Hi All,

This past weekend my sister, Sami, came to visit from St. Andrews, Scotland (where she's at university). Sam arrived on Thursday evening and her mobile wasn't working in Ireland, so it was quite the challenge to find her. Fortunately, she made some friends (as usual) who brought her onto campus to find me.

Although Sam visited Dublin last spring when she was interviewing at colleges here, she didn't really get a chance to properly see the city, so I spent Friday showing her the sights. I gave her my now standard tour of Dublin, and we called it an early night, since we were both exhausted.

Saturday was spent in an Australian sports bar, called the Wool Shed, watching the big Ireland vs. England rugby match. Although the game didn’t start until 5pm, we were in the bar with some of my friends from 3pm – 11pm. We kicked off the game with a round of “Springbuck” shots, a South African favourite that physically look Irish, with a green mint liqueur base and a layer of Bailey’s on top. This match is particularly huge, because there is an 800 year rivalry between England and Ireland, and the tensions can still be high today. The bar was packed, and the game was very exciting. The match came down to the wire in the last few minutes, but thankfully Ireland still won with 14 points, to England’s 13. Later on, Sami and I stopped by a club where her best friend from St. Andrew’s, Naheed’s girlfriend was celebrating her 19th birthday party.

Sunday, I showed Sami around my favourite neighbourhood in the city that is filled with cute boutiques and cafes. Afterwards, we found ourselves some cozy chairs in the back corner of a Starbucks and spent the afternoon studying. We finished up the day with some Italian dinner, at one of Sami’s favourite European franchise restaurants (Milano / Pizza Express).

All in all, it was a nice, relaxing weekend. I’m psyched for my upcoming trips to Madrid and Scotland over spring break, and I’ll keep you posted on all my other excursions!

Love,
Erin