Dublin

March 18th was unlike any other morning I’ve had abroad. Waking up with mixed emotions, I tried to keep the thought of Easter Break in the back of my mind and instead focused on my Marketing midterm. Knowing that only this and the final exam determined my grade for the class, I had prepared in advance, but still wanted to do a last-minute skim. I made the decision to leave my first class early in order to achieve this. In my attempt to be subtle and swiftly leave the class, I wasn’t quick enough and before I knew it, my professor called me out.

I was caught. He stated that since I had signed the attendance sheet, I had to remain in class if I wanted to receive credit. So what did I do? Popped a squat in lecture and did my last-minute skim while he taught. We’ve all done it before and you can’t say you haven’t!

Getting called out in lecture was my first L of the day, but it wasn’t my last. When I arrived at the location of my scheduled exam, I wondered why I didn’t see a familiar face. At first, I thought, “Do they even go to lecture?” And then I realized I was in the wrong room. Second L of the day. Luckily, I arrived at the correct location in the nick of time to take my midterm and had a celebratory drink with friends after it was complete! My Easter Break was finally in motion!

In the meantime and in between time, I finished packing. When day turned to dusk, I hopped on a bus and when I arrived at the Manchester airport, I messaged my friend in Dublin. After inquiring, she told me my transportation options on traveling from the Dublin airport to her campus. I wanted to ensure I knew exactly what to do because who wants to get lost at night alone in a foreign country? It didn’t happen that night to me, but stay tuned for more posts about my other journeys. Although I told her which bus I would take, when I arrived at the stop, I didn’t see her. Have you ever been in a situation where you and a friend both send an “I’m here” message, but don’t see each other? Well, that’s what happened. Apparently, the bus usually stops closer to the campus, but I guess it stopped a little further that night because I was arriving, and well, if you know me, something always seems to happen on my travels.

Despite the slight delay, when I did see my friend, it was such a pleasure to catch up! After staying in that night, we started our day early the next morning with a good cup of tea.

My trip to Dublin was full of exploring (walking of course #BunsAndThighs), eating good food, watching movie clips and stand up comedy, and actually being low key. There was a point in time where my friend I joked about our travels ahead and how we were ballin’ on a budget and needed Wu Tang Financial. Dear Readers, if you never watched Chappelle’s Show, you now have something to do after you finish reading this.

At the end of my trip, I hugged my friend, not for a goodbye, but a “see ya later” as we would soon meet up again in Amsterdam. On my flight, I reflected on the most relaxing part of my trip. It was the pier. Admiring the beauty of something so simple, I thought to myself, it’s as if you took all the blues from the Crayola coloring box and mixed them all into the ocean. In those moments with my friend, we had no worries in the world. Nothing else mattered. We sat in silence several times while on the pier. It was so simple, yet so special and satisfying.