Hi Chelsea, Katie, Rohan, Scott, & Ankit,

I realized this afternoon that my readership is small enough to interact with more personally.

So today I visited the Irish Parliament building to meet with my internship coordinator at the National Labour Party. We sat down to tea in the formal sitting room (where else?) and discussed what's expected of me: research global crises, write newsletters and briefings for party members, observe parliamentary sessions, lick envelopes (all four were specifically mentioned.)

Spent some time in the National Gallery, had lunch at Little Caesar's (not the pizza delivery place- though that is what first drew me there), saw lots of churches, and walked to Dublin Castle. Dublin Castle is Google-colored (red, blue, green, yellow) and it shouldn't be.

Fig A:

But, the cathedrals were stunning and "big ass," (according to Katie Bower).


Then I found Jesus somewhere by the bus stop:


Dublin's really special for all these reasons and more. Still, it's important to travel a bit; here's my itinerary (mostly for bragging purposes):
*Feb 14: Killiney (Irish seascape and castles!)
*Feb 21-22: Probably Cork (Southern Ireland)
*March 5-9: London
*March 21-26: Italy (Turin, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome-hopefully!!-)
*March 26-29: Barcelona
*April 4-?: Northern Ireland
*April 16-??: Western Ireland
*May: Way too early to tell, but we're definitely thinking Galway.