Goodbyes

My last view of Ireland from the plane

After arriving back in Galway where the Cliffs of Moher tour ended it came time to do the thing that I had been dreading since about Day 2 in Dublin. That, of course, was saying goodbye to Laura. While in Ireland Laura was my best friend, confidant, roomie, and partner in crime. It is really tough to put into words exactly what she meant to me while I was abroad, so it obviously extremely hard to say goodbye to her. Not to mention, she lives in Melbourne so it was not like if I started missing her I could see her without flying 36 hours.

Anyway, we found the bus back to Dublin from Galway and I (of course) started crying. We didn't want to drag it out too much though and I got on the bus with Grace while everyone was staring at me because I was obviously crying (it's not like that is the first time that has happened).

Grace and I got into Dublin around 10 pm and took the last walk to the bus stop. I didn't want to say goodbye to the city that had welcomed me 4.5 months ago, but, as Andrea Bocelli would say, it was "time to say goodbye."

And when we got back to UCD is was not pretty. Basically I had to pack my life up into three suitcases and try to get it underweight before our 7:55 am flight to London. My distress is somewhat evident in my blog entry for that day. I let Grace sleep and began packing (while playing Glee on my computer). We didn't get our bags underweight but everything was packed and ready when we got the cab to the airport at about 5 am.

And before I knew it I was on a plane flying away from the country that became my home...