A Milestone Birthday Miles Away From Home

           Today is a landmark day for me in this string of days, years, and events we call life. Today will bring me a new age, a new world, a new chapter, and inevitably new friends. Not only is today my 21^st birthday, the day I’ve been waiting for my whole life (figuratively speaking), but it’s also the first day of my study abroad program in Dublin.  21 may not have the same merriment here of first time legal bar hopping as it does in the states, but who am I to let that stop me?  Although I may not be celebrating with the same people whom I’ve grown up with and have sang happy birthday to me each year, I’m putting my inner birthday diva aside and appreciating the fact that I’m in Dublin.

Thanks to a little Irish luck, I’ve managed to find a group of girls in the first hour of being here that look like they know how to have a good time. So we skipped out on the awkward introductions and left the jetlag behind while we headed to Temple Bar for the first of many nights out together. It didn’t take long to realize I was going to become best friends with these girls. Needless to say, June 13, 2011 has been a success for more reasons than one. I’m 21, I’m living in one of the most fun cities in Europe, I have great new friends, and I finally put my computer science classes to use by making this blog. 

                           Me, Remi, Becca, and Ann at Gogarty's in Temple Bar