When Friends Get Stranded

There is something to be said for making friends in random places, especially when you're stuck. Dear friend and fellow Fordham sailor Amanda Tooker had a flight out of Dublin back home to Alicante last Thursday, but in the wake of the airport closures could not get out until today. Sounds like a hardship, but seriously, can you think of somewhere better to be stranded for a week? Sunny weather, good friends to look after you, and an abundance of pubs to pass the time away. I capitalized on a day without classes and Amanda's ambition to take in some Irish culture with a visit to the Jameson Distillery yesterday afternoon. We figured Mr. Joe Sunfish himself would get a kick out of it, so we took the Fordham Sailing burgee along. In true Jesuit fashion, so well instructed in our semesters at Fordham, we gladly volunteered to partake in the whiskey tasting part of the distillery tour. Task: sample a measure each of Jameson, Scotch Whiskey, and Jack Daniels... compare and contrast, then pick your favorite. Obviously, you'd be a fool to pick anything other than Jameson as there is a clear sense of bias in the building. Three shots back and another round of drinks for the loyal taste testers... a worthy way to spend an afternoon stranded in Dublin. Dad, in honor of your favorite way to enjoy the good stuff, I had my Jameson on the rocks. Feeling the warmth of the sun and the liquor, we rounded out the afternoon with a pint at the Hairy Lemon. However, the day is not complete without a word of thanks to the study abroad office here at UCD for putting on a lovely farewell dinner and providing more wine than was good for any of us dumb Americans. Enough said on that topic. In other news, the planned security measures on campus for UCD Ball on Friday should be interesting. Stay tuned for that. Cheers.