Smirnoff = Poisoned

So just to clear up the title, if you type in Smirnoff (as in the vodka) into predictive texting...the first word to come up is poisoned. Irony? I think yes. But more on that later. The past few days have been absolutely crazy and I'm really sorry I've been failing at this. But, I'm going to attempt to chronicle it all in two entries. This one will be about everything that went down in Dublin up until Friday night. So we last spoke after I found out that the witch hunt was canceled. And that was a huge let down. Regardless, life goes on. Thursday and Friday were some pretty low key to be completely honest. I ventured around Gregorian Dublin on Thursday which is a very cool neighborhood by Serena's place. Made famous by its doors. They're quite colourful. But nothing really crazy happened. I finished up my Pitti and Dati essay on Friday night because the next night was Halloween...and I didn't want to be in for Halloween. No brainer.

Saturday (aka "Halloween") began with a murder. How fitting. I went with Max and his family to the Gaiety Theater in Dublin to see Agatha Christie's play Witness for the Prosecution. Obviously, Christie's a genius. Her stories are absolutely brilliant and this really proved to be one in the same! I thought I knew the outcome and was still convinced of it by intermission...but another one of her plot twists really shocked the whole audience. I'm not gonna tell you what happened, you'll just have to see for yourself. That night, after dinner back at in Howth, Max and I headed into town for Halloween. I went as the simple lumberjack and Max, well, he unzipped his face. He bought a spare zipper and glued it to his nose and then down either side of his nose with carpet glue. Apparently its industrial, but really safe. Then, he covered his whole face with red food die. It really looked great and kinda put my burnt cork five o'clock shadow and north country outfit to shame. Even if I was wearing Tasmanian Devil suspenders.  But we pregamed with Amy at the hostel she was staying then made our way to Copper Face Jacks. With a 45 minute line to get in, we had hight hopes. And they sure were answered. The only problem there was with the whole night...the DJ didn't have 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl'. You gotta Jet. It's a classic.

Despite it being the actual Halloween, Sunday was extremely low key. Didn't really wanna risk sleeping through my class on Monday to turn in my paper. Yeah go nerd. But when its worth 40% of your grade, not even I take chances. The rest of the week, up until Friday of course, was also pretty relaxed but work dominated. I had a pretty big presentation to give on Thursday on violence in Renaissance Florence. It was surprisingly not that bad. Thursday night, Max's birthday, was a night out with family in town. We went to Wagamama's, once again, and it was amazing. And then we went to the theater (they like the theater) to see "Between Foxrock and a Hard Place". Huge and hysterical commentary on upper-class Irish society during the recession. It's about this high scale family forced to live the life of the common man and they enforce every stereotype of the snooty rich folk.

Now to the toxic vodka. As Max's parents were in Boston for the weekend, Friday was his actual party. On my way back from college on Friday, I texted Max while on the DART asking what he'd be drinking that night cause I'd swing by the store on the way back up the hill. Suggesting smirnoff, I quickly realized that poisoned is the first word that comes up when you give that sequence. Coincidence? NO. It's quite obviously an Irish anti-alcohol campaign. Haha yeah, never in a million years. Anyway, held at his place in Howth, it brought together his three different groups: those from school, those from badminton, and those from sailing. While at the beginning, and while everyone was still sober, there was clear mingling within your own group, the end of the night saw everyone mixing together. This proves one of two things: birthdays bring people together...or alcohol makes you friendly.

I'm in Edinburgh now, and I will get to that, but we're about to head off to the ghost tour. So I will touch base with you all tomorrow or soon after on the events of this weekend!!! Talk to you soon!!

FMS