A weekend visit back to Dublin

Last weekend I was back in Dublin, for another one of my flying visits- where I basically go home for about 3 or 4 days and try to fit in as much as possible during that time and practically plan my time down to the minute. This time I actually didn't fully book myself in advance as I wanted to have more family time. And also not stress myself out! I had one free afternoon and at first I did feel a bit guilty that I should be meeting someone during that time, but I ended up just hanging out with my sister and doing a bit of shopping.

I arrived home on a dull rainy Friday afternoon. Why is it always raining when the plane touches down in Dublin airport? Murphy's Law I suppose! Still to me it felt familiar and nice to be back!! Here's a picture of Dublin airport in the rain.

And Sandymount strand out the window of the aircoach:

Friday evening I visited an old friend- old in the sense that we have been friends a long time! Since I was 4 and she was 3 to be exact! One of the things I love about friends from home is that we have such a shared history. Was lovely having a good catch up over a bottle of wine.

On the Saturday evening I went to a friend's 30th birthday party. Mine will be the next one! When I just turned 29 I did go through a stage of freaking out a bit at where on earth my 20s went and feeling incredulous that I would turn 30 in the non too distant future when I still feel like the maturity level of a 25 year old! As you get older, I think you feel exactly the same (though a little more forgetful), but all of a sudden you are expected to do more and more "grown up" stuff! Friends start buying property, getting engaged or even having babies! It's gradual but it's becoming more frequent! But once the "woah I will be 30 soon" phrase passed I started to feel better about it. People who have passed the "30" milestone tell me they feel better in their own skin, more self confident and happy with themselves, and I am feeling that way too now. I have decided to embrace turning 30 and along with a friend, we are planning a big joint birthday party in Dublin.

Speaking of big events, last weekend I got some exciting news from that friend. She has asked me to be a bridesmaid at her wedding next year in France! This is the first time I shall be a bridesmaid and I have no idea what it all involves yet but I am very much looking forward to it nonetheless! I am also grateful that we have been able to maintain our friendship so well despite living so far away from each other.

The morning of my flight, it was a nice dry mild autumn day and I went for a walk on Dun Laoghaire pier.

What did I bring back with me? A suitcase full of irish goodies and a cold from the plane.

Here's a pic of some of the stuff I brought back. I might have gone a bit overboard!

It was a really great weekend back home and I love that I am only a two hour flight from Dublin. But the bad side to my frequent trips back is that I get hit with an extra big wave of homesickness once I get back to Germany. It normally takes a few days of feeling down before I am back into the swing of things with my German life!

This week I am looking forward to attending two Thanksgiving parties! Yep, you heard it, two! That is the advantage of having lots of American friends. I am hoping to try to bake something irish to bring along- like irish soda bread or tea brack.

My GerMann and I have also booked flights to visit Berlin next year. I love to travel but trips back and forth to Dublin don't count. Lufthansa were having a flight sale and Germans cannot resist a bargin so my GerMann came to me with the idea of a trip next February. Since we both have not yet been to Berlin we have decided to go there as I have only heard good things about it!