one more miracle

Last night I went to a fundraiser held by the graduate school. It was a night at a club that's usually very skeevy and filled with under-clothed or creepy undergrads, but because it's "spring" break would be just grad students. This place is a bit of a local myth so I figured I had to experience it at least once. Plus the cover went to Habitat for Humanity, so win win! A lot of people from my program showed, including many of my faves, so I had a blast getting a bit too drunk and dancing myself silly. Matt is apparently a fantastic swing dancer - who knew?

Some time pretty late, I was sitting in a corner with my roomie, taking a break from dancing and thinking blearily about going home, when suddenly a guy sits down. He starts talking. I blink, lean towards him, and say, "Where are you from?" He replies, "Ireland!"

AHHHHH.

So of course we talked for ages and it turns out he went to Trinity *at the same time I did* and WE HAVE FRIENDS IN DUBLIN IN COMMON. Not many, and not close friends, but enough that it kind of blew my mind. What the hell are the odds?

It was so wonderful to reminisce about Dublin and Trinity with someone who knows and loves them too. He's getting his PhD in Economics here in the hopes of becoming a professor at Trinity. It was also wonderful hearing his delightful accent rolling out "grand" and "bollocks". Oh my gosh it was delightful. We even bonded over Father Ted! He was cute enough, a bit awkward looking but just very.... IRISH, so you know, I'm easy for that. I wouldn't say we were sparking exactly (unfortunately!) but it was just a wonderful conversation. I got his number but he hasn't replied to a couple texts I've sent, soooo I dunno.

BUT THEN TONIGHT. I went to my friend's house for his weekly potluck, which I go to all the time. It was mostly familiar faces but there was one guy I didn't recognize. Somehow it came up that his roommate was Irish, and I was like oh, where's he from, blah blah, I show interest in all Irish people. But later on, the guy mentioned something about economics and I was like, hang on. What's your roommate's name?

OH YEAH. IT WAS THE GUY I MET. WHAT?!?

So basically life is shoving this guy in my face. However it doesn't seem like he's interested? I don't care about that so much, I'd really just love to have coffee with him and hear his voice when there isn't pounding club music and I'm not half hammered. We'll see. But regardless, it was a wacky and wonderful chain of events.

In NEWS OF AWESOMENESS, I have almost-concrete plans to go back to Dublin! YAAAAAY! With Cary and Emily, two of my American friends from my year in Dublin! YAAAAAAAAAAY!

*does the boogie dance of I'm-going-back-to-Dublin-YAY* You WISH you could see this dance!

For all newcomers to this here corner of the internet (I'm so sorry to the vets! At least I haven't rambled about Dublin in the recent past?), a brief recap: from 2007-08, I spent 9 months studying abroad at Trinity College Dublin, studying chemistry/biochemistry. I lived in a posh apartment in downtown Dublin, met dozens of wonderful Irish folks who became literally some of my best friends in the world, met 4 American girls who formed a very close pod of awesomeness and with whom I still keep in touch almost daily, had more life experiences than I have in my other 20 years of life combined, and kinda-sorta-maybe fell a little bit in love... with the city, with a boy, with the person I discovered inside myself when I was there. The before and after photos of my soul would be striking - Before Dublin (B.D.) I was withdrawn, shy, lonely, and wracked by self-consciousness and self-doubt, but After Dublin (A.D.) I was confident, assertive, bold, and happy. I emerged a different person, complete with a whole new passel of friends who accepted me completely for who I was. They still keep me going on a day-to-day basis.

I cannot say enough about the transformative and joyful nature of that experience. I have said loads in the past - if you are at all curious, my "dublin" tag has all the dirty details (including the sordid accounts of eleven ~encounters with Irish boys. Mm hmmmmm ;) My first kiss was from a red-headed Irish boy in a pub while drunk on Guinness during my first week in Dublin - top THAT) and my "dublin - missing" tag has all the nostalgia and reflection. I have often gone back and read those entries in order to recapture even just a fraction of the joy I felt while writing them.

SO ANYWAY, I went back to Dublin last May, and it was everything I remembered and more. I've resolved to make Dublin returns an annual thing whenever possible, a biannual (as in, every other year) thing when not. This year, I was going to try to go with the 4 American girls mentioned above. Unfortunately, a couple people have fallen through, but it looks like 3 of us are going to be able to go at the same time! We'll only overlap a couple days, but they'll be a GREAT couple of days (I haven't seen these girls since August 2008!!!) and then I will stay about a week longer to see my Irish loves (most of them are still there doing PhDs, Masters, or working). It is the MOST EXCITING EVER and I am practically vibrating out of my skin with anticipation.

THE CAVEAT: This plan hinges pretty sharply on whether or not Jason accepts me into his lab. If he does, I am 95% certain that he will totally okay this plan and everything will move ahead smoothly. If he does not, the problem is twofold: I will have to work hard to find another advisor I want to work with, and also I have absolutely no way of knowing if that person would be amenable to me taking a week off to fly to Europe during my rotation.

SO. In short. I am so fucking nervous about Jason's decision I could puke. The ramifications go FAR FAR beyond my trip to Dublin. If Jason accepts me, I will have a wonderful graduate experience and get to do science I am truly excited about. If he doesn't - I honestly don't have a clear alternative at the moment. FML.

I just emailed Jason about setting up a meeting. It's likely the meeting will occur within the next week or two.

Everyone cross all of your appendages, pray to whatever deities you believe in, and send good vibes my way, will you? ♥

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you guessed that sound can only mean DUBLIN RELATED GLEE, then you are QUITE CORRECT! (The only time I get THIS EXCITED is about Dublin, for future reference! Hee.)

Okay, so! There's this company that offers short term apartment rentals in various countries.

THEY HAVE MY OLD APARTMENT BUILDING IN CENTRAL DUBLIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT. OMG. WHAT.

You guys.

I CAN GO HOME.

I'm pretty sure I can't express how unspeakably thrilling this idea is. That place.... that city holds my heart, and that building is where it grew 20 sizes. I lived there for 9 months, I loved, I laughed, I cried, I threw parties and experienced things and people and met and lived with some of my best friends in the entire world.

One of those friends, Emily, found this link and proposed that we all (five of us) go back next summer. FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A rent of ~120 Euro a night, split between five people, is basically hostel level, and we could stay for at least a week and be within walking distance of all our favorite places, and just relive the magic.

I AM SO OVERCOME. :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Order of business the first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY kashmir1!!!! You are a darling and such a brave soul, and I admire you so very much. I love you sweetie and I hope you have a wonderful day.

The second: HAPPY BIRTHDAY caithream!!!! You are such a sparkly and awesome person, you always make me smile, and I'm so glad we met at Wincon!

The third: I started watching Castle with Michelle! It is SO adorable. I think Nathan Fillion is the only person who could make this character adorable instead of repugnant, but whatever, it works. My favorite part of the show is his family - so unconventional and hilarious! The plots are a little eyebrow-raising, but it's hard to be original in a world inundated with crime procedurals. In any case, Nathan is infinitely adorable and I am very pleased. Thumbs up!

The fourth: I had the most lovely conversation with my Louise (friend from Dublin) this morning. It went thusly:

Louise: it a really good time to come because we will all be on that high
we might actualy explode
Louise: Anne-exams=explosion
me: hee, that was the idea!
Louise: BOOM!
Louise: :D
Louise: everyone is glad you're coming back doll, we miss ya lots
me: aw, thank you sweetheart. that really means a lot.
me: it kind of keeps me going :)
Louise: you really are loved here Anne, you're our American gal! Not just a blow in the wind from across the pond!
me: and i love you all, so very much! I feel at home with you crazy Irish folks
Louise: sure once you catch our craziness your done for life!
and later...
Louise: of course you wont! We'll always be here, and you'll ALWAYS have a place here.

To steal a most eloquent expression from wasoncedelight,

♥_______;

The fifth: tuesdaysgone and discord_harmony, see my last post about The Used! :)

I got to chat with Dara for an hour and a half tonight. If anyone's curious, he still makes me go like this:

:D

He apparently has a new girlfriend, and I was pleasantly surprised at how little that upset me. I have apparently been able to divest myself of inappropriately-smitten-and-possessive while still retaining all of my vast fondness. This is excellent. \o/

I asked how his band is going, and he said they're a little stalled since their bassist is in England. So in the meantime he's trying to put together ANOTHER band. I adore how much he loves playing guitar. I still haven't seen him play, but I fully intend to rectify that when I GO BACK TO DUBLIN!!!! I requested All Along the Watchtower, if he can make his band do it, and he was very excited. If I actually get him playing that as a coming-back-to-Dublin present, I will die of glee.

Heeeeee. &DARA;