Another Day Another Euro

Last night Joan set the alarm to go off at 8:00 a.m. on the dot.
I woke up, after hearing the alarm, as did Joan. "Que hora es?" I asked him, knowing well it was past 8.
"It´s 11:50" he said closing his eyes and sighing.
"Ok, so much for getting up early huh? It´s ok, we can just go to your exam....."
"Oh man I forgot about that! Yeah, we have 20 minutes to get ready." He looks over at me, "Is that ok?"
"Sure. I´ll just call in my hair and make-up artist and be ready in 15."

We walked to the bus just in time for it to pick us up. Joan bought these 7 day student travel cards that we can use unlimited times during 7 days. We put it in this machine, it checks it and gives it back to us. I didn´t know that if the machine beeped more than once you have to show the driver your card, well my card beeped and I just took it and kept going.
" éllo?" "éllo?" I had no idea the driver was talking to me, Joan stepped in and handed him my card, the driver got mad thinking it was Joans "No it´s hers" he said and Joan showed him his card that was in his wallet. "Go on." said the driver.
What an arse.

We went to the top of the bus and got a prime seat right in front so we could see everything. The day was cold but sunny which was a great change the rainy days we´ve been having. My eyes squinted in the sun and I hate that my Armani sunglasses broke the other day. What a rip.

Joan had his exam but first I had to feed him. He stopped at Burger King and had lunch. A gypsy with a baby came by and asked for change, this isn´t a rare occurence and Joan shooed her away. I thought this was rather cruel but he told me about gypsies and how they stole money from and his friends when he was a child. "It´s all a trick, yeah it´s sad they have to do that and their children will grow up to do the same. It´s like a cult, it´s their lifestyle" I saw many gypsy women that day.

He went to his exam so I pampered myself at the salon and got my eyebrows waxed. I got in right away and a charming young Irish girl waxed them for me. It was a very posh place and it only cost €8.

I wandered around Clery´s Department Store, (equivalent of our Macy´s) and tried on designer dresses that I may not ever own, but damn did they look good on me. Joan arrived from his exam and we went to Trinity College and the campus is even more beautiful during a sunny day. We saw The Book Of Kells, it´s interesting. A book that people from all over the world come to see. "The Book of Kells is a manuscript that has survived the test of time, it has been described as the zenith of Western calligraphy and illumination. It contains the four gospels of the Bible in Latin along with prefatory and explanatory matter decorated with numerous colourful illustrations and illuminations." (thank you Wikipedia for that succinct definition)

We walked around the streets deciding what to do when I smelled something absolutely heavenly. Homemade doughnuts, 60 cents a piece, covered in sugar and damn delicious. I hope to get a few more while I´m here. I wish I could send them to everyone, it´s a piece of heaven in a bag.

Afterwards, we walked to Grafton St. which is by far my favorite street in Dublin. We went up to Starbucks which is upstairs of this designer shop. We got a seat right by the window and people watched. I had the greatest hot chocolate I´ve ever had at a Starbucks, it had swirls of Caramel and whip cream..mmmm...it hit the spot.

Joan wanted to go to St.Stephens Green, it is this beautiful park right off Grafton Street. It was very cold and I wanted to go but it was so peaceful and we ended up staying and walking around for a bit. We decided to take refuge inside the St.Stephens Green Mall and I bought a very warm down coat in this dark teal color from United Colors of Benetton. It is a very popular brand here, I ended up buying a few more things from there as well. My style is changing, I´m wearing more daring things here, in America it is all tee shirts and jeans and what´s fun in that?

After we thought about seeing a film, Charlie Wilsons War finally came out here, but we just weren´t in the mood so we left The Savoy theatre and came back to his flat.

It´s like the United Nations in his flat. You have David from France, Adam and Bence from Hungary, Joan from Spain and me from America here in a flat in Dublin. It can be quite comical at times. Adam is actually sleeping in the living room because he didn´t pay this months rent so technically he is our "guest" if anyone asks. It makes the flat seem more alive because usually everyone is always locked away in their rooms.

Tonight will be relaxing for us, tomorrow night we will go out. Adam invited us to go out and as much I would love to, we should be spending less money and it is ridiculously expensive here. Joan needs to study anyway and I bought three books today because I read so fast I´m done with one in a day. We downloaded I am legend last night, pretty good film, typical "American saving the world film" as the Europeans call it, I agree.

I will upload some pictures now if I can, the Internet is being incredibly slow tonight.

Oh and another great artist I found is Juanes, he has a great song called "Me enamora" from his 2007 album; La vida es un ratiko. Download it. (especially you Tink)

I´ll post more soon.

Many Besos

C.M.