A New Year's Eve concert, a 30th birthday party to remember then back to Deutschland

I'm back in Germany again after two and a half weeks in Ireland. So it's time for a quick update.

Here is how our Christmas tree looked in the end!

This was the longest time I have been home since moving to Germany. The GerMann spent Christmas with his family then flew over to join me in Dublin in time for New Year's and after a week we flew back together. I spent the first week catching up with friends and family which was great- this also included a trip to Tipperary. I just love the cottages with the thatched roofs.

I normally find New Year's Eve can be a bit of an anticlimax. There is always so much pressure to have the best night ever and it can be difficult to decide what to do. The city centre can be overpriced and it is normally nearly impossible to get a taxi home. So house parties can be a good alternative. But I did that the last two years. This year in Dublin there was a lot organized in the city centre. What caught our attention was the New Year's Eve concert at college green. Tickets were only 10 euro and The Coronas, Riverdance and Paul Brady would be at it. The Coronas are great- I had seen them live before.

Finally something a bit different to do on New Year's Eve. But an outdoor concert in Ireland is very risky with Irish weather! So we were hesitating over whether to buy tickets or not. We headed into town on New Year's Eve anyway to meet up with friends and there was a really great atmosphere around Dame street and college green and it wasn't raining, in fact it was quite a mild evening, so we decided to go for it and buy tickets. I'm glad we did as the concert turned out great- and they had countdown with fireworks. Afterwards we meet up with friends for a few drinks in the International Bar and then Dakota.

Since the new budget came in, VAT has gone up in Ireland making everything more expensive except hotels and B&Bs which have had their tax reduced to try to entice more tourists to visit. What that means is that there are loads of fantastic offers at the moment. Through DealRush we bought a voucher for a lovely 4-star hotel in Galway at fantastic value (€119 for 2 nights B&B including a bottle of wine!).

Galway was beautiful- the hotel was perfect and we went for walks on Salthill prominade and ate and drank at some tradional irish style pubs and restaurants. Unfortunately the weather was quite rainy but if I recall correctly it rains the most in Galway out of everywhere in Ireland!

People over here always seem to be asking me about Irish food. Well, here are some examples of what we ate in Galway: Shepherd's Pie, Roasts and lots of fish!

Dublin also has some lovely areas of course.

Dun Laoghaire pier looked great all lit up.








We went for a walk around Kiliney beach one day and even saw some dolphins!

I also had my 30th birthday party while I was home. It was a joint party with my best friend and the whole night could not have gone better! It was great catching up with everyone, the venue worked out well and the cake my friend's sister made was amazing. My little sister also had a birthday while I was home and it was so nice to be there to celebrate with her.

In fact I had such a great time back in Ireland that I was dreading coming back to Germany a bit! But I think a lot of people feel a bit sad once the holidays are over and they have to go back to work. At the moment I am feeling rather frustrated with my career. That's the only area of my life right now that I am not happy with really. Am just not where I would like to be career wise and trying to figure out which direction to go. Am hoping the situation will improve over the next few months!

Returning to Germany was a little sad the first day but now I'm settling back into my life here again.Today I meet up with my other expat pals, which was a nice welcome back to Germany!

A few other pics from the trip:

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!