Goodbyes and Hellos

I love making up random titles. It does actually have something to do with the post, but you'll have to read on to find out...

So after coming back from Amsterdam Jeremy wasn't feeling so hot and was still really sick. He went to the health center again and all they did was prescribe him another antibiotic and tell him to get better. Well he talked to his parents and doctor from home and decided to go to town to a real doctor. Anyway, he was referred to a throat, nose, and ear specialist who ran some tests etc. and found out that he had a perforated eardrum, a partially perforated eardrum, a sinus infection, and blocked ear canals because the fluid couldn't drain. Though it was really not okay, it was kinda funny because his left ear was deaf and his right only had partial hearing (both are temporary) so we'd have to shout to have him comprehend anything. We could sit in a room and talk normally and he was completely ignorant to what was going on; it kinda felt like we were working with a "special" kid.

Anyway, his parents made the executive decision to bring him home, at least temporarily, so that he could get real care. Rachel and I went down with him the night before and stayed at the hotel with him because he was kinda worthless by himself. He had to ask "what" about 5 times before people spoke loud enough, and we had to get him up in the morning because he would have slept right through his alarm. It was weird saying goodbye to him at the airport, because he had only been around for like a month and a half. He was one of our good friends here, and it sucks that he had to go home unwillingly under such shitty circumstances. At home his doctor added mono to his diagnosis; good job health center at keeping your students in top form!

This past weekend I went to visit Molly (who's in Dublin) with Charlie. I trained up to Edinburgh and Charlie and I hung out in the city for a bit and got some dinner. He left his brand new Patagonia raincoat on the bus, and when he sprinted back to get it (literally like 3 minutes later) it was gone; he fumed about it the whole weekend.

We caught a 10:30 flight and had landed in Dublin within an hour, hopped a bus and were standing outside Molly's dorm. She has the sickest setup EVER. It's a top floor apartment right on Trinity's campus, and they have 2 floors to themselves. The first floor is bedrooms and bathrooms (Molly's supposed to be in a double, but her roommate hasn't shown up all year so she's being charged for a double [pretty cheap] but has a massive room all to herself, as well as 2 closets, 2 desks, and 2 beds). The second floor is even higher up (naturally) and has a sweet view of the city as well as a nice big room which serves as a common room and kitchen. Add to this that all her roommates are wicked nice and from all over, and she has an amazing situation.

We pretty much crashed right when we got there, and after oversleeping the next day Charlie and I took to the city after fueling up at Gruel (where we missed the legendary breakfast!). Molly had to work on a paper, so Charlie and I bummed around to some museums, a photo gallery, some parks, and stopped in at the BC House to say hi and use their internet. The nice thing about Dublin is that pretty much all the museums are free! (though everything else is a bit more expensive) We had a lot fun walking around and it was awesome to catch up with Charlie and just fucking around with him. Homemade chicken parm with Molly that night was excellent; getting kicked out of the common room by the resident police people for having a "party", aka 12 people in a big room drinking casually. We rocked out at some exclusive club that Danny (Molly's Irish boyfriend) got us into for free, but it was kinda all older people (though there were a few cougars around, rarrrr). I had my first Guinness in Ireland and it tastes way better there (probably because it's made like 5 minutes away).

Saturday Molly had a tryout so Charlie and I wandered again, going to some cathedrals and the Modern Art Museum. I have a issue: modern art IS NOT ART! The stuff we saw was just like colored blocks up on a wall, or random ass movies. The dumbest thing was this shoe that spun and sprinkles were pushed around it by a rod that hung from the ceiling.... I was kinda pissed actually because people make money on this shit, ugh. We went to a sweet pub called the Ginger Man (witty, redheads, witty) and had a few pints before I headed back early because I had to get up at 7 am to catch my flight.

Getting up that early (after a 3 am wakeup when Cahrlie and Molly came home) sucked, and the whole day I was exhausted. I did get to see a contortionist get out of being fully chained up in Edinburgh, but didn't end up getting home until like 7. It was an awesome weekend, great to see friends from BC, and to get away from school for a bit. Spring break is only like 3 weeks away, and I'm pumped to get out and travel, and see Claire, Zukes, and hopefully Mike, Gabby, and Ann along the way.

Bless your hearts,
Dreads