is that... the sun?

The seasons are definitely changing here in Dublin: the winter mid-40s is giving way to the spring low-50s, and that might sound like a joke, but it feels so much warmer. (Note: I might not survive my next visit back to South Carolina.) Plus, the sun has made an appearance every day for the last week and it's barely rained at all! 

One of the first sunny days we enjoyed, I blew off work entirely and went for a long walk down the coast. It was so lovely that I didn't stop walking until I got to Dun Laoghaire (about 7.5 miles), which was dumb, because then I was too tired to do anything else, so I just caught the bus back home. :P

Being blinded by the sun

This is why I do everything early in the morning - no people!

Blackrock Park

I feel like I'm being coaxed outdoors after a long hibernation - not that I haven't gone outside this winter, but I haven't exactly wanted to for a long time. No, it hasn't been freezing, but cold rain is about as gross as it gets. I can't really complain about winter, though, given that roughly everyone in America has had a worse one than I have. It might be sunnier now, but the -er is the key point; it's still probably 50/50 clouds or sun. That just means that the weather is now unfortunately even more unpredictable, which is at odds with my increased desire to venture out. This calls for spontaneity on my part, which... isn't going to happen. :P 

Instead, I give you pre-planned spontaneity: I have worked out basically full itineraries for a handful of day-trips and weekends away, so that if we wake up to a cloudless Saturday, we can just go, but without the stress of not knowing beforehand what we're going to do and how we're going to get there. ^.^ Some of our planned trips include: a day trip to Malahide Village and Castle (thanks for the idea, Ashley!); a weekend in Glendalough near the early medieval monastic city and national park; and a tour of Glasnevin Cemetery, recommended for anyone interested in Irish history - I'd never heard of it until recently, but the museum and tours are actually the #3 rated attraction in Dublin on TripAdvisor. These are all in the Dublin area, but I'm also planning some trips to other parts of the country - for all the time I've spent in Ireland, I've only made it to Dublin, Galway, and Sligo so far!

Near the top of the list: Cork, the "food capital of Ireland"

Of course, it's probably also no coincidence that my wanderlust coincides with the beginning of the editing stage of my first thesis chapter - and not just editing, but editing the introduction, which means looking at the big picture when I'm much more comfortable with the details. My brain starts hurting after about an hour or two of serious work. Actually, though, I'm starting to make my peace with the editing process, thanks in no small part to my inspiring advisor - she helps me see things from another angle and I get excited about the project all over again. Also, I feel like I'm growing exponentially as a writer: editing makes me focus on my writing with the kind of precision that's impossible to achieve when I'm focused on just getting my ideas on paper. It's crazy exciting to see this chapter take shape, too, because honestly, until my advisor read and approved of the first draft, it was hard not to feel like a fraud; producing something coherently argued and eloquently written is proof to myself that I do know what I'm doing, and I do deserve to be here. So, if you haven't heard from me for a while, it's because my brain is exploding with big words and bigger ideas. I hope to be more socially communicative when my school-related writing responsibilities start demanding a little less than all of my mental energy.

Pippin's loving all the sunlight!

fitzwilliam square

I do remember promising to post pictures of the apartment back in September, but it hasn't exactly looked habitable until somewhat recently - and actually, to be honest, each of these rooms were photographed on separate days and none of them look this nice at the moment. Of all the things I'm good at, "home-maker" is not one of them. :P I can fake it pretty well, though, so enjoy the nicely staged rooms below!

The living room. Items of interest: Irish crime fiction festival poster on the left (in red); the small picture in the middle of the mantel is of James Joyce; yes, that's a Guinness flag - no, I don't drink beer and neither does Jason; and even though there's a dearth of books on those fabulous built-in shelves, I'd say that's a decent collection for only having been here a few months. Whether we stay here or move back to the States after I finish my PhD, I'm going to have a hell of a time moving some books. What you don't see is the couch pushed all the way against the wall on the opposite side. I know enough about interior design to know that this is a terrible layout, but not enough to know where else to put things...?

A raven statue we bought in Chester.  

The kitchen, set up for a dinner party a few days before Christmas (note: I did eventually put more than one plate on the table :P). Normally, we have one of those tables pushed back under the window, sans tablecloth, with a drying rack for laundry occupying the middle of the room. The door on the left side leads to the bathroom. It's an odd layout for an apartment; I think it was previously used as offices. The biggest thing we don't like about the kitchen is the limited counter space - not good for cooking anything even slightly more complicated than putting pre-packaged meals in the oven, but we don't let that stop us! For said dinner party, we (and by we, I mean Jason) made 86 mini egg rolls (I made green tea and ginger mini-cheesecakes - I should post the recipe, no?).

This might seem like an uninteresting picture, but you would be wrong. Do you see how much freezer space we have (the bottom half of the fridge)? That whole thing is FILLED with food we've bought as it approaches the sell-by date and goes on crazy-clearance. The wicker shelves we bought at an antique store nearby (they're sitting on an IKEA table to make them a useable height). Those are Oscar Wilde quote magnets on the fridge and a case of Bulmer's under the table (Éirinn go Brách! Loving my adopted country, lol).

The bathroom. No shelf space or anything, so the bench/ledge is kind of cluttered (don't be fooled, it's much worse than this on a regular basis). This is the one window in the apartment that isn't insulated, so it can be an unpleasant shower experience in the winter (the malfunctioning shower itself doesn't help, with its unreliable or, as of a few days ago, nonexistent, hot water... yeah, it's a nightmare, praying it's fixed soon). We've been on the lookout for curtains to fit the top portion of the window - I'd make them myself if I had my sewing machine with me! - but in the meantime we've put up a purple fleece blanket, lol. Needless to say, I wasn't going to photograph that atrocity. 

The window in the other part of the bathroom. One of my favourite features of the place.

The bedroom. It's excessively large - to the right of the bed, there's a sofa, and approximately half of the room is behind me. What are we using this space for? Pretty much nothing. It'd be the perfect size and place for a treadmill, but I don't think there's enough money in the world to convince someone to haul it up the three flights of curved, uneven stairs to our apartment, and I personally have enough trouble making it up with the groceries. :P

My clothes rack we got at IKEA. Yes, I brought all those dresses with me (I've only bought two since we moved here, if you can believe it!). Even though I work from home and never leave the apartment without a giant coat covering every bit of the outfit I'm wearing, this is all unquestionably essential. You have no idea how much I pared down my wardrobe to come here, honestly. :(

My bedside table: three books, a kindle, and a journal, because a girl can never have enough reading material; and the bounty of Sanctuary Spa merchandise I bought from the pharmacy in after-Christmas sales. That's also a table lamp hanging from the top of the headboard (behind one of my scarves) because I didn't have a better place to put it. :P

Part of my Hello Kitty collection that I deemed worthy enough to bring with me. And people I know are having babies? It might be a while before I reach that level of emotional maturity. ;)

Fun fact about our apartment: Irish artist Jack Butler Yeats, brother of WB, had a studio here! Well, in the building, not our apartment specifically, but pretty cool, yeah? I doubt most people outside of Ireland have heard of him (I hadn't until we looked at this apartment...). Here's an example of his work:

O'Connell Bridge, Jack Butler Yeats

The apartment is far from perfect, but I love (most of) its eccentricities and the location could not be better - close enough to the city centre that everything is within walking distance, but far enough away that it's actually quiet outside business hours. As we're reluctant to buy anything when who on earth knows where I'll get a job after I graduate, it looks like this will be home for the foreseeable future! 

Below-street view of our building