There was rain, wind, a tiny bit of sun and thank the higher forces, no snow J We were really blessed with three perfectly sunny days in a row, which is unbelievable! Don’t get me wrong, there’s sun all the time – but for 15 minutes, followed by rain, clouds, and then everything all over again. Weekends were a lot of fun, because I mostly spent them with friends I haven’t seen in ages. The International Office got another truly lovely addition, an intern from France by the name of Laurie – she’s the cutest and I’m really happy she’s here to brighten us up.

It all started with Easter and my trip to Northern Ireland. My friends were awesome enough to come get me in Maynooth, because Polona wanted to show Al where her Irish adventure started four years ago (we are both Slovenian and actually met on Erasmus): in this little dreamy town with an amazing University, stretching over two campuses – one more than 200 years old, and the other barely 20. We gave him a lovely little tour of the place and then we were off to the North. It was so nice spending the long weekend with them, I felt like I was part of their family and I loved nothing more than to play with their dog Rocco at all times. They took me to a secluded but beautiful beach near to where they live in Carrickfergus, they took me bowling, and they took me to a quaint seaside town by the name of Bangor. I loved all of it, it was such a relaxing time.

Despite the moody weather this month is known for, this didn’t deter the coming of spring. If people couldn’t find me at the office in April, I was probably prowling the campus because everything was blossoming and I couldn’t help taking gazillions of pictures. Beautiful magnolias, cherry trees and all kinds of flowers in the garden added the sorely needed touch of colour to our days and tiny buds of buzzing, happy feelings of new growth and beginnings. Otherwise the office was busy as ever, organising two Open days for first years, two focus groups with students to get some feedback on their experience at MU and how it can be improved…

I spent another fantastic weekend in Waterford and its surroundings with my amazing Irish friend Beth, who’s a local and could show me around like only a local could. We visited the beautiful beach town of Tramore, had the famous Dooly’s fish and chips, drove around and saw other, less famous beaches and old monuments and spent the evening enjoying a blues band playing at a local pub. I also got crazy with my camera because Beth’s friend Geena is a hooper and does brilliant stuff with an LED hoop. See her doing her magic in the photo below.

It was hard to not do anything on a sunny day so I went on another cycling expedition, this time I went by the Royal Canal in the direction of Dublin and paid a visit to Laurie, who lives a good 20km away. One of those three truely sunny days was spent on a trip to Howth, which was of course very crowded on a Saturday, but we still managed to get a lovely stroll and lots of good food! If you’re there during a weekend you should definitely go to Howth Market and have a delicious meal from any of the stalls, there’s a really good selection of cuisines from all around the world.

Last but not least – on the last day of April I was expecting a package from home, containing

some things I forgot and summer clothes. Instead, I got a surprise! When I got a call from Laurie that the package has arrived, I ran to get it – only to find my dad sitting there, smiles for miles. Happy days! I took some days off and you’ll get the whole account of our gallivanting around next month 🙂