Tom started off the day with us by giving us a short coach tour of Dublin. We got to get out for a bit and see: the famine ship (whose name I don’t remember) which was the only ship to not lose any person on its way to America; the famine memorial (it was quite sad, a bunch of statues clearly starving who all had a haunted expression); a beautiful harp-shaped bridge; and the place where Pope John Paul came and gave a sermon. After that, it was time for us to say goodbye to everyone. Dr H, Tom, and Benny all gave some goodbye speeches (Dr H started crying, which made me tear up a little as well; I love her) and then we all sang together our last chorus of 'Don’t Give Up Til It’s Over,' a song Tom had sung for us many times before. Finally, Sarah Thompson got up and gave us all our superlatives for the trip. Mine was 'most likely to root against the USA' as I’m the only big England football fan.

Mimi and I then headed to the shopping district to hit up my favourite UK store, River Island (hers is TopShop, my second favorite) as a final farewell to our British Isles trip. And on our way back to the hotel, the Dublin Pride Parade intercepted us.

The Pride Parade was amazing! We got to see it from start to finish; all the people, cars, flags, motorcycles, and police escorts. I’ve always wanted to see a LGBT pride parade, but I never imagined that I would just happen upon one in my travels. Anyway, there were so many people all just happy and celebrating--the feeling was really quite catchy! Mimi was able to get a shirt being thrown from one of the dancing trucks, but sadly I did not.  When we finally got back to our room, we just hung out there watching the games, waiting til we had to say goodbye.

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Gillean and I are leaving at 3:30 on the coach to get to the airport. Since her flight isn’t until 6 am, I think we’ll have a little bit of time to hang out there. But we’ve decided just to wait up and sleep later. Anyway, it’s weird to think I’ll be leaving and not seeing these people everyday anymore. I don’t know what I’ll do not waking up and going to sleep with Mimi in the bed across from me. I am thankful though that I got to go on this trip and experience England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland the way I did, even if it was just for this short amount of time.

...And here is where my journal ends. Thank you to CIS, the professors from Jacksonville University, Edge Hill Uni, everyone from IEP, the awesome tour guides, the great friends I've made on this trip, and everyone else I encountered! I had a lovely time. Cheers! :]