The best part wasn't the Guinness or the cake or the dancing, though. The best part was that we were with friends. Albeit fairly new friends, friends we won't likely see again after this week, but friends for the moment, and that's good enough. Earlier in our stay here, we went to a much smaller, much quieter pub with some Germans we'd met. One of them, upon entering, declared to us that it looked a bit boring, which wasn't incorrect. But an Irishman at the bar turned to her and said that you have to make your own fun, and enjoy the people you're with. I think that's the first lesson learned here in Dublin's fair city. It doesn't matter so much where you are, as long as you have the right people beside you. When you're as transient as Jill and I have been recently, the "right people" might seem hard to find. But they're actually all around. You just have to open your eyes, and step out of your room occasionally. At first, I didn't imagine that we'd make friends at the hostel, or that there was much of a point in it, since these are just other travelers, bound to leave as quickly as they come. It isn't like we'd have real friends IN DUBLIN. I didn't put that much thought into it. But then I was sitting on the steps one night after skyping my parents, and German boy sat down and started talking. Before the night was over, there were nine of us, sitting on the steps, clogging up the hallway, asking silly questions. Before the week was over, Jill and I were touring St. Patrick's Cathedral with a girl from Wisconsin. We were meeting Brazilians and Norwegians and Africans after worshiping alongside them at a church on Sunday morning. We were sharing chicken nuggets, candy bars, and travel stories with a nineteen-year-old on a solo trip around Europe before starting university. If these aren't the right people, who are? In the end, it doesn't matter how long they stick around. It's better to have a friend for a moment and make memories to last a lifetime.
=====================================================================================
Then again, you can't get much better than friends who've been around forever and love you to the moon and back. Which is why I'm so excited to let you guys know that Shelby will be coming to visit us in our BRAND NEW FLAT in Dublin! We move in this weekend, and then she's coming to visit next weekend, hopefully with a suitcase of Kraft mac n cheese (if you watch the video I put on our channel earlier today, you'll understand our struggle)! The adventure just gets better and better...except for the whole 'we don't really have jobs yet' thing. Uhhh....we'll work on that....
ANYWAY, speaking of our Youtube channel, we've been trying to make more videos recently, and there's still a LOT that I need to edit. But I want to do a Q&A video for next Thursday, so PLEASE send me questions. Anything you're dying to know about our lives since we've left the States, about Dublin, about hostels or travel, etc. Ask away!
Thanks a million!
Anna Beth