Ack! Been ages! I'm in Dublin now and have some time to update, so thought I'd take it.

Glasgow was wonderful. Met up with the lovely Lis and had a blast waiting in line, getting sonervousiwantedtotvomit, chatting, getting to know this random girl in line behind us, etc. And then it came: MEETING THE MANICS!!!!! i was literally shaking.

Music thrusts me into the world of being 14 again. Lipstick Traces was playing in the store, songs like 'Patrick Bateman' taking me back to my days of being an angsty 16-year-old, where the Manics Were EVERYTHING. I felt as angsty as a 16 year old waiting in line there, completely out of my head, shaking, like a little girl who's meeting her idols..

Sean was first. He signed my CD, then Nicky, who extended his hand to shake mine. EEE!!! *HE* extended *HIS* arm to shake *MY* measly hand!!!!! James did the same!!! I managed to ask him if they have any plans of possibly coming back to Canada and he said they wanted to for the Greatest Hits tour, but didn't get the chance (soemting about the record company), but they will go back to North America for their next album. Weeeeeeeee!!!!!! I also managed to get a picture with James :) :) :) :) :) :) :) I wanted one with Nicky, but he was sitting at a table in the middle and I was far too frightened, shaking. There were steps to walk down after the signing, and I was shaking so much I was sure I'd fall. I clung to the railing for dear life.

Lis, Jo, and I were completely nervous and giddy afterwards and decided we needed to go out for a drink. It was so cool, sitting in a Glasgow pub and drinking. I had one cocktail and it kind of finished me off. I wasn't as drunk as the other two, but I was a bit tipsy. Actually, I don't think any of us were as drunk as dear Lis, who left for the washroom and demanded I not write about this in my diary as she went up the stairs to the toilets, pointing at me accusingly, and declaring, 'I am an internet ICON!!!!' (Sorry, dear - had to do it!) Ah, the amusement!

Jo was so sweet and took me around the 'cool' shops of Glasgow the next day. It was fantaburrific.

Since then, I flew into Dublin. It's a cool city with a neat vibe to jit, but it's a lot different than I expcted. I didn't realise it was so poor so recently. Silly me, I guess. So it's weird, because you can be walking in this trendy area and suddenly, a block later, into one with run-down housing and poverty.

I've met great people here. Since Europe, it's been easier for me to meet peopel in hostels because I've made sure to put in extra effort. It was hard in Europe because of the language barrier; now that's gone, I've promised to meet people to go out with at night so I don't stay in and feel bored/lonely. And I've actually done it. I met an Australian girl the first night here and we went to this pub that was meant to have Irish dancing and Irish music.

Funny story. We're sitting at the bar, where I'm sipping my drink (fucking FIVE EURO for a goddamn vodka and lemonade!!!!) and the girl I'm with is gulping her Guinness. These Irish guys are behind us and put their drinks right by ours. Girl I'm with, Lee, starts to chat them up. She's talking with them both and I'm kind of staring off into space, adding a few words when I'm asked - you know, the 'I'm shy, but not rude' routine that I do so well because it's what I am. Girl goes into the washroom, so I talk to the guys a bit more, exchange names, etc. Girl's been complaining to this one guy that she can't undrestand him and makes him slow down every time he says something. I'm not having any problems, which he comments on and says is cool that I just pay closer attention when accents are more difficult. I say I feel a bit rude telling people in their country that I can't understand and he kind of smiles and we chat a bit (a very little bit) when the girl gets back. Guys leave about 30 mins later to go to the Temple Bar area. They shake the girl's hand, but they both hug and kiss me! Ha ha ha!! The girl scowls at me when they leave and says, 'what was that?? why did you get a kiss of both of them and little hugs and all i got was a handsake???'

'maybe it's customary to kiss the person who's quiet?' i offer.

'I'm quite offended!'

I shrug.

It was strange.

And yesterday. Oh god, yesterday! There's this Backpacker's Pub Crawl which I asked this other girl at the hostel to come with me to as soon as I walked into the room and before we even introduced each other. She swiftly agreed and we were off and GOOD GOD were we fucking SMASHED! 3 hours after knowing each other, we're talking about exes, relationships, love, travelling, everything... and fucking plastered. We ended up at this little club and boogied the night away.

Did I mention I sprained my ankle? I fell down the stairs, etc. So it's not too happy with me today.

Did I also mention how amazingly friendly people are here? They're frienlier up north in England than they are in the south of the country. They're friendlier in Glasgow than northern England. And I think they're even friendlier here in Dublin. Just walking down the street, people will smile and people in stores ask how to say my name when I give them my credit card and tell me it's lovely and people who work at stores are so nice! In clubs, guys will just talk to us -- just to talk! They're not creepy, just sweet and looking to meet new people and it's fabulous.

I don't know what I'm up to tonight, but I've been to the James Joyce Centre today, which was cool. I'm very tired and still hung over and bah :( I need to sort out some more things in regards to hostels and such, which is why I'm on the Internet now... just a few more loose ends to tie up. Did I i mention I'm doing this? Well, I am. I'm doing it the hop-on, hop-off way, too. weeeeee... first day is tomorrow. I'm a bit scared. If you read this diary, you'll know me well enough to know why.

And oh. Housing at my uni has FUCKED ME UP THE ASS ROYALLY, so I'm living off campus this year. EEEEEK! I'm hoping there will be people who have a house and are looking for one more person to rent. It shouldn't be too bad; I see ads for that kind of stuff around campus all the fucking time, so hopefully it'll be okay. My parents will go down with me a week or two before uni starts and we'll stay with our family freinds, look for a place, etc.. It'll be a hassle, but I did say in first year that I wanted to live off campus for at least one year and actually experience the city. This may be my last chance to do so because I graduate and who knows where the fuck I'll be after that.

I don't know how I manage to write so much here when I've been writing in my paper journal. The quality of this entry is crap, I know - I'm just getting stuff down. Apologies.

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