Day 10 of 15: After breakfast yesterday, I rested for a bit and then made a visit to the Dublin Writers Museum. Afterward, I attempted to walk back to the apartment in the pouring rain without an umbrella or a charged phone. At some points, I was convinced I was lost, and this feeling grew stronger when I realized I had walked a complete circle around a block without having any idea that I had been changing directions. It was seriously imperceptible. I finally saw things that looked familiar and figured it out. The streets aren't very clearly marked around here on every corner like they are back home, so it's a struggle for me even when I have a map. However, there was no way I was going to ask anyone which way the river was unless the situation were to get desperate enough for me to embarrass myself that much.
Anyway, then I rested again since I've pretty much averaged 4-5 hours of sleep per night over the course of this trip. Then I walked around the corner to a pub where I ate pizza by myself and watched a Bowie tribute band. I walked home, which took all of 30 seconds, and crashed in bed. But don't worry, I could still hear the music pumping for approximately four hours after that, so it felt like I was still there.
I won't lie. Yesterday was lonely. It was pretty tough sitting in a corner of a pub with a pizza by myself watching people laugh and have fun with their friends and significant others. It has oddly been more difficult to make friends here than it was in France. I think something about having a language barrier to discuss made conversations easier to start. This morning, I nearly missed the bus to Belfast again. Luckily, a taxi driver I asked for directions agreed to take me all of two minutes to the meeting point, which he later joked took longer to get to by car than foot. But, as evidenced by everything I wrote above, I cannot be trusted to find my way out of a paper bag. So I gladly paid the 6 euros.
