Greetings from across the pond! I arrived safely in Dublin a few days ago, and a lot has happened in the time since – my wallet was stolen, I went on several fun tours, I met my Global Experiences roommates and I even got to see the Irish coastline. A very eventful few days, to say the least!

Unfortunately, the first thing that happened to me in Ireland resulted in the loss of €300, my American license and cash, my debit card and credit card, some loose change and a treasure-trove of Starbucks gift cards. I was very upset, to say the least – and it happened less than an hour after my feet first touched Irish soil!

My papa and I were in the process of checking our bags into storage at the Abbey Court Hostel when the devious act occurred. A black-clad woman in a silky burqa-like scarf and huge sunglasses had followed me into the building, waiting for the opportunity to strike. I had just put my wallet into my purse and was reaching for my passport, my attention momentarily diverted, when she made her move. (A crowd of gabby foreigners had walked in just before her, further masking her suspicious movements.) In the short span of a minute, while flicking her black scarf to cover what she was doing, she fished my wallet out of my bag. After tucking it under her arm, she made for the exit and was gone.

Maybe ten seconds or so later, I looked back to put my passport in my purse and found my wallet missing.

The woman managed to do this completely unseen by staff and tourists alike. However, she did not manage to hide from the surveillance cameras, which fortunately had caught the entire sordid exchange. After double checking all of my bags without any luck, I asked the staff to check the camera footage for anything suspicious and sure enough there was the black-clad woman.

In retrospect, I am glad that I was able to have my suspicions confirmed by the video footage. It would have driven me crazy to not have been sure of what had really happened. I most likely would have blamed myself by assuming that I had lost it somewhere. (Of course, I do blame myself for giving the pickpocket the opportunity to steal from me.)

I would have liked to think the woman truly needed the money for something important, but she was too nicely dressed for me to labor under that delusion for long. However, my saving grace during this whole ordeal was that I did not have to go through it alone. My papa was with me, and like always, he was more than willing to help. I am not sure what I would have done without him! I assume I would have figured it out eventually, but with a lot more tears and frustration. (So, thanks again, Papa. You truly are one Cool Cat.)

Luckily for me (and for the rest of this post’s now upbeat tone), things only got better from there.

Jet lag caught up to Papa and me fairly quickly, and we ended up sleeping the following day away. We had not been able to check in to our rental until late in the afternoon the previous day, so we were exhausted. (I know, I know, that’s not the right way to handle jet lag – but I needed to sleep off the stress of losing all of my money!)

Our first full day in Dublin was an exciting blur of activity. I managed to convince Papa to visit Trinity college for the second time (in my defence, it has been five years since the first visit!) to see the Book of Kells. I loved looking at the intricate hand-drawn passages, which are so incredibly well preserved, and learning about the history behind it. It was especially interesting to see how many materials they had to use to get the pigments just right.

We spent the rest of the day hopping on and off a bus full of tourists to see as many sights of Dublin as possible. We ended up at the Guinness Storehouse for a tour that ended at the tippy top of the building, which gave us a spectacular one-of-a-kind view of Dublin.

(So, our first full day in Dublin was by far much better than the day we arrived.)

My visit with Papa was far from over, but for the purposes of this blog (and so I can go to sleep!) I am going to stop here. It is 12:40 a.m. here in Dublin, and tomorrow is my first day interning at Hot Press! I am not at all tired (Nerves? Excitement? You tell me!), but I need to at least pretend to sleep until it becomes a reality…and I may have a book that I’d like to read before hitting the hay.

So, that’s it for now, folks. I’ll do my best to get another post out as soon as possible.

With love,

Kinsey

Kinsey Keys

aspiring memoirist rummaging through my noggin, stubbornly clutching the past to my chest like it’s a newborn babe starved for mother's milk.

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