Goodbye Katie...

Well I'm home in Malahide now. I have been hanging out for a few hours and after a LONG shower and putting all of my clothes in the washing machine I decided to play with my new computer! Yay! He is working well, so far. I can't upload my pictures on Facebook right now, but I think it's a problem with Facebook or the internet connection and not the computer. Anyways, I suppose I'll tell you all about last night.

Joe showed up around half six and we were so excited to see him! It really made the night special. We went out and decided to get dessert because we had all eaten dinner and it was too early for beer. We went to a new favorite place of mine called Elephant and Castle. I've been there once before with Erin and Kate and we had delicious meals and we shared an amazing ice cream dessert. We walked in and it was pretty busy. (It was dinner time in Temple Bar, the most touristy place in Dublin.) But the host squeezed us into a table meant for two. When the waiter came, we asked for dessert menus and gave him the dinner menus back. He gave us a dirty look, but did as we asked. After we ordered dessert and coffee, he went to the back, and then came up to us a minute later. He told us that they weren't allowed to serve us only dessert and if we wanted to stay we would have to buy full dinners. Can you believe that?? So we had to walk out completely humiliated. He never should have let us order dessert at all if that was the "policy." It was completely rude and greedy of them. They aren't hurting for business, and the twenty minutes that we would have stayed there wouldn't have made any kind of dent in their sales. I love the food there, but I won't ever go back again! And if any of you happen to make it over here, you better not go either! It was unbelievable...

Anyways, we left angry and bitter, but laughing just the same. Joe has a way of making light of everything in a fun and non-annoying way. We went and had lattes instead, which were very satisfying. After that I took them to The Porterhouse for a beer. We sat and joked around and talked about how crazy our time in Westport was. One beer later, we were off again and went to a bar called Fitzsimon's. We found a few couches tucked away in the corner and enjoyed another beer. (Side note: I am SO done with beer for a while!) We told him the story of our French maid, and he asked us if we were sorry we didn't stay in Westport longer. Boy were we sorry... haha Gabriele and his friend Federico joined us towards the end of our time at Fitzsimon's. We were off again and ready to join the crowd at Oliver St. John Gogarty's. It was busy, but obviously not as much as it would be on a weekend night. We all enjoyed our time there, but soon it was midnight and we all decided to call it a night. Katie and I still had to finish packing up and the boys were getting up early the next day.

This morning we got up and got ready, feeling tired, slightly dehydrated, and sad. Joe met up downstairs for breakfast at the hostel. After a good bowl of cereal, and Joe there to help us with the denial of Katie's departure, we checked out and hopped on the bus. An hour later, we arrived, reluctantly, at the airport and said our goodbyes. I never cry in front of people (because of my "heart of stone") but Katie pushed back a few tears. It was hard to say goodbye to her again. We had a great trip and spent a lot of time together in such a concentrated way. It's weird to go back to barely talking. But this is the sacrifice I made to be here. It's just part of my journey. I am very grateful to see her and I look forward to my return home next May. But in the meantime I am going to soak this adventure in because time will pass quickly and I don't want to miss it!

Email me or skype me! I'm here in the quiet house with just Gabriele until Sunday when everyone else returns. My homesickness has gone up a bit after saying goodbye to Katie.

Hope all is well in Oregon! Love,
Claire