Happy New Year To All

Well, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. I’ve been back in the States for little over a week now, and boy is it good to be home.

Ireland can be a great place, and a shitty place.  More than anything it is different: different from what anyone from America, but especially sunny SoCal, is used to.

The sight of the full moon in the clear winter sky can be breathtaking, but even when enjoying that beauty I’m tortured by cold.  I was in New Jersey this last weekend to take the LSAT, and it snowed while I was there, but even that wasn’t as cold as the Dublin night in December.  The wind, the far northern latitude, the long nights, and proximity to the ocean all combine to create a feeling of chilling sensation that is umatched by anything I have ever felt.  It’s like the wind is cutting through my flesh and bones, down to my very marrow, when I’m wearing anything less than a heavy woolen peacoat, sweater, cap, scarf, gloves, and thermal underwear.

In Dublin, despite it being an “international city”, you cannot find a decent meal after 10 at night.  Unless you’re in the mood for Subway, McDonald’s, or Burger King, forget it if it’s after nine thirty.  Even delivery places stop after midnight.

Even if you resign yourself to fast food, you will still be disappointed.  First of all, even if you were to pretend that the prices were in dollars and not euros (ignoring the atrocious exchange rate of 1 Euro= 1.6 dollars), they would still be high for fast food chain food.  Secondly, the selections are limited as hell.  I could find twice as many options on the menu at a Burger King in my hometown of Porterville, middle-of-goddamn-nowhere, California than on the menu of a Dublin Burger King!  The same goes for McDonald’s and Subway; hell, the Subways here don’t even have mustard!  The drinks menus are likewise limited: no Dr. Pepper, no root beer, and no iced tea, the latter being a particular nuisance for myself, as I’m allergic to the artificial sweetener phenylalanine, thus limiting my calorie-free beverage choices to water and coffee, or forcing me to add another couple hundred calories to an already unhealthy meal and pick a regular soft drink.

After months abroad, everything at home seems wonderful.  The sky seems higher, the trees taller.  My own home town is in the foothills, and the hills here are taller than anything in Ireland.  In California, just one of the 50 states in this nation, we have greater variety of climate and topography than Ireland and most of Europe.  Really people, for all the budget problems and political issues, California is truly a wonderful place, and we all should be thankful to be living here.

So, happy New Year, Californians.  This has been a tumultuous decade, one marked by tragedy, war and uncertainty.  Here’s wishing that the new year and the new decade are full of the best.