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Published: February 7th 2011
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Áras an Uachtaráin
Outside the residence of the President of Ireland I’ve now been back in Dublin for almost a month after going home for the holidays. As soon as I got back, it was as if I’d never left. The city was as welcoming as ever, my friends were ready to meet up and catch up, and classes started back up before I knew it. Though I had a great time back at home, it was great to get back to Dublin.
Things have been quite busy since I got back. The first weekend I was here a few of my friends and I ran a 10k in Phoenix Park, one of the largest parks in Europe. Aside from the wind, rain and even hail, it was great! I hadn’t run a race like that since high school and it was my first 10k ever! I was very happy to finish in less than an hour (57.14!), and got such a sense of accomplishment from just completing it.
The next week classes started back up and it was time to crack the books again. Diving right into it, we’re already in week four of the semester, and I can hardly believe it! It has been nice to get back
Culture night...
...ended up in Temple Bar. into a routine and I’m really enjoying our classes this semester (mostly EU-related, with one class on statistics – which I’m less fond of).
One of the nicest things about being back without a doubt has been getting to see and spend time with all my friends over here again. Every Friday since I’ve been back we’ve had amazing ‘family dinners’ together, followed by great nights out. Of course, we still either grab lunch or tea together everyday during the week, and now work our way through all of our stats homework together. Aside from the usual though, we have done a few pretty cool things together since we all returned from the holidays.
One weekend we took a tour of the President of Ireland’s residence. This also is in Phoenix Park. Remember how I mentioned it’s quite large? Well, it took us an hour and a half just to figure out where to go for the tour. How many political science masters students does it take to figure out where to go for a tour of a government building? Bad joke, I know, but in case you’re wondering – it was seven.
The next weekend we
Shukie the class sheep
Always the instigator. decided to make our ‘family dinner’ night a little special and had everyone bring a dish from his or her home country. Needless to say, it was incredible. I’ve honestly never had a better meal in my life. Each of us made our favorite dish from home and put so much effort into doing it right so as to be able to share the best piece of our home we could with everyone else. We had lasagna made by an Italian, potato salad made from a German, latkes made by my friend from New Jersey, a Mexican salsa dip made by a girl from New York, a blackberry and apple crumble made by an Irish girl, tuna steaks made by a classmate from Finland, and I made Kansas City bbq chicken sandwiches. A-mazing!
Whether visiting the office of the President or eating blackberry and apple crumble together, I absolutely love every minute with my classmates. I’m very lucky to have a friend from home coming to visit this week and I’m so excited to introduce her to them and them to her. As I sat back and reflected on how happy it will make me to have them all
together, I started thinking about how lucky I am to have the friends I do, not just here in Ireland, but back home in the U.S., and all around the world really.
If there is one thing I am truly proud of, it’s my friendships. The people I’ve become close with throughout the years have enriched my life in ways I could never explain and have taught me things for which I will be forever grateful. As I prepare to have my worlds collide later this week, I can never imagine doing anything greater in my life than surrounding myself with great friends. And I can only aspire to be the kind of person they would feel the same about.
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