Last night I was talking with my roommate and we wanted to get out of the house and get around Dublin so we walked around and took photos of different things we are going to miss. I think the walk helped me in knowing that even when I do leave Dublin, it will always be a part of me. I will always think of it as my city. When I come back (and I will come back), I know I will be able to make my way to Stephen’s Green, to walk along the canal and be able to walk by the Georgian buildings on Leeson St., and to walk to my favorite pubs of Whelan’s, Flannery’s, and the Bleeding Horse on Camden St…I have only recently become a part of Dublin, but now it is a part of me.
I think the thing I will miss most about my summer here in Dublin is work. For most people they cannot wait to leave at 5 o’clock and are at all times ready for the weekend. Maybe if I was here long enough I would have the same sentiments, however, I truly love it here. I am certainly going to miss waking up every morning motivated as I make a cup of tea and read the latest headlines on irishtimes.com. I will also miss my walk to work. I love passing the man in the orange jumpsuit on the corner by our house passing out the Metro paper and also walking with everyone else who are trying to get to their offices. I also do not know what I am going to do when I am not sprinting across the street trying to avoid being splattered by cars or when I make a left turn and end up on one of the nicest streets in Dublin as I pass various prestigious businesses and the Department of Foreign Affairs. My favorite part of the walk is when I make my way through St. Stephen’s Green especially when I pass the same gardener everyday in the royal blue overalls and say hello and when I enter into the main center area and the sun suddenly pours down.
Entering into work is another thing I love. Everyday I go to security and have to present a letter to them, which allows me to walk in with no problem, over the few weeks they have begun to recognize me and like to play a few jokes and what not. I also enjoy when Margaret, the secretary, walks in and we have a bit of talk on different things to what’s going on for the day or when I did over the weekend. She provides great entertainment at work and I’m going to miss her telling the phone to “sod off” or yelling at the computer because she doesn’t know how to use it. Her little sayings will also be missed of everyone being referred to as creatures and telling me that I am a free agent to do what I want and calling me a star, pet, love, and angel. Some of the advice she has passed along since she has worked here for so long as also been invaluable. Her running out of the room with her purse clutched under her arm after a phone call with an “eegit” for a smoke will also be missed. Her rolling of her eyes at me and shrugging her shoulders while talking to a said “eegit” will also be greatly missed.
Something of great importance to me at Leinster House is the tea break. I know…not much to do with work, but it certainly does here. Tea is a way of getting to know someone here. Just through putting milk in tea for Margaret, I learned that she likes a lot so that she is helping to build her bones and she was not too impressed with my Dad that he did not choose milk to build up his own bone density. Tea is also when friends who work in different places come together and are able to reconnect. Sometimes I am down in the coffee dock right before eleven and as soon as the hand strikes the hour, people are coming down the stairs, through doors to get in line for their tea—it’s honestly incredible and entertaining to watch. In my time down there attempting to get internet, I have noticed there are distinct groups who get together everyday and have their time to catch up and slag each other. The scones alone are worth loving teatime here. Only 65 cents, they are the best things to have ever met my taste buds. They are homemade daily and are to die for; if I could I would make the person who makes them move with me for the rest of my life. I am also going to miss the hospitality of everyone here. Everyone says hello in the hallway and always try to make small talk. Running into politicians who I see on the TV in the office of the Dail will certainly be another event of work I will miss. The woman down the hall who occasionally bakes is another of my favorite people at work. Overall, I am happy here and the same excitement I got when I came to the Dail for the first time back in April has certainly not faded even today.
Three weeks from Thursday I will be leaving Irish soil and will be landing back on American soil. In that time I still have to finish work, visit my roommates from Maynooth, write two papers, see and eat all of Dublin, hopefully make it to Inishturk, complete a presentation, move-out of Grove Park and set up temporarily with my family, spend time with my Irish relatives, pack my life into two suitcases, and not regret or miss a moment left.
Slainte!
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