Hi all,

I've been putting this off for a week or so because I believe it'll be my last summer post :(

We were in Ireland for about five days and split our time between Dublin and Galway. I have to say, Ireland is absolutely beautiful and definitely my favorite place yet, mainly because of the people. I have never been surrounded by so many genuinely nice people!

We have a very close family friend who has lived in Dublin for 8 years and now lives in Galway, so we had the pleasure of experiencing these two cities as true locals! A few fabulous restaurants we went to: Avoca (really funky atmosphere and great home-cooked food), Canal Street Cafe (AMAZING chicken wings), and The Chophouse (gastropub with great fish)... all in Dublin!

Dad, Mom, Akshay and I also did a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. Although it was complete crap weather, the sights of the Irish coast and countryside were well worth it. I had been craving grassy hills and wide open spaces. That's just what I got -- donkeys, sheep and all.

But my most favorite part of all was Riverdance. Riverdance is a show that features typical Irish dancing and music. Growing up, we had the video cassette of the full show. I watched it religiously while "tapping" in front of the TV screen wearing my dance costume. You can understand my excitement when I realized they were celebrating their 20th anniversary in Dublin! The dancers were so in sync and professional and beautiful and just all around amazing. I couldn't contain myself! Here is my favorite number of the whole show starting at 4:38:

Where were you on 30 April 1994? Tell us on http://www.facebook.com/riverdance 20 years ago, on April 30th 1994 something happened during the interval of the Eurovision Song Contest that was to lead to the creation of one of the most successful stage shows of all time and introduce the wider world to Irish dance and music.

We are heading home tomorrow! I am so excited to be in North Carolina for a bit before I head to Spain. By the way, I am going to Spain! I will be studying in Seville for three months in the fall. I will be back on the blog at that time.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Hope you all enjoyed and were well updated on my whereabouts. Have a lovely rest of your summer!