swim play dance and dress up

as i sit here on the third of december listening to christmas music on repeat, i cannot help but ask myself where the month of november went ! i knew it would be a busy one as i had planned trips to scotland and spain and brittany was coming over from copenhagen to dublin for thanksgiving. but i must say time here has flown by in the blink of an eye. if my lack of blogging is any indication of the fun i am having, then i certainly had a wonderful november =) first of all, on halloween morning, some friends and i decided to go swimming in the atlantic ! now, it clearly was not as cold as it has been recently (it hailed last weekend !!) and i must say it definitely woke us up... I used to think lake tahoe was cold !

pre- and post- atlantic swim in dublin bay

that night, after a failed attempt to be pebbles flintstone for halloween, my friend kate and i decided to be farmers together. the costume basically consisted of a plaid shirt, our hunter boots, and pigtails. because the city is such a hassle to get to and everything would have been incredibly expensive to get into, we decided to have our own halloween party in blackrock. a little different than our usual halloween in irvine or san francisco, but an eventful one to say the least !

two farmers and audrey hepburn... naturally

the weekends following halloween are kind of a blur now, but for a little recap here are some photos::

laura, eilis, kate and myself needed a bathroom stop one night in the city... and decided to take a photo?! ha strange i know, but i thought it was cute

after we watched new zealand beat wales in rugby one night, the pub set up for irish dancing !

and then ben got chosen to join in !

one morning on my run, i ran into liam o'kelley, an older irish man who had dropped his mitten and asked me to pick it up for him. after thinking i was irish (mission: complete ! ) we continued to talk for two hours ! his stories were fantastic: full of adventure, drama, and gossip about all of the characters that come down to the beach where i was running. he introduced me to his friends (one man was 84, and the lady was 92 ! ) who come down to the beach, rain or shine, to swim in the atlantic ! i told them that i had taken a dip a few days earlier, and they were convinced that they were going to get me to swim with them that day as well ! granted, it probably dropped at least 10 degrees as i was running in fleece and mittens and was still freezing. so no atlantic swim for me that day, but i so enjoyed meeting them as they all said that their morning swim keeps them all alive. it was so wonderful speaking with them and hearing about all of their crazy adventures in ireland and elsewhere =)

what a random bunch of photos and adventures i had from november, but of course i wouldn't trade any of it ! i have met some amazing people that have made my time here in ireland that much more wonderful.

as i welcome december (and finals...), i cannot help but be so excited to welcome my family to ireland as well in a matter of weeks ! so anxious to see my parents and my brothers and show them around the city that i have called my home for more than three months now.

well check back soon for new adventures from edinburgh, scotland and madrid, spain !

a journey is best measured in friends

rather than miles

[tim cahill]