Sabrina's Graduation

Not long ago, I received a message from my niece saying that her mom was going to be in town visiting because of her graduation.  If I would like to come by and visit them and / or see the graduation ceremony, Jens and I were very welcomed.  We had already paid for our Canarian vacation and we were still waiting for that.  Plus I didn't have any time left to take off.  So I couldn't really do it as much as I wanted too.  But I asked for a day off in connection with the one day that I had off already in my work schedule and luckily and surprisingly they said ok.  This ended up giving me Tuesday and Wednesday off.  That one extra single day off, allowed me to see Sabrina and her mom, on the only days that they were not traveling the countryside or when Sabrina was at work.  So I booked a "confirmed stand-by" flight.  I was to be in Dublin for a total of 23 hours.  The way the flight schedule was, I would just have enough time to drop off my carry-on at the hotel and then take the bus to the university to watch the graduation ceremony. 

Jens had planned on going along.  But in the end he decided not to go and just stay home.  That was lucky because the next few hours were going to be more hectic than I could have imagined and Jens ended up with a major cold.  He is still one big booger as I write this.

But as luck would have it, something snapped in the airplane motor and it took 45 minuts to fix it. Thank goodness it happed on the ground and not in the sky.  When I got to Dublin, I ran to the bus and tried to connect to messenger to let my niece and my sister-in-law know that I was running late and that they should go on with out me.  But my dang telephone wouldn't connect to the Dublin service.  

Then finally it connected right when I was at the stop to get off and go to the hotel.  We decided it was best for me to stay on the bus, Sabrina, Cathy and Declan, Sabrina's boyfriend, would take a taxi to the university.  They were waiting for me at my hotel.  Traffic was a killer but I was ahead of the taxi. They didn't pass me until just before I got off at the last stop.

I had googled-mapped the area before I left home so I could recognize the area when I got there. Google Maps is a great app to see a place that you have never been to before.  There was this little old lady on the bus helping me the entire way.  At the airport, I was told to get on bus such and such and that it would take me directly to the university.  But the little old lady told me that she was going that way too and she would help me get there and that I actually needed to change buses once we got into town.  That stop to make the transfer was actually the stop to get off and go to the hotel.  But it would have been a 10 minute walk and 10 minutes we didn't have.

What is adorable about this little old lady is that she said, "Oh this isn't my bus, I'm just trying to help you out".  She got off the bus with me and took a different bus back.  I couldn't believe that there are such sweet people in this world.

Sabrina, Cathy and Declan got out of the taxi and they turned around to see me come running from the bus across the street.   The message was that the ceremony started at 13:30.   It was 13:27 when I got off of the bus.  But it turned out to be the time that the students were supposed to get their robes and when the doors to the building would open.  The ceremony didn't actually started until 14:00 or so.  So everything was good and worked out.  And there was even time for a few very quick photo or two.

Here now are finally the pix of the graduation ceremony. The first 11 pix are of the mad rush to get the graduation robe on.  Luckily Sabrina's classmate, KC from northern California, picked up the robe and met us at the front of O'Reilly Hall.

Thanks a lot Uncle Eddie for making me almost miss my own graduation !

Now all the invited guest have moved inside the hall.  The place is packed.  Some nice live classical music is playing at the stage as we wait for the students to walk in.  Kind of odd to see X-mas decorations at a graduation.  But it is X-mas time so....

Sabrina's boyfriend, Declan and Sabrina's mom, my sister-in-law, Cathy.

Finally the students walk in.

There's Sabrina.

Then came the speeches.

These are the dignitaries of the school and I was nervous that each of them was going to make us cry with hours long bla bla bla.  Thank goodness that was not the case.

 Top honors and special awards were handed out.

 The next 3 pix are of KC, Sabrina's schoolmate.  She was a very sweet girl.

I had my new camera in hand and was all set to snap some pix of Sabrina.  Cathy asked me how the camera was with videos.  No idea - I said - let's test it.  So I filmed a student, we played it back and we decided that Cathy would snap iPhone pix and I would film Sabrina.  When it was soon Sabrina's turn, my camera wouldn't focus.  So I had to turn it off and then turn it back on again and hope that it would help.  It did. But they called Sabrina's name just ½ a second before my camera was ready.  I was really hoping to get Sabrina's name into the sound.  Not even sure if there is sound.  Let's listen in, shall we?

My precious niece received her Degree of Master of Science and I am sooooooooo proud of her.  What an accomplishment !

Then there was this guy who kind of went on and on.  For some reason, the words "Richard Nixon" and "Vietnam" kept coming out of his mouth.  We talked for just a moment about this as we ate the celebration dinner.  None of us got the drift of his message. 

 And lastly, the President of the university makes his congratulatory speech.

Then the students walked out and proud moms, dads and uncles followed the grads outdoors to give hugs and take pictures.  And boy did we do a lot of camera snapping.

 Degree of Master of Science

 Sabrina and KC

 Sabrina and her mom, Cathy.

 Yours truly with Canarian tan. And swans too.

 Sabrina's boyfriend Declan, who is also going to university.

and swans.

It was cold and getting colder so we moved inside where hor d'oeuvres and coffee were being served.

All that photo snapping making you hungry?  We were famished and stopped into this fantastic little authentic Irish restaurant and ordered a lot of very delicious food and drink.  Here is the link.

 Sorry for the blur - I'm still learning how to use my camera.

Food was great, service was fine, stomachs were over filled.  They had to roll us out of the building.  But then we picked up the pace once we all realized we were headed to a pub.  I'm telling you, these places are so Disneyland cute, I just gotta go back soon as I can.

a nearby store front

 This is the pub we walked into. 

  

This is the pub we crawled out of.

KC and Declan couldn't hold their liquor so they left before pumpkin time.  Then finally my family girls walked me home.  We passed by this very funny storefront gate.

It turns out that the back door to the hotel is the front door to a pub/disco with lots of loud boom boom boom going on.  I checked-in and my room was right over the disco.  No way!  Went back downstairs and said to the front desk man that I need a quite room.  There was only one other room available and it was over the room that they first gave me.  But all I could hear was the shhhh of the occasional car or two that passed by on the side street.  The room was old and funky and I loved it - but that's because it was very clean.   Bed was horrible but the pillows were from heaven.  I rolled myself into the very think blanket so that I looked like a human burrito.  I did that to avoid feeling the springs in the matrice.  And I could look out of my window and see the Liffey River.  Here is the link to the Fitzsimons hotel.  And there are a few extra photos here on booking dot com 

The next day I got up, showered and walked to the busstop snapping pictures all the way to the airport.  I soooo much wanted to stay.  The weather was somewhat clear/mild and at home in Copenhagen it was wet and rainy.

I have no idea of what any of this stuff is - but it didn't matter - it's all amazing.  If I had time, I would have had breakfast here - in the above photo - and for sure I will on my next visit.

I believe this is the town hall.

This is the bus stop for the direct link to the airport.  Line 747 is easy to remember,  Google told me to take bus 700.  I confirmed it with the reception.  Yes, the woman said, it cheaper but takes longer time.  I just couldn't imagine that as bus 747 drove in round circles to pick up other tourist on their way back to the airport.  The ride was an agonizing 55 minuts.

This is street is named after me.

A gay bar maybe?

Fancy buildings.

Famous people maybe.

Bus 747 crossed the Liffey river 4 or 5 times before we got out of town.

 Christmas market?

 Then it was terminal time.... 

and runway time....

And time to say good-bye.
See you soon Dublin !
Congratulations Sabrina !

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