Looking Back

I’ve been home for two weeks now. It’s hard to believe that ten weeks ago my passport sat on my dresser, stampless, and now it sits with a green stamp that signifies so much.

It signifies amazing friendships I have made. I started this summer living with three strangers and ended the summer living with three family members. I could never have predicted how well we would all get along, nor could I have predicted how much I would miss them. I loved every afternoon chat, family dinner, late night weirding-it-out, and facebook spam session. The new friendships weren’t limited to just my apartment either. It stretched to those living above me (yes, Andrew Prickett, you get mentioned two blog posts in a row!), those living below me, and everywhere in between. I discovered many new things about myself with your help (like my culinary skills with French toast and that my grip becomes incredibly bad when in Europe). My summer wouldn’t have been the same, or nearly as fun, without all of you and for that I am eternally grateful.

It signifies an incredible work experience. I got a taste of each stage in filming. I did pre-production research, filming during production, and post-production editing, all for an established film production company. 22-minutes of my work will be aired on TV for people to watch. My name will go by in the credits of two docu-series. Did I mention on TV?? I can’t believe the opportunities I was given this summer. I have something seriously substantial to put on my resume. I am on a credit reel, my first major credit reel. Sorry, it’s still sinking in. As if the work experience weren’t enough, the people I worked with were positively lovely. Having such a pleasant work environment made it even harder to leave Ireland.

It signifies a summer that I will never forget. From the travel to the pubs to the friends to the boys, this summer has been one for the record books in all the best ways.  I feel so blessed to have had this incredibly opportunity, and I can’t wait to see how it continues to affect my life.

It signifies a new vocabulary. Here are just a few of the words I learned this summer—

Savage=cool

Negging=pulling your leg

Shifting=kissing

Lushing=raining hard

Raging=so upset/jealous

Cheers=thank you

Keeping sketch=keeping track of

Suss it out=figure it out

Gas=funny (as in, that person is gas)

Brellies=umbrellas

Jellies=jelly beans

Wine gums=fruit snacks

Wellies=rainboots

Raincoats=condoms

Fringe=bangs

Zip=zipper

High vis=fluorescent

There are others I heard, because Catherine was always throwing Irish slang at me, but I didn’t write them down before I forgot them.

Classes start this Monday and my summer is officially over. As happy I am to be back in Happy Valley, a part of my heart will always reside in Dublin.

And here it is, the end to my ‘Summer in Dublin’ blog. Not ready to say goodbye, but the merry months of June and July have passed and as August comes to a close, so do my posts. Thanks for reading. It’s been real.

Denial

This week was easily the fastest week of the summer. I have no idea where it went, but now that it’s gone I’ve got this giant lump in my stomach that feels a lot like dread. Dread for the plane ride that lies ahead of me tomorrow.

I have this theory that if I continue to live in denial than that means my time here won’t end. If I never get around to packing (which I still haven’t started) than that means I don’t have to leave, right? I can’t pinpoint what triggered it (I just know it was within the first weekend), but Ireland swept me off my feet, and I have no intention of coming back down.

Monday only helped to strengthen the bond between Ireland and I. It was a bank holiday, giving me a day off work, so I took the opportunity to visit Kilmainham Goal. It was the jail that was home to thousands of Irish men, women, and children during the famine and the revolutions leading up to Ireland becoming its own republic. I learned a lot about the bloody past between Ireland and Britain and how the Republic of Ireland gained their independence. Walking through the halls of the jail was so eerie. Thinking about being a prisoner and living there, it gave me chills. The stone staircases were all caved in at the middle from all the use. The west wing was the oldest. The prisoners would be given one candle every two weeks, and that would be there only source of light and heat. There were windows in the hallways, but they were kept bare, with no panes to keep the cold air out. The east wing, which was added later, was a bit nicer. It had a giant skylight to allow for a lot more light. It also had manholes in the corridor area that would allow steam from the kitchen and washrooms to come up and heat the cells.

As you can see from the picture, I don’t do well in jail.

Things are coming along really well at work. I finished up all my editing today. Now, I’m just waiting 5 years for it all to export. The 22-minute behind-the-scenes I put together will be aired on TV on Setanta Sports following the conclusion of the Yes I Can docu-series. And my name will be in the credits for Yes I Can and The Club as Production Assistant. Everyone who watches the shows will know my name. It’s only a matter of time before I strike gold on some big blockbuster and treat my parents to a summer in Ireland. My last day on the job was fun, but sad. Fun because my boss had my supervisor, Catherine, take me out to lunch but sad because, obviously, it was my last day. My boss called in and said she was sad to see me go and asked if there’s was anything she could do to make me stay. We all know the answer to that one.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got about three days worth of food to feast on and limited time left in Dublin to enjoy!

But before I go, I’d like to take this opportunity to dedicate this blog post to my dear friend Andrew Prickett, because he has been a good source of entertainment this summer, he helped me with half of my computer issues, but mostly because he was disappointed I hadn’t mentioned him yet. This is for you, Andrew. Cheers!

Never Play Leapfrog With A Unicorn

The weekend was definitely something different from the city life I have become accustomed to in Dublin. Five of us girls took the train to Killarney and stayed at a farmhouse B&B. I could tell the difference between Killarney and Dublin as soon as I stepped off the train. It wasn’t an overwhelming silence like Howth or Sandycove; Killarney still had a nice sized City Centre and had a small carnival going on with all kinds of rides and various stands. It was more just the overall atmosphere. There wasn’t as much hustle and bustle, or maybe it was just that I wasn’t speed walking to my next destination. Whatever the case, Killarney just seemed to be giving off a more relaxed vibe, which is saying something because all of Ireland itself is has seemed very relaxed.

The B&B was three miles from downtown Killarney, so we had to take a cab. The area was beautiful. It had a wide-open yard covered in sheep, and various pens on the edge of their property that housed donkeys, potbelly pigs, ducks, emus, and chickens. They had a stable that was home to horses, a large little of bunnies, and puppies.

It was the sort of place I would normally spend my summers, and it was an odd feeling being there after living in the city all summer. It felt almost as if the past seven weeks couldn’t have been real, like my summer hadn’t started yet. While we were exploring the grounds, we could see into the Killarney National Park Forest. It was gorgeous! It was so green, and mystical, like a forest you would see in Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings but would never think that it was real. My vote for the next family vacation is backpacking through the Killarney National Park.

That night we went into Killarney for dinner. Our cab driver recommended Murphy’s Pub. We listened and were very thankful. The food was delicious, and we got to watch some gaelic football between Donegal and Kildare. Hanging on the wall was a Murphy’s Pub shirt that listed off Murphy’s Laws. They were all very insightful, but one I found particularly enlightening: “Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.”

After dinner we walked around the downtown streets, taking in the various aspects of the summer festival they were having and looking for champion golfer Rory McIlroy. It was the weekend of the Irish Open, so what better time to run into some pro golfers, right? Our searching was in vain, as to be expected. Our cab driver told us that the golfers had been out earlier in the week just after they had arrived, but know that the Irish Open was in full swing, they would be spending their nights resting in their hotel rooms. A bit disappointing, but the night wasn’t a total loss, I did learn never to play leapfrog with a unicorn.

The next morning, as I got ready, I heard the horses coming back into the stables from the open yard. The farmhouse and animals already made me feel like I was back at the Ranch, but that was just the icing on the cake. I could picture Courtney, Liz, and April sending the horses running from down in the fields up to the barn to prepare them for the campers.

After a delicious homemade Irish breakfast and my first freshly brewed coffee of the summer (okay my first three, but it was really good and they were small cups), we said goodbye to our cute B&B and it’s owners. We went into Killarney once more where we got on a tour bus that would take us around the Ring of Kerry. The Ring of Kerry is a tour loop that shows you the beauty of County Kerry. The weather and the land were both gorgeous. I can’t even begin to describe it in words, and I know these pictures won’t do it justice, but if you are lucky enough to make it to Ireland, the Ring of Kerry is definitely something you need to see.

We arrived back in Killarney with just enough time to pop into Penney’s to find some inexpensive all-white things to wear out that night. Dandelion was having a white party, and my flat mate, Kajsia, and another girl, Sam, knew the dj for the event after meeting him last week when they spent the weekend at Sam’s supervisor’s house in Wicklow (the dj is the supervisor’s nephew).

On the train ride back I finished my book, A Million Little Pieces. It is a really good book that is disturbing and sad, but has a few happy and uplifting bits. I definitely recommend it.

We arrived back in Dublin around 9:30 and head out donned in our white outfits. It was a great weekend in Ireland, but ended with sadness when the realization set in that is was my FINAL weekend in Ireland. If come away from it with anything it will be to never play leapfrog with a unicorn.