sure.
anyway, we drove back and went out for dinner to a restaurant down the street, then went home.
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so, yesterday i caught a train to copenhagen to come out and see michael and helle, and visit with peter (morten's brother, from the first night in dublin) last night. i got here around 6, we came here and had dinner, then i went downtown to meet peter at a karaoke bar. the last train was at midnight so i knew i had to go home early, but when i looked at my clock it was 2am... oops... so i finally caught a cab around 5 and made it home safely.
and here i am! still in copenhagen... i'm going back to århus tonight to fly back to dublin tomorrow morning.
thanks for your patience everyone!
written by  girlbits on September 28, 2006 from Copenhagen, Denmark

we're gonna have a party...
so my last days in Denmark were well spent. michael and helle took me out to roskilde to walk around town and go to the cathedral where all the previous danish royalty are buried. well, not so much buried as put in caskets on display.
a blurry picture, i know, but you get the idea.
anyway, we had dinner and then i had to get back on the train to head back to aarhus to catch a plane in the morning.
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a nice visit, but much too short.
so i got on the train for a three hour ride back to the city. i made it back to aarhus at about midnight, henrik and i had a glass of wine, then went to bed.
i had to wake up early to go to the airport, and made it there with time to spare. i made it to london, dreading the fact that i had about 5 hours at the airport before my flight back to dublin. i will spare you the details to keep me from looking as stupid as i actually am, but in the end, i couldn't fly out that day and was stuck in london.
it was going to be 200 british pounds (about 500 canadian dollars) to get a new ticket or to change mine, and about the same to get a hotel room to stay the night and fly out the next day for free. after a bit of a breakdown in the airport, i remembered someone telling me that you can take a bus from london to dublin...
and that's what i did.
14 hours later, i was home! it really wasn't as bad as it sounds... i slept most of the way, was on the ferry for 4 hours, and met some really interesting people on the way.
anyway, i got back to morten and preben's house at approximately 7am and fell asleep pretty much immediately. we went shopping, ate dinner, and got ready for a night on the town.
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it was a good night, up until we waited over an hour in the pouring rain to get a cab. apparently cab drivers don't stop for people in this city... seriously.
so now i'm still looking for a place to live. it's not looking good. i've had a lot of appointments that didn't work out, people not calling me back, and apartments that are not fit to live in... it's getting very discouraging and i'm not really sure what to do now.
maybe i'll go somewhere else?
we'll see how tomorrow goes, but if i don't have any opportunities by tuesday, i might just relocate for a little while. no other options, really, and i'm starting to stress.
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written by  girlbits on October 1, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland

coming up roses.
well, on sunday i was a little stressed out and upset about not having a place to live or a job...
funny how things can change so quickly.
yesterday i got a job AND a home! well, the home isn't fabulous but it's somewhere acceptable on a temporary basis while i look for something great. paradise poker called me yesterday and was very excited about my experience and that i'm canadian... but then this morning, an irish gambling company called "paddy's power" (i think) called me and offered me more money and it's in a better location...
so i think i'm going to take the second one. it sounds like a fun job, actually, and it sounds like a good place to work.
i'm very excited!
so, to celebrate, louise and i went out for a "couple drinks" last night... we checked out a few different pubs, a club in a basement, louise got her purse stolen, then we went home. other than the purse stealing, we had so much fun... then got home and i tried to cancel her cards and phone but all the customer service was in danish. that didn't work so well.
so today is moving day! i'm not exactly feeling up to it, but i guess i have to... can't very well hire movers to move my backpack and guitar.
(did i mention i bought a guitar?)
anyway, i hope everything is well at home and thanks again to everyone who comments, i really love them.
written by  girlbits on October 3, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland

a pumpkin and an apartment.
ugh. i just wrote a nice, long entry and then my wireless cut out and i lost everything. that's annoying.
everything is happening so fast now! i can hardly keep up.
so i moved into this place on tuesday. it's a cute, old house, but i'm sharing it with about a million other people and that gets a little irritating. so, yesterday i continued to look for places and found the best one ever!
the new place is a little far from town, but on the tram line, so that's not a problem. it's brand new, never lived in, i have my own huge room and bathroom, and a big patio. it's so perfect... almost too good to be true. my roommate is a cute french boy who is studying in dublin at the university next door. we talked a lot, looked at the place, and agreed that i would move in on saturday. how exciting! he doesn't even live there yet, so we're both moving in on saturday... then the housewarming party is next saturday. you're all invited.
and i have a spare bed and couch. so bring on the visitors!
i'm sad about leaving morten and preben's house though. those guys were so fantastic and we had so much fun. but at least i'm still close by... we have a date on saturday, yes?
morten gave me a very thoughtful and beautiful going away present. a fabulous addition to any home. and i'm pretty sure my roommate right now is very excited that i have displayed it on the fireplace in our room. thanks morten! i'll cherish it forever.
so that's pretty much all the news. i won't even talk about what i did last night, because some people seem to think i "go out too much" (don't give me any of that "when i was your age..." crap, henrik, we partied in Denmark too ;)). louise and i just can't resist a pint of bulmers and live irish music. who could?
can you believe it's been almost a month since i left? time really does fly. what an experience i have had so far though. and so many more to come!
written by  girlbits on October 5, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland

like a house on fire.
tomorrow is my one monthiversary of leaving canada! that's insane!
so lots has happened... i moved on saturday into my beautiful new apartment. my roommate, christophe, is the cutest and i think it's going to work out well with him.
i took a couple pictures of the place...
here is the sitting room...
this is my messy, disorganized bedroom. but notice the giant bed... that is actually two beds pushed together. why do i need two beds?
notice that you can also see the pumpkin on the window sill. now it's okay, but people are going to start thinking i'm weird in december.
this is my beautiful (and kinda creepy) view from the balcony.
i'm sure i'll get more pictures as time goes on, especially at our (what looks like it's going to be huge) housewarming party. the building is so cute because it's all students (the university is next door) so everybody knows eachother and has been very nice to me.
anyway, after moving on saturday we all decided to go out to our favourite pub, fitzsimons, in temple bar (notice all the pints of bulmers on the table.. jealous, dan? :))
from left to right that's louise, thomas (louise and preben's brother), preben, annette (thomas' girlfriend), morten, and behind is some creepy drunk guy we couldn't get rid of (as a side note, he was passed out in his chair about an hour after this picture was taken).
we had a great night there filled with maybe a couple drinks, lots of laughs, dancing, and a stumble home with no shoes on. i stayed at morten and preben's place that night, as i couldn't really get home, and we had thanksgiving the next day!
the next morning (around noon) morten and i had to go shopping for breakfast and dinner food, and we were pleasantly surprised to see jack osbourne signing books right there in the dundum shopping center!
that was a little weird. but we got lots of food (and some bedding for my new apartment) and went back home.
apparently they don't celebrate thanksgiving in europe, and i was a little sad about missing mine at home, so i offered to cook what we traditionally eat at home for thanksgiving.
they don't sell turkeys here either. so that makes it difficult.
but, i was still able to pull off a lovely thanksgiving dinner for all the danes (and one irish guy) and it felt a little like home.
so i finally went home on sunday night, made up my room a little bit, slept for a long time, then monday i set out to discover my new neighbourhood. i have all the necessities nearby, which is great, and a huge mall within walking distance.
christophe and i hung out a bit last night with some of the neighbours (our patio isn't separated from anyone else's on our floor, so we can all just walk around to eachother's apartments) on the patio and i got to meet the people in the building, which was nice.
then i had an interview today for paddypower and i JUST got the phone call that i got the job! seriously, i just got off the phone with them. that's so exciting! i start thursday morning... and it's even better because it's about an 8 minute walk from home.
i'm so overwhelmed! if i weren't in a library, i would scream.
so that's that! i don't have the internet in my apartment yet (they say this week) so that's why i haven't been on msn or skype recently. but don't worry, i'll be back in no time.

mousse au chocolat.
so, yesterday christophe was cooking "flan au pomme", and all the neighbours came over last night to eat it.
then today it's "mousse au chocolat" that i caught him preparing with claudia.
just thought i'd share the picture. i should have taken a picture yesterday when he was wearing the flowery apron, but this one will have to do.

there's a loose moose about the house...
so i've been living in my apartment for over a week now! funny how time flies.
i started my job this week, which is going really well. it's so close to home, the people are great, we get paid well, and don't have to do much. perfect!
i guess the next thing to talk about would be the party last night. and what a party it was! i was expecting a lot of people because the guest list had 80 people on it, and people were bringing people... but i really wasn't expecting what actually happened.
there was a "pre-party" that started at about 7:30, and the apartment was already full. then people just kept showing up as the night progressed. at about 2 i tried to count, got to about a hundred and stopped counting. there were people in our apartment, the apartment next door, and all along the balcony. crazy.
so, as you can imagine, it got a little rowdy.
there was a dj with a huge set-up upstairs (and a microphone, which came in handy), two rooms full of dancing, lots of food and drinks, and lots of drunk people. myself included.
it was truly the best party i have ever been to, and it was in my apartment. so fun! and it was great to meet all the people in the neighbourhood. christophe and i are legends now.
so other than the...
crazy polish guy...
there were really no disasters.
well, okay, we learned that you can't have two people doing an irish jig on a wooden coffee table.
but, overall, the party was quite a success. today christophe and i woke up around noon (did i mention the party started clearing out around 6am?) to people cleaning our apartment. how nice! i made breakfast for us and the people next door, then we had a pretty lazy day.
... and let me just say, that will be our first and last party...
back to work tomorrow!

dance everybody, make it hot...
it's been a while! i guess i really haven't had much to say as i've pretty much settled in here and life is getting a little less exciting. well, not less exciting for me, but possibly less exciting to read about.
work is going really well. i love the people i work with, the job is fairly easy (other than trying to understand the accents), and it's so close to home. but seriously, have you ever talked to a scottish person on the phone? that's not even english.
louise and i went to the city on wednesday for a couple pints. back to fitzsimons! that pub is so great because there is a bar on the main floor with live music, a rooftop terrace upstairs with music and 2 bars, and a dance club downstairs. all you could possibly need in one place! we love it there.
we ended up staying out a bit later than we had planned, but were too busy dancing to think about going home. on our way out, louise went up to the singer and told him that i want to marry him. sure, i may have said that... but that's not something i wanted him to know. anyway, he invited us back for his show next week.
other than that, nothing has really changed. my apartment is still lovely and my roommate is still fabulous.
i've had a few requests for pictures that i finally got around to taking. if you have any other requests, please let me know.
here is my work:
the courtyard of my building as seen from my bedroom window (that is the building next door, which is really the same building, just separated by the courtyard):
my kitchen (those dishes on the counter are clean):
and a view of the whole balcony (that's my apartment there on the left):
and here's a picture of a rainbow i saw today. my first thought was "how original, Ireland, really":
and that's it! i think we're heading out to temple bar tonight to go to a new bar i heard about. apparently good bands play there, so we'll check it out. if it's not good, fitzsimon's is always close by.

dubliween!
okay, everyone stop panicking, i'm still alive.
as i said last time, it's a bit more difficult to take pictures and come up with interesting stories now that i'm settled in and becoming more comfortable in my new country.
i've been working lots, which normally would be a bad thing, but i'm really enjoying my job. yesterday someone (yes you, henrik) asked me why i would come to a completely different country just to work pretty much the same job i was working at home. and frankly, i think this is a subject worth exploring.
it's because it's not the same job. whether i'm doing the same thing or not is not the point. it's the fact that i've successfully left a job that made me feel underappreciated, and moved on to a job that may not be my lifelong dream, but it's teaching me a thing or two about living in this fantastic country, and allowing me to live here comfortably.
so who am i trying to convince? i don't know. it's just that so many people ask me why i'm here, and what my purpose is. so i start thinking "what AM i doing here??". obviously i know why i'm here, i wouldn't have moved to a country i'd never been to without a reason for going... but i guess it does seem a little strange to some people.
it's almost been two months since i left home and i'm really starting to get a bit nostalgic about the whole experience. i miss home because i miss knowing a lot of people, knowing where i am at all times, and having my family to fall back on when i need them. i also miss breakfast at joe's, and skim milk... but that's another story. but at the same time it's an interesting adventure and test of my sanity. even though i do miss home, i can't imagine being ready to go home in ten months.
anyway, enough about that and more about halloween in dublin. last night, morten, preben, louise and i went for a night on the town to experience halloween weekend in dublin.
it was pretty much the same as any other night in dublin, but a little less busy, and a few more fake spiderwebs. it's a long weekend here, so most people go away and the bars were actually less packed than a normal saturday night... which ended up being really good because we could actually breathe in the bar.
i made my way to morten and preben's house for a few warm-up bulmers, then we all took a cab to the city. We went to the porterhouse, which is a bar i heard about from some guys at work. they had it all decorated for halloween, and the bar itself had about 4 floors and on the second floor there was a live band.
the bar was pretty packed, but it was nice to actually be able to move and breathe inside, unlike an average saturday night at a pub in temple bar.
we met a fabulous british couple who had been traveling by motorcycle for the past few months, drank some interesting tequila flavoured beer, had one too many jager-bombs, and left at a reasonable hour (about 2:30).
there weren't very many people dressed up. there were a couple devils in the bar, but nothing very exciting. not until we walked through temple bar and met up with the pimp, the sumo wrestler, and the... umm... sexy lady?
the pimp actually handcuffed louise to herself and made her "motorboat" the guy dressed in the fat sexy lady costume before she let her go. that was quite amusing.
we ended up losing morten and preben on the street at some point, we ran into my roommate and a bunch of the people from my building and started some sort of strange sing-a-long in the street, then i finally caught a cab home.
a great night, if you ask me. i could be feeling better today, but at least i don't have to work so i can lie around, watch movies, eat popcorn, and lounge around in my jamjams.
missing all of you. it's almost time for visitors! who's first? and if not, could you please send me an omelette from joe's, and a glass of skim milk... thanks.

you're a star.
happy halloween everyone!
turns out halloween isn't really that big of a deal here. it's really just an excuse for teenagers to light fireworks everywhere... which is fun for everyone, really. if you like being afraid for your life.
anyway, i went to work dressed as a canadian girl. no one else dressed up either... and i really didn't even remember it was halloween until i stepped outside and thought i had stepped into the middle of a gunfight.
so, i walked home... quickly... and realized i really live in the best place for halloween. not that i live IN the cemetery, but it's quite appropriate.
creepy!
and then got home and colm, the guy upstairs, has the spinning colourful lights on again that he projects onto the building next door.
sure, you don't really get the idea from the picture... but it's pretty cool.
anyway, that's the extent of my halloween excitement! a cemetery and some lights! man, it's always a party in dublin.

merry christmas? merry kiss my ass.
two weeks without an entry! i apologize. i have had no internet at home for a while now, which makes it difficult to post. but i'll try to catch you up as best i can...
so what has happened in two weeks? let me see...
well, the weather has been beautiful. pretty cold, but at least it has remained sunny so at least it looks nice. so we took advantage of the sun by putting the table on the patio and having lunch out there as often as we can.
a french guy with a baguette? how clichee.
anyway, work has been super busy so i've been working a lot of overtime and trying to keep up. i was so used to bodog where you get a break in between phone calls, but it's not quite like that here. at least i don't get bored.
so the frenchies have come over a few times... as they do... this time it was to share "gunther" videos. if you haven't heard of gunther, he's a guy (i believe he's german... maybe swedish...) who sings these ridiculous songs. look him up on youtube, it's worth it. but anyway, tramway court (my building) is obsessed with him and we dedicated a special night to watching his videos.
there may have been a few drinks involved as well.
other than that i haven't really done much as i still haven't cashed one paycheque on account of the bank hating me and wanting me out of the country. well, they don't hate me, but they certainly don't make it easy to set up a bank account. so i've been working for a month and haven't made any money yet.
but i think i got all that worked out today and i should have my money in 3 working days... right...
so this weekend was fun as i was invited to morten and preben's for dinner, some games, and a few drinks. they made me a fantastic dinner, then we played a few rounds of jenga (or sticks, as they call it)...
and then by accident we all ended up at the local nightclub until 3am. seriously, none of us are sure how it happened.
a couple jagerbombs and one too many pints of bulmers later...
we danced the night away, stumbled home around 3, and i slept at their place.
now back to work tomorrow. i'm happy that i'm enjoying my job, and i'm meeting some great people in the process. although, i was thinking today that my "traveling" has come to a stop and i'm getting too comfortable here with so many resources at my fingertips. so i've been researching a bit and i think a trip to florence in december might be the plan.
i'm spending christmas alone in a foreign country, so i figured the least i could do is surprise myself with a weekend away during the most depressing month of my adventure. i'm so good to me.
and plus, the good thing about not being able to cash my cheques for so long is that i've accumulated quite a lot of money. and i'll be getting a tax cheque in the next few weeks! and i hear italy is beautiful in december.
so lots of things coming up! louise and i had a trip to galway planned, but the banking issues put a bit of a damper on that one and she's going to london next week, so we may have to save that trip until the new year. which is okay, because all we have is time.
plus, i've been getting a little homesick lately. we were talking about it being the "2 month blues" (it was 2 months on saturday) and apparently this is the time that you start missing home. i could attribute it to the fact that they've started playing christmas music in the mall already... but who knows. anyway, the fact is, i miss my family and friends at home. it's such an interesting feeling and test of my own strength to be so far away and to miss everything going on at home.
but, what i said to louise on saturday when she was being sad was that home will always be there when you get back, and nothing will have changed except for you.
so nobody change until i get back so i can prove myself right. thanks.
anyway, it's bed time for me. i'll try to post at least once a week so you can at least know that i'm alive and well.
written by  girlbits on November 14, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland

merde! ca caille!
another week gone by. like sand through an hourglass. so are the days of our lives.
i had thursday off last week and decided to go visit the big city for some shopping and adventure. turns out they've decorated for christmas already just to remind me that i have no one.
it's very pretty though.
then i called louise to go for lunch and she had plans to go out for some drinks with some of the guys she works with. we ended up at Bob's, a bar in Temple Bar that has karaoke in the evening. we had a few drinks there then headed to SIN, a nightclub just up the street from Temple Bar.
SIN was a little weird, but we managed to enjoy ourselves. as we do.
then on friday, christophe's parents arrived from France to visit for the weekend. the first time they came over was on friday evening when i had just gotten off work (after not sleeping at all and going to work hungover) and was lying on the couch in my pyjamas eating ice cream and watching a movie wrapped in my duvet. not such a pretty sight.
then on saturday they came over in the morning with christophe and they had to buzz in because the front door was broken. so i woke up to open the door, again not looking so hot.
not the best first or second impression. but then they came over last night to make a big fondue dinner for the family and some friends in the building. they brought specialty french cheeses with them to make dinner for everyone. how nice.
it was a good little party, anyway. lots of wine, cheese, and baguette. and only french speaking! my french is definitely getting much better.
so we had dinner, then christophe's family brought out a pie they had also brought over from France and we all sang happy birthday (did i mention this was all because it's christophe's birthday? i think i missed that part) in french, of course.
it was very nice of the family to visit, i really enjoyed their company.
so, finally his family left and then we realized how drunk christophe was. he suddenly had this idea to rearrange the apartment, and decided that the irish flag needed to go on the wall.
but first he wrapped himself in it.
then remembered that we don't have a hammer or nails... so he found a pot and a hook screw and started wailing on it.
but finally he hung up the flag and we are all very happy for it.
how patriotic of us.
can i just say as well that yesterday marked the biggest, craziest storm i have ever experienced in my life? i have honestly never seen anything like it.
on my way to work yesterday the weather was fine. not raining, but just a little cloudy. then i went outside on my break and i couldn't get the door open on account of the howling wind.
finally when it was time for me to go home, i tried to call a cab, but sat on hold for about 10 minutes and decided it wasn't worth it. rain was really coming from all directions, and the wind was causing the puddles to splash up. i had to keep ducking around corners because the wind was pushing me so hard. i kept laughing because i felt like a mime pretending to be in a strong wind, but it was actually happening.
and i wasn't dressed like a mime.
i actually kept thinking there was a tornado because the wind sounded like a train and trees and debris were flying everywhere. no tornado though.
so that brings us to now. i woke up this morning and it was sunny, which seemed impossible after the weather catastophe that happened yesterday.
other than that, everything is well over here in tramway court. missing everyone, i hope you're all well.
don't be strangers.
written by  girlbits on November 20, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland

baile atha cliath!
happy december, everyone! i can't believe christmas is almost here.
well, this story starts with last week when it was christophe's birthday. he really had 3 birthday parties: one with his parents, one on his real birthday, and the house party last weekend.
so on christophe's real birthday we all headed down to the pub down the street. we'd never been there before, but it was very cute and lounge-like. we had a group of about 30 and closed the bar. great night. then after a cold walk home we passed out at about 3.
i had a couple days off after that and went to city center to do some christmas shopping and go to the art gallery. the city is so heavily decorated for christmas it's unbelievable. very nice though. i was questioning what this sign meant, "baile atha cliath" only to discover it actually means "dublin". then i wondered why they had giant lit-up signs saying "dublin"... but at least they looked nice.
anyway, then we had the party on saturday night. it was so crazy because everyone seemed to get very drunk (except me... i had to work on sunday) and ridiculous. christophe was drunk even before the party started, and didn't stop drinking until i caught him wandering around holding on to the wall for balance.
the party was fun though. at one point i looked over and saw christophe with his head in the fridge and thought nothing of it until i noticed he had been standing there a bit too long. i walked over and realized he had actually passed out IN the fridge while getting a beer. possibly the funniest thing ever.
there was lots of dancing and fun times though, which is great. i ended up the last one standing because christophe passed out (in bed, not in the fridge) and there were still a bunch of people here. so i had to wait for everyone to leave.
you may be wondering what is happening here. i can't say for sure, but i know it goes along with a spanish song where they yell "HEY! HEY!" a lot and throw their hands in the air. then they all lock arms under their legs and say "HEY! HEY!" again. don't ask me.
but i was well behaved and made it to work for 9am the next morning.
someone mentioned that neither of us are irish, and questioned why we have the giant irish flag. so i got out my canadian flag and christophe made his own french flag, so as to represent our 3 countries.
anyway, other than that i've been working and hanging out with the guys from work mostly. morten, preben, and louise were in london for the weekend so i didn't get to see them. i see the students from my building quite often too though and we like to go out to molloy's, our neighbourhood pub, quite often for some drinks and socializing.
the weather has been crazy insane over here as well. there was a storm last night that knocked over so many trees, lamp posts, and traffic lights that they had to close down tallaght village (where i live). walking home from work was hell, as the wind and rain were actually hurting my face, and the wind ended up knocking me over into a puddle. i wasn't happy.
so that's that. everything is going well here, and dublin is treating me well. i'm getting a little sad about christmas and starting to miss my family and friends, but overall i'm having a great time here and always looking forward to the next experience or adventure in the old smoke.
written by  girlbits on December 1, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland

bonne noix!
so, here we are.
again, it's been far too long since i've written anything and i apologize. everyone can stop complaining now.
things have been a little hectic. between all the pre-christmas parties, everyone in the building going home for christmas, working way too much, and morten having an accident with some stairs, things have been a little crazy.
the pre-christmas parties included a fondue night at our place...
a night out at the new pub downstairs...
a group excursion to molloy's...
and a party at the apartment next door...
so at least we all saw a lot of eachother before everyone goes away. it's gotten much quieter around here since everyone left, but last night there was a poker game next door for all the "survivors".
last night was also our danish christmas party at chateau danois.
preben made us a beautiful danish christmas dinner, there were nice gifts, and a rousing game of taboo afterwards. thanks for the night, you guys, i really appreciated it.
anyway, so now there are only about 4 of us left in the building who aren't going home for christmas. i've agreed to work on christmas eve and christmas day so as to avoid sitting at home wallowing, and at least all the guys from work will be around over the next few weeks anyway so i'm not alone by any means.
i'm sure there is so much more to say but i'm not feeling my best today, and it's been so long since i blogged last that it's hard to keep track of everything that has happened. overall, i'm still happy to be here and i'm having a great time. i've decided to stay where i am until may, then probably quit my job and travel around until august when i'll come back home. although, who knows. i haven't really made or stuck to any plans since i left canada, so we'll see.
i'm still planning a small venture probably in january. my Italy trip in december was cancelled due to bank and work issues, but now i think i'm better organized. we're still planning our trip to galway too, so we have that to look forward to as well.
i'm going to miss everyone over christmas though, it's going to be weird not having anyone at home or having louise to party with on weekends. but i'm sure i'll survive a couple weeks.
merry christmas everybody! i hope your holidays are happy.
written by  girlbits on December 18, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland

a christmas prayer.
only in Ireland.
written by  girlbits on December 20, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland

and in conclusion...
apparently my last entry sounded a little depressing, so just as a little epilogue, i just wanted to assure everyone that I am not actually as depressed as it sounded. i LOVE everyone's comments and encouragement, but i don't want you to think i'm over here crying all the time and drowning my sorrows.
i am having the time of my life over here and loving every day that passes by. sure, the holidays are a little depressing but i keep a sense of humour about it all and keep on keepin on. i get to experience the holidays in a completely different culture, which is amazing! aside from the obvious missing everyone (and amaretto... i can't find it here) i'm really happy here.
happy christmas everybody! slainte!

make the yuletide gay...
christmas is over! and what a christmas it was.
the holidays have been pretty uneventful for me, as was expected.
on the 23rd we had our work christmas party at a posh restaurant/bar downtown called dandelion. lots of people showed up, and we got free drinks all night on paddy.
so, needless to say, i may have had a few drinks. the bar closed so we went downstairs to the nightclub and danced (and drank) the night away. very fun night though.
here's rob and i both making weird faces. i was hired with him.
this is enda and i.
and audrey and i. she's my boss. i think that might be a ghost up in the corner. or maybe a finger.
anyway, then i worked on christmas eve and christmas day. luckily a few people came in on christmas eve so i had company. i was literally the only one in the office on christmas day though. so i just watched movies on all the tv's we're supposed to watch the races on, and got paid an enormous amount of money for it. not so bad!
when i got home, i still had some time before the family woke up, so i started on christmas dinner. i decided to actually make a christmas dinner so that i wouldn't feel like i was missing out... but it ended up looking a little depressing.
how romantic.
anyway, then after dinner and watching "the nightmare before christmas", it was finally time for christmas morning in vancouver. skype really is a wonderful thing, it almost felt like i was in the room. so we both put our video cameras on and opened presents together. and bahbuttons decided to come and say hello...
so it was a good christmas. best i could have asked for under the circumstances, anyway.
and now new years is tomorrow! i think i'm going out with some of the guys from work. not sure what the plan is yet, but i'm hoping it will be good. most of us have to work on new years day anyway so it probably won't be rowdy.
i hope everyone had a great christmas, and have a happy and safe new year!

here's lookin at you, kid.
happy new year! okay, 12 days late. but still.
and happy 4 monthiversary of my arrival in this country. 4 months! they just keep piling up. and my irish accent is really not coming along at all. i'm quite disappointed. bollocks!
well, let's start with new years. i didn't really have many plans, but a couple guys from work decided to take me out to a pub in rathfarnham, a town about 10 minutes from tallaght. it was really packed, but very casual and fun.
i may have had a few drinks so i didn't take many pictures. but we had a great night and i racked up quite the phone bill calling everyone i know back home. i guess it's a little weird when i call up at 4pm drunk saying happy new year. the time difference is slightly confusing still.
but we really had a great time, and i managed to get home by 2am and up for work at 10. me? responsible? what's going on here?
anyway, it was a fabulous new years eve and a great way to bring in 07.
after new years i tried to lay low for a bit and save money and my liver until the students started arriving home. christophe came home on the 6th and finally home feels like home again. until he leaves for good next saturday, anyway. boooooooo.
louise finally came home too and we had a great night out last weekend when we went for a great dinner in temple bar, then a few drinks at our favourite spot, fitzsimon's. as you can see, louise was very happy to see me too.
and now finally all the students in the building are home and it's noisy and full of life again. we visited our local, molloy's, the other night to reunite everyone with a guinness, as we do. it's exam time now so they don't come out much.
i swear i didn't drool on clemens' shirt as it may seem. unfortunate placement of a raindrop.
then i had two days off. i decided it was time again to get out and see something new and interesting in dublin which, in turn, gives me something new and interesting to share with all of you.
so i decided to go to Kilmainham Gaol, an old prison built in 1796.
i was expecting it to be a little creepy, but really was not prepared for what was actually there. when you first walk in, you're in the west wing which is the old part of the prison.
it was cold, dark, and completely eerie. the cells were tiny and had nothing but concrete floors and walls and one small window at the top of the back wall. prisoners didn't have a mattress of any kind, only one blanket and one candle they had to make last 2 weeks.
usually i wouldn't have much sympathy for people in prison because normally you would think of murderers, rapists, and generally horrible people. and of course this place housed many of these people as well, but they also kept women here, as well as children as young as 8 who stole food. most of the prisoners were political and were revolutionaries serving time for crimes against the government.
anyway, then as you walk through the small corridors and a few 4 foot doorways, you get to the east wing, or the "new" wing. this room was enormous and built so that a guard could stand in one certain spot and have a full view of all cells in that wing.
apparently they added the skylight because:
a) in the old wing, prisoners were dying of diseases associated with lack of vitamin D (sunlight) and
b) to remind the prisoners of God.
it was really an amazing place though with some great stories.
afterwards we went out to the courtyard where some very famous political heroes were executed. it was just a big stone courtyard with tall cement walls, but you could see where the walls were worn away from bullets. one small black cross sits in the corner and a plaque on the wall comemorates the people who died there.
needless to say it was a very moving experience. i think it was even scarier because i was there alone and just standing in one of those cells by myself was chilling.
so, after that i needed a walk outside and finally the weather was nice again. so i walked through the grounds of the irish museum of modern art.
i had the intention of going inside, but i spent too long walking around outside and taking pictures and by the end i was tired and hungry and not in the mood for modern art.
but the whole time i was careful of any sheep...
or hedgehogs...
at least i think that's what those are. not quite sure what the signs are for, but i thought they were funny.
at the end of my little adventure i stopped at this old graveyard, because i seem to have developed a strange and slightly creepy fascination with old graveyards.
so now i'm back at work again. boring as usual. kiki leaves next saturday and i'm really not looking forward to it. although, i have a new lovely american girl coming to live here with me for a few months so hopefully she can fill kiki's shoes! (melinda, you have to speak french. hopefully that's okay.)
but, the end of exam week also means big party chez britt & kiki! i'll hide the table this time.
written by  girlbits on January 12, 2007 from Dublin, Ireland

the pipes, the pipes are calling...
what a crazy week it has been.
do i say that every week?
so last saturday i finally got to see the danes again after them being away for 3 weeks over christmas. i went over to their place for a couple drinks and the plan was that louise and i would go out because the boys were "tired". but they were easily persuaded after a few drinks.
we had a great night out. i really missed those boys.
and the fun continues over at tramway court since exams ended last week. but along with exams ending comes the departure of many of the students here. sad days.
we had the last big party in the apartment next door last wednesday to celebrate the last day of exams.
it got quite messy as everyone left in the building was crammed in the one apartment. it was cramped and hot in there, but everyone just danced the whole night and said our goodbyes in true erasmus style. i had to work the next morning, so i tried my best to keep the drinks to a minimum and go to bed early...
i'm not so good at the self-control though.
anyway, the party was great. and included the final paquito:
and kiki ended up stealing our #42 off the wall outside our apartment, and then wore it on his shirt... luckily later he stole a 4 and a 2 from other apartments and put them back. now #43 is #3 and #21 is #1. but at least 42 is back.
a good last tramway court party anyway.
so that party was not the last. people continued to leave during the week,
and the rest of us went out on saturday night as christophe had to leave at about 4am on sunday morning. we started at our place to drink all the leftover alcohol everyone had, which ended up being quite a bit. there was also a crazy freak snowstorm and we all went out to the balcony to enjoy.
once all the bottles were consumed, we headed out to city center to go to a club called Zanzibar. the ride on the luas was quite eventful as there were several international sing-a-longs.
and an impromptu luas paquito...
finally we made it to Zanzibar and and a fabulous last night for kiki.
there was lots of dancing...
drinking...
self-taken photos...
and other fun...
but we had to leave to get christophe home for his taxi at 4.
it was an emotional night overall. but on the ride home it started setting in that kiki was leaving, and everyone started to get sad.
we got home at about 3:30 to realize that, once again, there was no power in tramway court. and if i explained it well enough the first 2 times, no power in tramway court means no lights, heat, or water. and did i mention as well that it was snowing earlier in the night? yes, it's cold. but a very fitting way for christophe to say goodbye to tramway. was it fate at work? c'est possible.
the rest of the night was a complete wreck. i was fine the whole night... sad, but i hadn't cried. we stood in the courtyard while kiki said goodbye to everyone, and then it was time to go get his luggage. the minute we walked into his room i started crying... up until last night.
it's really just devastating to lose my kiki. it won't be the same around here without him. he's become such a big part of my life over here and, as the comment states, he has become my ireland family. i will truly miss him.
anyway, we came back inside and i clawed around in the dark trying to find the candles and blankets. and thanks, mom and dad, for talking to me while i drunkenly bawled my eyes out over the phone with you. it helped a lot.
then yesterday the power still wasn't on, so the group of us went to blubar, a local pub, for some warmth and warm food.
it's funny that ireland's idea of pub food is either stew or roast meats along with potatoes and vegetables. not quite the same as the greasy stuff you get in pubs at home. it was really nice though.
then we went to tesco to stock up on water and candles, not knowing how long the power would be out.
the power did end up coming back on last night, thank god. i was finally able to clean up the apartment from the party the night before, take a shower, and do the dishes. i did have to throw away all my food from the freezer and fridge, but i find that i appreciate running water much more when i've gone without it for 24 hours.
anyway, more people leave tomorrow. soon it will just be us survivors who are staying in the building for the next few months. vive the survivors!
it's lonely over here without kiki though. i will really miss having him here.
you will miss me, kiki.
tu vas me manquer.
written by  girlbits on January 22, 2007 from Dublin, Ireland

a few tidbits.
i have some more updating to do, but unfortunately still can't access the blog from home. this will happen on tuesday when i have the day off.
a few things though, i've updated a little trip report of you click on "Britt's Travel Blog" under trips you can see the full map of my trip. which i think is kinda fun.
also, i've posted some videos on livejournal as i can't post them here. nothing too exciting, but a few good clips of the shows i've seen and some drunken debauchery. you can find them at:
http://brittpop.livejournal.com/
happy easter weekend everyone!
written by  girlbits on April 7, 2007 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: girlbits's Travel Blog

the green green grass of home...
so, this time i must really apologize for my absense. for some reason i am unable to open my blog at home, so i haven't been able to post anything for far too long. completely out of my hands.
anyway, i'll do my best to catch everyone up. i can hardly remember what's happened over the last few weeks so i'll just go by what i have pictures of.
after kiki left, the danes took me out for dinner and a few drinks. they had a friend in town and i was lonely at home anyway... so why not party it up. we ended up at tante zoe's (our favourite) for dinner which was, once again, fantastic. then we went to a few bars afterwards for some drinks and laughs.
we finally ended up at porterhouse, which is a great 4-level pub in temple bar where they always have live bands and make their own beers. great spot.
so, then last week... well, about 2 weeks now... the lovely and wonderful melinda showed up! you know, i was a little hesitant about another roommate coming in, because no matter who it was they'd have big shoes to fill... but it turns out i am a fabulous-roommate magnet and lucked out once again. she showed up in the morning, i picked her up at the luas, and it's been only laughs and fun since then. good play, melinda, good play.
so the next night i decided to take her out, as i had tickets to the decemberists and thought maybe she'd enjoy it. so we took a cab into town and had a few drinks in the pub first. i'd heard that this was a good venue, but it really was one of the best i've been to. very small and intimate, and quite beautiful. but they also have about 3 bars in the place, which came in handy.
the show ended up being better than i'd expected as well. although, i went in there hoping to hear my two favourite songs and they only played one of them. but i guess you can't win all the time.
so then there was some time in between... and the next interesting thing, i believe, was the superbowl.
a few of the guys from work took me to McSorley's, a pub in ranelagh that would be showing the game in its entirety. and, let me remind you, the superbowl is like 9 hours long and it started at 11:30pm here. and i really didn't think anyone here liked american football, but at least there are enough fans in dublin to pack a pub full of people on superbowl sunday.
it turned out to be a really fun night, and there was actually a hot dog stand IN the pub... the dangers of having a gas grill indoors didn't stop us all from enjoying one too many of those hot dogs filled with danger and fire hazard.
so finally we left the pub around 4:30 or 5, walked to the next town, and got a cab.
work the next day was not as pleasant as usual... but it was well worth it.
what happened next? hmm... there have been a few nights out, a lot of working, a sick day, a SNOW day...
oh! and a dinner party...
i decided to have the danes over for dinner so they could meet melinda and so everyone could experience my newfound culinary expertise. so melinda and i watched the rugby game during the day, cleaned up the house, got cutified, and started cooking for the guests.
dinner was fabulous, and so were the (~) 26 bottles of wine.
it was a really great night, and melinda and the danes got along famously, as i knew they would.
so that brings us to now. i'm off to london tomorrow for a little touristy adventure and the billy talent concert! am i going to the show? am i not? who knows. but i booked the trip anyway. turns out my beautiful and fabulous sister knows someone who is on tour with them and he offered to get me tickets (the show was sold out months ago) and backstage passes. i don't think i've stopped crying or started breathing since i heard this news. but it's still not 100% yet and it's 2 days before the show. so let's just hope everything goes to plan... if not, i'll go see the lion king musical or something.
but my next post should be from the beautiful rainy tornado-y city of london... possibly from my jacuzzi tub in my executive room in my 4 star hotel. how did that happen? don't ask.
so, that's that. we recently passed the 5 month mark, which means i'm nearly halfway through my journey in the emerald isle. whoa, halfway. i need to get moving.
written by  girlbits on February 15, 2007 from Dublin, Ireland

mind the gap...
London, United Kingdom
so, this will be short... it's midnight and i fly out tomorrow.
but i just wanted to update a) because i like to be able to change the city i'm posting from and b) to let everyone know my london weekend went swimmingly.
i'll post much more about this trip in the next few days when i'm not tired and running out of wireless time. i have lots of pictures and lots of juicy stories, so keep in touch.
written by  girlbits on February 17, 2007 from London, United Kingdom

there's nothing to lose...
well, i made it. my weekend in london was so superfantastic.
so i flew out of dublin on friday morning. dublin airport is surprisingly easy to navigate, so i ended up at my gate quite early. once i flew in to london, everything went smoothly until i had to find my hotel. well, smoothly only because i asked a million questions to every info desk available.
britt: umm... so how do i take the tube?
info desk: you buy a ticket. then get on.
britt: oh! okay. so... can i buy a ticket from you?
info desk: yes.
britt: great! then where do i go?
info desk: just down there. follow the signs.
britt: fantastic. and what do i do with my ticket?
info desk: put it through the machine at the gate.
britt: okay. i think i've got it.
info desk: great.
britt: so where do i go?
it was painful. but i found it! it's funny when, at home, your skytrain system is up high so you can see it, and we really only have one line. and it's on the honour system so you don't have to put your ticket through any machine to get on. come to think of it, the skytrain is kinda weird.
anyway, i finally figured it all out. i got a day pass for the underground and became an expert by the end of the trip.
i made it to my stop where, apparently, my hotel is "just across the street". i ended up circling the block a few times before asking someone. in my defense, it was NOT "just across the street". anyway, i finally made it to the hotel which ended up being very nice. i dropped my stuff off, cleaned myself up, and headed out for a day of adventure.
i looked at the map to plan out my journey (we all know i hate to take maps out on the street, and i needed to be organized because i only had 2 days to see everything) and went out on my way.
i started at buckingham palace...
then i turned around and saw something i recognized off in the distance!
how convenient that everything you want to see in london is very tall.
so i went to see big ben...
which is a lot bigger than i had anticipated.
and then i stopped by westminster abbey as well...
westminster abbey
behind that i could see the london eye just past some buildings so i walked towards the lights and finally found it as well...
by the end of the day i was really tired (it doesn't sound like a lot of walking, but it really was) and hungry, so i hopped on the tube and went back to the hotel. i had no plans for friday night, so i looked in my london book and found what looked like a cute little jazz bar in soho. i went for dinner at a little italian place near my hotel, then caught a cab to soho to go for a few drinks.
the bar ended up being one of the best bars i've ever been to. it was so small and intimate, and the band was amazing. i ended up flirting with the waiter for most of the night, and talking to a guy who just happened to be from victoria. what are the chances?? although people assumed we were together because we both had accents and we were sitting together... and of course he had to be that jerk who yells stuff like "Smokin hot!!" and "You guys are on fire!!" to the band during quiet parts. who does that?
anyway, i ended up staying way too late and having some drinks with the band. then i headed out before their last set around 2.
now, i knew i had heard of soho but couldn't really remember what for. on my way out, there were SO many transvestite prostitutes and weirdo guys with old cars trying to convince me they were taxis. thaaaaaaat's why. but i ended up getting a *real* taxi and made it back to my hotel safely.
the next day i woke up semi-early with a bit of a wine hangover. but i had many more things to do and not enough time to do them in. so i headed for the tube on my way to baker street and madame tussauds. the line wasn't so bad at madame tussauds, so i stood there for about half an hour before realizing there is about 2 hours left of the line once you get inside. but i had already put the time in, so i waited.
then i got to party with my good friends...
humphrey bogart...
the pope...
and my new boyfriend, ronan o'gara...
did i not mention i was dating someone from the irish rugby team?
okay, fine, they're made of wax. and, to be honest, madame tussauds was a bit of a waste of time and money. but apparently it's such a big deal. i was a little disappointed.
so i left before the thing was over, and headed towards the pier and the london bridge.
and, you know, the london bridge was not exactly what i expected. for some reason i was thinking it was going to be this giant intricate thing... but it was really just a bridge. and, as it turns out, it is not falling down.
so i walked across it. and then back.
by this time i had walked so much again that i was exhausted. i went to find a tube station and head back to get ready for the show.
i still wasn't sure whether i was on a list for billy talent or not, but i figured i might as well go and try. i got ready, and headed out to brixton (which also has a bit of a reputation for being a rough area... why do i choose these places?).
i ended up sitting outside for quite a while, because the doors and the stage entrance were both closed. as i was sitting there, i realized that i was probably the oldest person there... and i wasn't wearing enough chains or black makeup... or converse shoes. but i was there!
i ended up getting in. and the show was possibly the best thing ever. and i'm not just talking about concerts.
once i got in, i bought a beer, and sat down. and once i sat down, this group of guys came and decided i was lonely and needed company. they were nice... but once they saw i was drinking, they said "wow!! can you buy us beer???"... and the drinking age is 18! i felt ancient in that place.
but then the band came on...
and made it all worth it...
they played all the songs i wanted to hear. and they were filming their live dvd that night, so i'll get to buy it and say i was there! how fun!
ben with backlighting.
anyway, so the show ended late, and i had to wake up at 6 to catch my plane back to dublin to work at 4 in the afternoon. poor planning, i know.
i woke up about an hour late, and hopped on the tube back to heathrow, still thinking i had enough time. but if you recall my last encounter with heathrow, you'll remember we don't have such a good relationship. i got to the airport, and ended up getting off at the wrong tube station. once you are in the wrong terminal at heathrow, you're screwed.
so i found the express train to the other terminal, cried for a while, and ran like hell once i got there. i went to check in and found out that my plane was delayed anyway. good news for catching the flight, bad news for getting to work on time.
it ended up being delayed about two hours, but i did make it home and to work on time. exhausted... but on time.
so then katherine and adam, two of melinda's friends from home, were staying with us for a few days. they were lovely and lots of fun. too bad i didn't get to spend much time with them because i was working every day, but we did go out on tuesday, which was their last night in town.
kat, adam, melinda
we started out at tante zoe's for dinner, then went to see julius caesar at the abbey street theatre (fantastic!), then headed to temple bar for a few drinks.
melinda showed us how she can fluff up her hair and closely resemble the "hedgehog crossing" sign outside the museum...
Melinda being a hedgehog
then there were some modeling poses such as "smaller jaw, and big lips"...
model poses
and well as "fire in the eyes"...
needless to say, we had a great night.
britt at the temple bar
and since then, it's been work work work.
but now is day 1 of my 4 day weekend! i was thinking of going to berlin for a few days, but i got tickets to the cheltenham trial day at the naas racecourse tomorrow, and i REALLY wanted to go. so i'll go to berlin some other time, this weekend is for horses!
giant hats and pearls are appropriate, right?
so morten and i are off to the races tomorrow. big fun! i'm sure there will be some stories from that as well.
it's really inconvenient that i can't access my blog from home. if anyone knows how to fix it, please help. otherwise, you'll just have to deal with the long and rare posts.
(also: we're coming up on 6 months!)
written by  girlbits on February 24, 2007 from Dublin, Ireland

it's raining, it's pouring...
well, well, well...
so i found myself with another day off and decided i just had to tell the story of sunday, our day at the races. because it's worth it.
morten came over to my place around noon and i was still getting ready. noel (guy from work) was picking us up at half twelve to head out to naas.
fyi: you can see naas (pronounced "nase") on the map above... it's in the county beside dublin, county kildare.
we only got a little lost on our way to the racetrack, and when we found it we decided it was best to park in a Field beside the main entrance... why didn't anybody else think of this! i was wearing my brand new leather boots, so i didn't appreciate having to walk through the mud, but i guess it's better than having to walk 3 kilometres from the car to the entrance.
we got in, immediately found the beer, and headed inside to place our bets. i had researched a bit beforehand, but was still completely lost when i got there. i placed a patent on the first three races, a few each way bets, a lucky 15, and some random singles (i'm getting good at this!). we took our dockets and headed out to the stands to see the first race.
you know, i've been to the races before at home, but it looks nothing like this. we have those small oval-shaped courses (i swear the horses are smaller too) and here the track is 2 miles long and has all sorts of jumps and walls. everyone brings binoculars to see the horses on the other side... i didn't think of that.
anyway, my horse won the first race. so i figured i was guaranteed to win the rest of them too now that i was on a roll. unfortunately it doesn't seem to work that way. i lost the next 5 races (there were only 7). but, in my defense, one of morten's horses fell and one of them died halfway through the race. now THAT is bad luck.
so, i was out of money and decided that horse racing is probably not going to make me millions. but i found a horse called "bootlegger" in the last race and decided that it was a sign because of my fabulous new boots. so i put the rest of my money on him, and he ended up winning me all my money back and more! phew!
we finally headed out to the car and noticed the traffic was stopped on the way out. we thought we were quite clever because we could pass all the traffic by driving along the Field we had parked in. instead, our car got stuck in the mud. joke's on us! but we then noticed that pretty much everyone else who thought they were so clever to park in this Field was also stuck in the mud. but luckily there was a giant tractor (who obviously saw this coming) there to pull everyone out.
i'm just glad i didn't have to push.
at least it was entertaining.
we got dropped off at my place, a little tipsy, and decided to kidnap melinda and take her to the george. the george is the biggest gay bar in Ireland, and also the highest grossing bar in Ireland... and i hadn't been there yet? crazy! it took some serious begging, but melinda finally got herself cutified and hopped in a cab with us on our way to Acapulco (the mexican restaurant... not the city). we had a fantastic dinner, then headed off to gay bingo and a drag show.
i was wondering what the difference between canadian and irish drag queens would be... turns out it's just the accent. but there is a big difference between canadian and irish bingo! we all looked at our bingo cards and had no idea what to do with them. this is not the O69, B4 (b4 what!) i'm used to. we ended up asking a few people and got the hang of it.
melinda was 1 number away from winning the whole thing. i was not even close. maybe i should stick to horses.
what a fantastic day though! horses, bingo, and drag queens. my three new favourite things.
written by  girlbits on March 2, 2007 from Dublin, Ireland

the shankill butchers wanna catch you awake...
Tallaght, Ireland
okay, i know what you're all thinking. you can stop emailing, you can stop calling my mom... i'm alive. not being able to access my blog from home is becoming a big inconvenience. i recently had a 17 day work week without a day off, then had a sunday and monday (stat holiday) off so the library wasn't open, and today is finally a day when i can let you know what's been going on over here.
excusez-moi du dérangement.
anyway, i don't even know what to say or where to begin. as you can imagine, lots has happened in the last month and it's hard to sum it all up or properly explain it all in one go.
so, stephen moved back to newry (northern ireland). it's so sad not having him at work anymore as he was really the one who got me through every day with a smile on my face (not to mention the bombardments)... we had a few good nights out before he left though, which included a night at eamon doran's.
this is kevin. you'll hear more about this dreamy boy later.
then christophe came to stay with us for st patricks day weekend! it was nice to have my kiki back for a few days, but i also started to realize how small my apartment was with 4 people in it. anyway, you'll see more of him after i talk about st patricks day.
st patricks day was interesting. i didn't really know what to expect as melinda and i were leaving the house... we were trying to prepare for every possible situation, but obviously didn't prepare ourselves for what actually happened. we left around quarter to 11 to get the luas into town. the parade was at noon so we figured we had plenty of time. we're lucky because we are the last (or first, depending on which way you're going) stop so we're always first to get on. but the line for the ticket machine went about 2 blocks down the street, so our "it won't be crowded in tallaght" theory didn't pan out so well.
we finally got on and about 3 stops later the train was completely packed. lucky for us we got seats back in tallaght, but people were practically sitting on top of us anyway. people kept trying to just squeeze in at every stop even though people would tumble out every time the doors opened.
it was busy. and gave us some idea of what to expect in town.
we made it to the last stop, which was not quite in town because of the parade. so we had to walk for about half an hour before getting close to the parade route. we were planning on meeting with morten and preben, but once we reached the corner they were on we realized we were on opposite sites separated by the parade gates and there was no getting across. we stood waiting for the parade, and around 1pm decided it was too crowded and too long to wait for the parade. we saw a few guys in hats and heard some irish music... but other than that we just completely couldn't take it.
we decided to get out of the crowds and had to walk down dame street to get to temple bar. the crowds were stopped. and not comfortably stopped. melinda and i had to walk one block and it took us about an hour of being squished, pushed, and very claustrophobic.
but we made it!
and by that time it was definitely time for some food and drinks. so we went and got some lunch and a pint, then headed to the pub for some serious recovery guinness. the pub wasn't too bad at first. it was crowded, but the parade still hadn't ended so we were among the hardcore early drinkers still. but eventually the crowds started pouring in and, again, we had people sitting in our laps. but melinda took advantage of this situation by leaning her head on the guy in her lap. quite clever, mimi.
anyway, the pub got really crowded. and i'm not just talking kinda crowded. we actually couldn't move in there. but we met some interesting people, managed to get to the bar a few times for some pints, and joined in on a few good bar crowd sing-a-longs.
we decided to leave there before the oxygen ran out, and headed to another pub to meet the students. they were at turk's head, which is just outside temple bar, and which was far less crowded. melinda went home pretty soon after we got there because i think she was a little overwhelmed from the day (plus it was about 7:30 and we started drinking at noon). but i stayed with the students and danced until kevin and stephen got there. the night ended well, and kevin took me home around 11:30 because, honestly, 12 hours of drinking is a bit too much.
so, overall, i guess i was a little disappointed. every irish person i know told me not to go into town because it's way too crowded and full of tourists. i honestly didn't see one irish person (except kevin and stephen) the whole day. it was all the americans and australians who kept picking fights with eachother in the overcrowded pub. i've learned my lesson for next time. but it was still a good day.
what's next? oh yes, kiki. i didn't see as much of him as i would have liked, only because he wasn't here long and he had a lot of people to see. and i still had to work. but he did end up meeting up with us on paddy's day and we went to the plaza for a few pints on his last night. it was really fun to see him and very sad to see him go again.
but a fun weekend.
so, they have this weird game here... it's not even really a game, just a thing that people do in pubs... where you put your mobile on top of your pint glass? very strange. but colm decided to do this (let me mention as well that he's been off drink for a month because of lent... so he used his pint of club orange) and was the only one to drop his phone into his glass. the sober one.
so kiki one-upped him by playing the mobile game and drinking out of the glass as well. this brings a whole new level to an already weird and boring "game".
the last thing i'll talk about is last weekend. i hadn't seen morten and preben for quite some time so we went for dinner on saturday and got all caught up. then we met up with kevin and louise and went for some drinks at bob's in temple bar.
the night got a little messy. can i just mention as well that at one point we noticed firetrucks outside bringing their hoses into the bar? we asked what was going on and the doorman was like "oh, there's a fire inside." apparently they don't evacuate bars in dublin if there are fires? so we went back upstairs and it smelled so badly of fire and smoke that we ended up leaving. a similar situation happened the other day at work when there was a gas leak. the smell was so strong that we were all feeling light-headed and dizzy, and there were about 4 cop cars and 2 firetrucks outside... but still we were all working as normal. no one light a cigarette!
what a weird country i'm in.
so, that's been my life. there has been so much more going on between all the things i have pictures of... but i guess i can't go over everything.. and i doubt you'd read it all anyway. it's been really good over here though. the weather has been nice (apart from a few freak snow storms), i've been keeping busy, and am in constant anticipation of mom's arrival in may! hopefully i'll have more regular days off from now on so i'll be able to post once in a while. i have a bunch of great videos of random things but i can't post them on here so i'll have to set something up to show those. it should only take another month.
thanks for your patience and concern, everyone.
written by  girlbits on March 29, 2007 from Tallaght, Ireland

razzle dazzle!
Tallaght, Ireland
i'm not even going to bother trying to explain myself anymore, this is just getting ridiculous. but, sneaky as i am, i figured out a way to blog from work. don't tell my boss.
(there seems to be a bit of a sizing issue with a few of the pictures. i'll post them now and fix them later. sorry about that.)
so, let's see. what has happened. first of all, the weather has been amazing. apparently in the papers at home it says it's been raining in dublin, but they're all lies! it's been so hot and sunny for about 3 weeks now, and i think that was what they call summer. but i did manage to get a few good trips in, and a few good sunburns as well.
paddy, ceira, niall, neil, britt
first, there was our work party. or "work do" as they call it. we had just finished cheltenham, which is one of the biggest horse race meetings in the uk (busy times for paddy power), and the company took us out for some drinks. needless to say, it got a little out of hand. free bar and a bunch of crazy people? it can only end well.
britt & gary
britt & rob
alan & gary
noel & neil
brian malone & seamus
britt & kevin
there are way more pictures from that night, but i've only chosen my favourites. and you've probably seen the video already on my livejournal. it was a fun night.
a few weekends ago the lovely kevin clancy and i had a day off together (finally) and i mentioned that i hadn't yet seen the irish sea. crazy, i know. so we hopped on a train and he took me out to bray which is in wicklow, the county south of dublin (it's on the map up there). it was a beautiful train ride along the coast and a beautiful beach once we got there.
bray
it was an interesting little town, but very cute. i was surprised at the number of casinos on the main street just behind the beach (or "amusements" as they say here) but not too surprised to go in and have a look around. we spent most of the day on the beach, then had a pint on a patio, played some pool, then caught the train back home. good day.
it's so hard to remember things that have happened and in what order. i should be keeping a journal of interesting things that i do and then transcribe it to here to avoid all this confusion. meh.
i finally visited the cemetery across the street from my building. i know, dad, it only took 8 months. the cemetery is cut into two sides, the old one and the new one. i can only see the new one from my window but have been wanting to look around the old one for quite some time. i walked around a little, but got a little creeped out by some guys sitting on the church steps making animal noises at me, so i promptly left. i'll go back at some point.
after the failed cemetery attempt, i hopped on a bus into town to catch yet another train to an unknown destination. i had a day off, kev was working, the sun was shining, and i wanted to do something fun. so i got to the train station and decided to go to howth. howth is north of dublin city (only about half an hour on the train) and was one of my favourite places yet. (you can see it on the map above as well)
i did a lot of walking that day. there are two main piers you can walk out on, and then the main walking street in the "town"...
i spent a lot of time on the piers, just enjoying the sunshine and taking lots of pictures. as you'll see below:
windy.
a girl came up to me when we were out near that island and asked me to take her picture (we were both taking a lot of pictures of ourselves). i recognized the accent right away and said "oh my god! canadian??". i couldn't believe it. i'm pretty sure she's the first canadian i've met here. and from vancouver, of all places! we were both very excited to hear a familiar accent and ended up taking the train home together to discuss our travels. it was nice to meet someone else who was away from home by herself in a foreign country and hear her stories.
so that was really fun. it's nice to get out of the city for a while and see some water and some greenery. reminds me of where i am.
i'm glad that kevin taught me how to take the train so now i can go pretty much anywhere. and ireland is so small, you can get to the other side of the country in like 2 hours. i've been wanting to go to belfast for a day, but haven't had the time or money. but i do have the weekend off, so we'll see.
not much else is going on over here. melinda moves back home on thursday, which means it's been 3 whole months already! i can't believe it! another roommate come and gone. but this means that i get the place to myself for a few weeks, and then it's mom and myrna time! i can't believe how quickly that's coming up. i'm really really excited and we have so many great things planned for their trip. also, i have the whole 3 weeks off work so that's another thing to be excited about.
then that brings us to the end of may, june i'll be working and saving, july i'll be spending some time in spain and italy, then coming home before my birthday in august. it's all happening so fast! but i was accepted to ubc for september, and would really like to get all of that finished, so i'll need some time to get home, get settled, and get my normal accent back. i guess there's no sense in worrying about all that now, i still have another good 3 months here.
so, i'm very sorry about the delay in my posting. now that i know i can do this from work i might be posting more often... but who knows... i hope everyone's well at home, and don't forget to keep in touch!
and even though the games are on around 3am here, i'm still keeping up with the hockey playoffs. i'm the only person in ireland who watches hockey, but i'm still supporting my team! go canucks!!
written by  girlbits on April 24, 2007 from Tallaght, Ireland

4 days!!
can you believe it?? 4 days until the crazy canucks come join me on the emerald isle! i'm so excited i'm pretty much crying all the time now. i envision seeing my mom at the airport and instant tears. this might get messy once the real thing happens.
and the boy is up in northern Ireland this weekend for stephen's birthday. i wanted to go but unfortunately have to work... and i don't think i really want to know what's happening up there anyway, so it's probably best i didn't go. plus it's bad form to ask for days off 4 days before a 3 week vacation. so i am alone in the apartment this weekend just cleaning and anticipating company on thursday.
what else is going on over here? not a hell of a lot. i just thought i'd share my joy and excitement over mom and myrna's arrival on thursday. i'll try to update mid-visit to give everyone a progress report.
happy cinqo de mayo everyone! (and Kentucky Derby day)
ps. why does it automatically default to "United States Derby"?? that's strange. why can't i say K-e-n-t-u-c-k-y??
written by  girlbits on May 5, 2007 from Dublin, Ireland

come and gone.
it seems like only yesterday i was posting in anticipation for my mom's arrival. now it's all over!
i'll post more with pictures tomorrow hopefully, but it was a great visit and very nice to get a little taste of home to get me through my last few months over here.
speaking of which, i officially changed my flight from june 22nd to August 12th. i decided it wasn't time to go home yet so i gave myself another 2 months or so. i miss home like crazy but i have so much more to do here and am quickly running out of time! so i'm sticking around until mid-August to find out what an irish summer is like.
thanks for your patience, group. although you've all probably seen all the pictures on facebook anyway but it's always nicer with a story attached. i'll post a nice, long, picture-filled entry as soon as possible.
apologies for my absence.
much love.
written by  girlbits on May 30, 2007 from Dublin, Ireland

kat, adam, melinda

britt at the temple bar

model poses

Melinda being a hedgehog