I've finally made it to the library when it's open! A lot has happened since my last entry...so I will try and remember everything and fit it in. I made it to Dublin for New Year's eve and had a great time. The bus trip down to Edinburgh was beautiful. The whole countryside was covered in snow and we saw a big herd of deer standing on the top of a hill. It was very picturesque. Edinburgh was very lively when I got there. I didnt make a visit to Gerry's, but I found a quieter cafe to have a sandwich before heading to the airport. The winter festival stuff was all up in Princes St. Gardens and the city was thronging with people.

The Edinburgh airport was a relief though, I was expecting it to be really crowded with a few delays, but I made it through no problem. And off I flew! The music on the airplane before takeoff was particularily memorable. A sort of cross between the super mario brothers theme song and girl from ipanema elevator music. The pilot was quite chatty as well and said things like 'if you look out the left of the plane, you can see countryside just before glasgow' and three minutes later 'oh look, its glasgow!'. Dublin was great. I found my hostel without any fuss and settled in. I was in a four bed dorm, so my room wasnt very crowded. I mostly slept the first day I was there to get over the night shifts, but then I wandered around the city and when I came back, I met a bunch of Brazillians. Most of them had met at the hostel and were living in different parts of Europe.
New year's Eve was very lively. I went to Temple Bar with about ten people I had met at the hostel and we found a live traditional irish band in St. John O'Gogarty's pub. We squeezed into the second floor and had a great time dancing and singing along. By midnight, we knew most of the people around us as well. Then we did the countdown and a couple of guys from New Zealand pulled out a few bottles of champagne and sprayed everyone. I think our group had a bottle at the beginning of the night, but it was lost in transit.
A few of us decided to go find some more fun, so after a quick bite of chips and cheese, we found a club nearby and spent the rest of the night dancing. I was shattered by the time I made it back to the hostel at 4:30. The rest of my time in Dublin was fairly relaxed, a few of us went back to temple bar the next night for some more irish music, but I went home early and flew to Aberdeen the next day.
I decided to take the bus to Inverness, thinking it would take about 1 1/2 - 2 hours to get home. It took four hours. I think it picked up every old lady in Scotland on the way. At one point we were on a dirt road beside some farm picking up a kid from what looked like a home made bus shelter. The bus driver wasnt exactly the best driver I have ever had either and I was very glad that I brought my motion sickness tablets, as the two speeds the driver used (stop and go) made me feel a little bit ill.
But I made it back safely and settled back into my work routine. I am going to try and make it to spain sometime next month for a couple days I think, but until then, I'll be here cleaning toilets and controlling the rowdies.