Ireland

DUBLIN, IRELAND -- First off, I have very little time so this will be a short post. But in sum, I went home for the parade, saw the Stanley Cup in the middle of Chicago with 2 million other fans, saw my family and friends for the first time in 6 months, Sarah for the first time in 9 months, and generally had a really great 5 days at home after not being there for so long.

I got back to London and that night started working for People to People, speaking to delegations about leadership, my experiences with People to People, and my experiences living in London and going to LSE for the year. In total I spoke to about 300 delegates!

In between I took my last LSE exam! Hard to believe that I may have taken my last final exam in life, but hey, I thought that about a year and a half ago and look where that got me, so who knows. In any case it went well and I'm glad.

I also took a camping trip followed by a day trip to Wimbledon! We saw Day 3, last Wednesday, during Round 2 of the singles. The grounds were incredible, and would you believe we got 4th row seats to see the greatest tennis player of all time, Roger Federer? Also seen playing: Kim Cljisters, Andy Roddick, Venus Williams, and Day 2 of the EPIC Isner-Mahut 11 hour, 5 minute match. Seen walking the grounds: Rafa Nadal.

After that, I took one last trip to LSE, said goodbye to my London friends, and this past Friday morning met up with a People to People delegation from Oahu and Kauai, Hawaii! I hopped on their bus, and we spent the day at Warwick Castle, where I was previously at 11 years ago to the week, in 1999 on my very first People to People program.

Saturday we visited Chester, England, and yesterday we were in Wales where I managed to soft-break an inch-thick slab of wood with my hand (did NOT think that was possible), and then in the afternoon I repelled down a Castle Tower overlooking the Irish Sea and the Welsh countryside almost 100 feet. Just superb!

This morning we boarded the ferry from Holyhead, Wales to Ireland. Two hours of mostly flat seas later we reached the port, easily got through immigration (yay new stamps), had a 90 minute city tour of downtown Dublin, a 2 hour tour of the Irish National Athletic Stadium, and then another 90 minutes to walk around Dublin and shop. From there I met with my homestay family, a delightful bunch who were extremely polite and kind. We talked about Chicago, LSE, Ireland, travel around Europe, the World Cup (and utilizing instant replay), People to People, the University of Wisconsin, and a whole lot more. I am typing this from their computer room (yay internet), but am going to sleep soon and then tomorrow we are off to a working Irish farm!

Some things I've noticed about Ireland/Dublin:

1) Post boxes are the exact same as in London, but they painted them green over the red
2) City buses are the exact same as in London, but they painted them yellow over the red
3) Flats all are the exact same as in London, but they painted the doors different colors over the black
4) Electrical outlets are the same
5) Cars still drive on the left side of the road
6) Guiness is everywhere
7) Pubs are everywhere
8) Yay Euro being RIDICULOUSLY cheap right now
9) Definitely cooler than the UK
10) Also light out later - far north, and further west
11) Pubs are everywhere
12) Saw the world's only square bridge
13) Dublin is small
14) The accent is tricky, but I have already picked up on it

That's all for now - I will post more later when I get home, etc!

Ireland till July 2, then Northern Ireland till July 4 I fly back to London, July 5 back to Chicago.