i could be violet sky

so, i am back in america now. lots has happened since the last time i wrote anything so i think bullet points will be the most efficient way to write everything up. not that i am at all lazy.

• my internship: was amazing. i actually miss getting up at 6:45 and hustling down the miracle mile to catch the 8:10-ish 11 to see the resident phisborough ginger knob and then working all day until five and then hustling back across o'connell to catch whatever bus would take me back to dcu. i got to do a lot of real work with some amazing staff. i once had to call sinn fein but i didn't get to talk to gerry "i mean, i'm sure he's killed some people" adams but i still felt sneaky nonetheless. i got to take the train out to galway and a flight out to killarney for some manifesto launches and i got to meet martin ferris, a sinn fein td, who was jailed during the troubles. also, a rat climbed into the office and died my last week there.
• tralee: or should we say trashlee. one of the weirdest irish towns i've ever had the pleasure of visiting. it's home of the rose of tralee festival. look it up and giggle at your own will. katie and i accidentally stayed there because bus eireann lies 50% of the time. there was a very nice park and our hostel gave us a private room and there was a free cappucino machine so i was suitably hopped up on espresso for the willy-nilly haphazaed bus ride to...
• dingle: ridiculously perfect little (and i mean miniscule) town on the peninsula. i got to eat raspberry sorbet, pet the town dog, take pretty pictures, spend a lot of money on cute things, and play 20(million) questions with katie. did i mention that she was deathly ill? she certainly deserves a gold star. dingle and i are a match made in heaven.
• co. kerry in general: green and full of sheep. so, naturally, i loved it. the weekend we drove through it had gorgeous weather and i got to see little tiny lambs, no bigger than cats laying passed out in the sunlight. i think i could have burst a few blood vessles trying not to squeal out loud.
• cork, but mainly blarney: katie is the blarney master. she made sure that julia, bobby, and i all knew that. unfortunately, the rest of the tourists heard her scream it through the castle as well. i kissed the stone and wandered through the grounds. i think someone may have gotten stuck momentarily in a tree. i forget who it was, but it certainly wasn't me. we almost missed our bus back to cork which meant that we would have missed our bus back to dublin and then work the next day, but we were saved by the lovely owner of the kopi cafe who flagged down an empty bus for us. i think we were all pretty grateful to be home after that.
• sligo: i think most of know what a yeats freak i am, so i made sure that i made it to sligo while i was there. bobby and i enjoyed a lovely date weekend and were joined by julia and a slightly crabby katie. bobby and i went on a boat tour of inisfree and met zoe, the cutest dog ever from belfast. we may have stalked her around sligo later that afternoon as well. i dragged everyone to all the yeats sights, including lissadell house and yeat's grave. we saw ben bulben from a distance but didn't climb it even though bobby wanted to. we almost panicked, thinking that we had missed a bus to donegal, but bus eireann was just late as usual. also, we saw blood diamond because apparently the only thing to do on good friday in ireland is to go to the movies. and i bought two pairs of shoes. and we went to michael flattley's favorite pub and we the only people inside. it might have been my favorite weekend ever (at least tied with brighton)
• donegal: we played in a castle and bobby and i managed to finally steal harp pint glasses, much to katie's dismay. we stayed in a very cute hostel. we missed another boat tour, which was disappointing but got to frolic around an ancient abbey's ruins until it started raining, at which point we wandered around donegal town trying to find something to do until the bus to dublin came. i think that i got slightly crabby. also, we drove through northern ireland on the way back (or at least we think we did) which was kind of freaky.
• dun laoghaire: katie and i spent a lovely afternoon shopping, eating brunch, laying in a park, and walking down what seemed to be the longest pier ever. also, a scene from michael collins was filmed there. liam neeson plus michael collins equals danielle freaking out at the gloriousness. we also took the weirdest dart ride ever.
• last week of classes. EVER.: i played beirut and didn't study the night before my last college final. it will be interesting to get this semester's grades back.
• and lastly, my return to america: i took a valium and passed out once our flight left shannon so there's not much to report about that. BUT- and this is the biggest news in my life right now including the fact that i am graduating college- chestertown, ny has gotten a real traffic light. i have not been able to wrap my head around that fact.

i am not going to discuss graduation because that is just gross, but i am insanely excited to be in boston for june and july to finally see ashley and lynne again and to reunite with bobby, katie and possibly julia.

also, i get to see rachel zack again soon.

i don't have much to complain about.