Oct14

A new year’s hike in Bray

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Thursday, 02-Jan-2025

On New Year’s Eve, we made plans to go hiking.

Because clearly, making plans to go hiking is best accomplished while slightly tipsy on good wine and great cheer.

Frankly… I can’t disagree with that, as sarcastic as it may sound. I mean, how many of my adventures during my time with the Northeastern Outdoors club were planned out during a house party? More than I can probably remember, I’d be confident in guessing.

The day came, we met up at the train station (slightly bleary eyed, but awake none-the-less), and Andrea, two friends, a dog, and myself headed South toward the seaside town of Bray. Our goal for the day was an easy seaside hike – Bray Head, a small peninsula / hill jutting out into the Irish Sea. I’d brought snacks, jackets, my camera and my drone… and I was exceptionally excited to be getting out for a legitimate hike to kick the new year off… even if it was a bit of a touristy option.

Pictures show just how gorgeous the Irish coastline is.

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Rolling greenery, beautiful seas, and stoic trees soaking in the intermittent sunshine. Irish cows silhouetted against the horizon. A puppy, frolicking in the mud puddle.

…

Yeah. It was a very good start to 2025. I’ve got a good feeling about this year.

Oct11

New Year’s Eve in Dublin

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Tuesday and Wednesday, 31-Dec-2024 and 01-Jan-2025



I don’t have any pictures for the blog from New Year’s Eve.

I’m very okay with that.

It wasn’t really an evening that lent itself to photography – Andrea and I hosted a small New Years Eve shindig at my apartment; a small shindig with a few friends and our only neighbors in attendance. A few classmates joined in for the beginning, before heading out onto the town for a bit of clubbing, but by the end it was just three couples – Ourselves, our neighbors, and two friends from the executive side of the MBA program.

We took it easy and enjoyed ourselves and the pleasant company – Good sparkling wine was had (not Champagne, but a variant that was easily as good while avoiding the price tag), stories were shared, and fireworks were watched from the windows of our 7th floor nest.

We did a cursory photoshoot with Anduril, just for fun, though I’ll leave those photos in the inboxes of the friends who modeled for them – They came out well, but it feels a bit strange publishing photos of other people in the context of a silly night in together.

It was a simple evening, and a lovely evening. A celebration of a life being built across the pond, in a new world.

Oct9

A visit to Germany for the Christmas Markets

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Friday, 27-Dec-2024 through Sunday, 29-Dec-2024


After the cold and snow of Iceland, I headed East to an incredibly warm welcome – Andrea, meeting me at the airport in Dusseldorf!

With Christmas over, and my energy being nicely regenerated by the solitude and snow of Iceland, I’d hopped on a plane to Germany to meet Andrea and her family for some lovely post-Christmas adventure. The flights were smooth, and reunion was just as glorious and full of happy hugs and excited exclamations as one would expect. Really, it was a beautiful extension of the break that I’d been on – but with good company and slightly warmer weather.


The Christmas markets were winding down, as one would expect from the days following Christmas itself, but they weren’t quite done yet. We had a lovely time wandering through the stalls, finding a super cool little pop-pop boat that I sent to a friend and his son, alongside a super cute mug of cocoa where I got to keep the mug!

It was lovely – not a adventure, per-se, but more of a relaxation and chance to spend some time together away from Dublin, in preparation for the semester to come.



Quick fun link for pop-pop boats, for those curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_pop_boat