Saturday was the last day I ever had to hoover (vacuum) the stupid restaurant, and I was gradually getting more excited to be finished for good. Sunday, my official last day of work, was very busy. I was running around consistently and Nick actually came over when he had a chance to help and said, “I feel so sorry for you!” But in the end it was the last day, so I kept my eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel. Then it was time to turn in my uniform, key cards, and nametag—after Heather and Rachael traded for the pieces of it they needed. I thanked John again for calling to check on me at the hospital, said, “see you tonight,” to a bunch of people and gave hugs all around. I laughed when even Katie came running over for a hug.
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| One of Ocen's photos from Dicey's |
That night Dale and I walked to Dicey’s, picking up cheese fries along the way, but still didn’t make it into the club before the free 7:00 entrance. The line-up was massive, and the crowds inside were already pretty happy with the two euro drink deal. It wasn’t long until the rest of us where happy as well. Katie was the only one from work who was actually able to make it, but I suppose that means I avoided having to say goodbye to a lot of people. We sat outside under the blue sky for a long time, but eventually the dance floor was calling. It was a fantastic night. Katie kept coming back for hugs when we headed outside, but I’m positive I’ll be seeing her again, even if it is in Hawaii after she moves there in September! Dale and I went for Zaytoons afterwards, and didn’t get to sleep until 3:30 in the morning. But I didn’t have to work the next day!
It has been strangely hard to grasp that I never have to go to work at the hotel again. I wish it was. Nevertheless, I have been enjoying my days off. I think the problem is that everything is coming to an end, not just work. Monday meant it was our last Fitz night, where we laughed to find out that at least one of our number couldn’t even remember getting home after Dicey’s. On Tuesday we went for dinner at Rosaleen and Vincent’s. We got to play with Sennan in the bright sunshine for a while, and, as usual, had an amazing meal. We avoided saying goodbye since we will be back in June, at least for a few days. That June visit is really messing with my perception.
We officially bought our tickets home! It cost us 350 euros each for June 14th, with one two hour stop in London, which is not nearly as bad as the other flights. We’re quite happy with that price since it is what we’d been budgeting for all along. We visited Lisa at USIT, who told us there’s no point doing our taxes until I have my P45 from finished at the hotel. Since I still haven’t received anything that will unfortunately be on our to-do list in June, which also includes shutting down our bank account. Vincent said we should be able to receive our taxes in the form of a cheque, so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
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| Dale and Dublin Castle |
We did a thorough cleaning and hiding of our belongings so the inconveniently-close-to-our-departure visit from the landlord wouldn’t reveal that there were too many people in the house. Dale and I made ourselves scarce by heading for a day in town. It started out sunny, but by the time we arrived at the Grand Opening of Brant’s new bakery—Krüst, where he is the manager—it started to pour. The tiny shop was packed with people. We ordered a pizza and had two of the most delicious vanilla lattes made by a famous barista. Unfortunately we didn’t get to meet Little Finger, who Brant had served in the day before! We then had no choice but to go into thrift, antique, and book shops all over Dublin in order to stay out of the downpour. We even visited Dublin Castle again, since Dale hadn’t seen the view from the garden yet. I also remembered from watching “Michael Collins” that inside the courtyard was where the English officially handed Ireland back to the Irish.
We bought a cheap pocket French-English dictionary from Chapters, then found a sushi place called Ukiyo Bar, which had a nice view of Exchequer Street and where they served us free miso soup while we waited for our meals. Dale and I have been bickering quite a bit recently—probably a combination of having no time to actually talk in private plus always having something on the to-do list—so it was nice to find ourselves talking excitedly for a few hours over a story idea he had. When we figured it was about time to move on, we went to MacDonald’s for dessert, then met up with everyone at Cassidy’s for Alysia’s last night. She’s off for five weeks in Italy (maybe we can meet up with her!) before going home to B.C., just like us. It was nice to have someone going through the same leaving experience at the same time as us. I think it may have seemed more real to her, however, since her last day was to follow, while ours was two the day after. The funny thing is that she is also coming back to Ireland in June before finally going home. After a few pints and some signing of goodbye books and coasters, Dale, Heather, Anne, and I made a pit-stop at Subway before catching the bus home.
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| Crazy at Cassidy's |
Now the big day that ends our official “living in Dublin” experience is tomorrow. We leave the house for Paris at 4:30am. I feel very grateful for having friends who care enough about us to have hosted us for a month, as well as all the ones who came out to celebrate and see us off. I really am going to miss them all. But I’m really looking forward to the next step, and I have my fingers crossed for that little reunion in June—and beyond because let’s face it…our friends are the awesome type of people who rock at this travel-thing!
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