That one time we got farted at in Dublin

For the record...

When in London, it's necessary to do the quintessential British things. (Or rather, the things that we foreigners/tourists deem to be British from what we've seen in movies: photo ops in red telephone boxes, eating crumpets (nasty, by the way) and having bad oral hygiene. (O.k., no one wants that, but we keep our eyes peeled for it.) I've just returned from a very Sex and the City-like high tea with 3 of my fellow future inhabitants of Clarendon 560 at Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana used to live. (Champagne, a pot of tea, smoked salmon sandwich, a scone with winter berries and creme and of course the Belgian chocolate cake.) There was talk of suspicious doctor's appointments, gongs and of course making plans to go out this evening. It's sort of a farewell weekend for the fashion girls, who are already going to be headed back to the States soon. I'm sad to see them go, but senior year is fast approaching--when we'll all be living together in the best houseful Syracuse has ever seen!

I'm going to keep this one relatively short because I have to go work on a paper about land mines for Professor Serb (Paris trip in T-5 days!) But as I promised earlier, here is a quick recounting of the Dublin debauchery. O.k. so when we were in Dublin, we got really lucky and stumbled upon a really cheap but also extremely nice hotel in the small town of Tallaght, just outside of the city. We had to take a little tram called the Luas to get into and out of Dublin, but that beats 40 pound cab rides from Brighton to the Hickstead Travelodge last weekend! We encountered a lot of interesting characters on those many tram-rides we took, particularly when it was late at night. When we were there at the end of February, they were in the midst of the 6 Nations tournament. We encountered one particularly happy Irishman who led the entire tram car in song (he thought more people were singing, but it was just him) and another who took song requests for his harmonica. We toured the Guinness and Jameson factories, tooled around the Temple Bar neighborhood and walked along the River Liffey. However, the ultimate moment, or the piece de resistance of the Dublin experience, happened around dinner time on our last night. We were walking around downtown--bidding Dublin adieu before catching an early flight back to London in order to make it to class on Monday afternoon, when we encountered a man who was urinating on a building, on a crowded street. (I mean we all know the Irish like to drink, but come on!) So I said to Katy..."Ew that guy's peeing!" So we started to hurry past, and just as we were passing him (you could draw a straight line between his back and my side at this point) he let out the loudest fart I have ever heard in my life. It was as though it was on purpose, as if to say 'yeah. I'm peeing on the side of a building, what are YOU going to do about it?' Probably the best way to describe it was, in Katy's words "vindictive." We broke into a run, laughing yet also very disturbed and appalled--"dude...that guy just farted at us!" was most likely uttered. We passed him on our way back down the street, stumbling, and it all seemed to make a bit more sense. Part of me wishes I had an audio recording of the sound to attach to this blog. The other part of me wouldn't want to put anyone else through that experience. At high tea today, being the distinguished ladies that we are, we began pondering what actually happened. For instance, did we actually break into a run? Or did the force of the fart actually blow us down the street? I'm so glad my friends are as o.k. with such meal time subject matter as I am...it takes me back to the family holidays on the Kowalski side of the family when bathroom festivities (the euphemism to end all euphemisms) always seem to come up at the dinner table. (Weird and gross? Yes. But I wouldn't have it any other way.)

So there you have it. I've put of the Professor Serb paper for long enough, and I've probably disturbed the readers, so I will sign off.

Thanks for listening.

~Jamie