oh boyyyyy

Well, I rang my mom and dad yesterday to tell them that I've decided to stay on in Dublin for another while.





I may be in my 20s, but I still feel anxious and nervous about disappointing them. Their idea for me was always that I be a teacher, either high school or university, and the thought of me take a year out at my relatively advanced age to work for minimum wage at a restaurant makes them really mad.





My argument is that a year is just a year, and I've basically been in education all my life and at this point need a break to assess things and consider whether I really want to commit to another 40 years or so of school -- even in a new role as a teacher. I've really enjoyed all the academic stuff here in Dublin and, honestly, it's been absolutely fantastic studying literature in one of the most literary cities in the English-speaking world, but I do know that it's also not the real world. Bottom line, it won't do me any harm to have to work hard and not earn a lot for a year or so before making some big decisions about the rest of my life.







And there's just something about this place that's gotten under my skin. It's not that Dublin's perfect because it's not, and nowhere really is, but there's an energy and a love of language and music and art and fun that's just so refreshing and unpretentious and different to anything I've come across in other places, and it's hard to think of leaving. Sure, there are things and people I miss from home, but more and more I've realised that if I leave Dublin, there are even more things and people to miss from here. [Sniff].





The good news is that most of my friends from back home are also finishing up either college or their first couple of years at work, and my inbox is flooded with emails from people planning to come and visit! Which now that the dissertation is basically finished is a great prospect, and a good opportunity to go look at the places I haven't been to yet, or visit some old favourites like Dublin's best kept secret, Marsh's Library.





I wrote yesterday about how I was going to see a dance show. The venue was another part of the Smock Alley Theatre. That's in in the picture above. It seems to be a venue full of surprises. On the other side of the block you have to walk through a sort of warren to get to the theatre space. This one does have a more impressive outside.

I'm still not sure that I completely understand modern dance, but it was an interesting show, involving flashing lights and people mumbling in what sounded like Chinese...

Oh! Gotta go; my flatmate is calling me for another lesson in Italian cooking. Tonight: homemade pizza.