They say when you are in an argument with someone you should stop and think about what you say before you say it, because you could end up saying something you don't mean. I think the same applies to writing. I had to take a step back and think about what I really wanted to say before I sat down to write this post.
As of January 18th I moved into an apartment in Dublin City centre, so I am now walking distance to work, to college, to good nightlife, and decent food. It is a move I contemplated for quite sometime, because living in Swords was not really beneficial to me. I spent on average €60 a month on the Swords express bus, and about €55 on the Dublin city bus going back and forth. On top of working in the city centre it seems everything I do is here as well, so it was a real no brainer. I was quite happy and comfortable living with my friend Daragh and his two friends when I first arrived. I was made to feel like I was apart of the group, and included on dinners and other events initially. As time went on however the two girls began to exclude me from everything and in fact I even noticed that after a while they wouldn't even sit in the same room that I was in. The downfall began when my friend Antoine came to visit, because it seems that after he left they were a bit jealous that Daragh spent so much time with Antoine and I, going to Galway, and going out to nightclubs etc. I immediately noticed a change in things around the house and it made me uncomfortable. Being an adult I tried to weather through it because I knew I had an overall goal to accomplish and the pettiness wouldn't deter me. Even stone walls have a breaking point however, and it reached the point I couldn't take the awkwardness and uncomfortable atmosphere anymore. I'm lucky enough to have a good supporting cast of people in my life that helped influence my decision to move into the city centre as well.
The new place is not without flaw, but instantly when I moved in I realized the two new housemates were good people. They have gone out of there way to make me comfortable in the new apartment, and the other night they invited a few of there friends over. It was an incredible night as we had two Koreans, two Germans, four French people and myself the lone American all in one room, discussing a variety of topics. Everyone talked about the cities they were from in there countries and what were some of the positives as well as some of the negatives. Overall it was a very nostalgic experience for me, as it reminded me of living in Cork and going to David and Carroll's apartment and on any given night finding groups of people from Italy, France, Martinique and many other places to have conversations with. It's only been a few days but already I can see the financial benefit of my move as I haven't been on a bus in almost a week and my change jar is starting to add up quickly. Maybe in a few months I will have a different outlook on the whole experience of living in Dublin City Centre but as for right now I have no complaints.  ¶ 10:11 AM

 
Happy New year everyone, can't believe its 2012 already. I had a really busy month of December with Lucas visiting from the States, Christmas with the Robbins, and a trip to England for a week. I went over to Manchester and Blackpool to visit my cousins and also to do some sightseeing with Lucas. Manchester was absolutely amazing and a much needed trip. I realized that I got stuck in a rut over here in Dublin, I definitely expected things to be different this time around, what I didn't anticipate is how similar they would be to the first time I was here. My first 6 months in Ireland back in 2006 and 2007 was the hardest, and it appears this time its exactly the same. The trip over to England however put things back into perspective for me. I am exactly where I want to be, even if I'm not exactly doing what I want to be doing yet. Being able to take a 29 Euro flight over to visit family is one of the best parts of being back here in Europe.
I missed being with my parents and siblings this year for Christmas, but I definitely had the next best thing. The holiday season here is very festive, even if you aren't feeling very cheerful there seems to be endless things to get you in the holiday spirit. It was a lot different to the Decembers in California, where 70 degree weather was still the norm, and it never quite felt like Christmas was ever approaching.
When Max was visiting in November we talked about the possibility of going to the Euro 2012 Championships in Ukraine and Poland. When we eventually got around to looking at the ticket prices its appeared we would end up paying 1000 euro for two tickets and that was quite reasonable compared to some of the other prices. We decided that instead we could spend 1000 euro and end up going somewhere on holidays instead. Max told me that the decision was up to me, and he didn't realize letting me decide where to go on a trip was like giving me a loaded gun. Instantly my thought was we could go anywhere in the world for that price so what were a few places on the top of my list. Australia is really high on my list to visit, but I knew we wouldn't have a month to explore that continent so I crossed that off. Russia was next but since I do want to go with a native Russian speaker, I decided to delay that one. Then came Sweden, Germany, and Denmark however they are all within close proximity to where Max lives so I figured that wouldn't be much of a vacation for him. In the end I narrowed it down to Croatia, Morocco, and Lebanon, and it was really difficult to pick between those three. After nearly a month of going back and forth however, I finally settled on Beirut, Lebanon. So barring a complete disaster it looks like Max and I will venture off to the Middle East sometime in the early summer. I'm really excited for that trip, it will be the farthest east I have gone to date, and also I'm looking forward to something different from western cultures.  ¶ 11:23 AM