Sea Change.

Today, I climbed a mountain.

Up until now, there hasn’t been a single moment in my life that would suggest I’d ever write that, but there it is. I can now officially bow my head, smile knowingly, and cross the task off my list. Me, the coward, the girl who won’t go near fire, who spent hours trying to keep it together this past summer after being left alone in a powerless house during two back-to-back monstrous thunderstorms and a tornado warning. On most days, I can’t even watch horror movies, lights on or off, let alone get talked into doing something that might, in my mind, be dangerous or daring. Elements be damned, I would rather sit with a cup of tea and a good book in my hand! But there is something to be said about being in another country, on another continent, living what feels like an alternate existence. For the past three weeks (and it’s only been three weeks, bizarre in and of itself), I’ve constantly had to remind myself that this is happening, this is real, I am not about to wake up and say, “And you were there! And you! Oh, and you, too!” It’s difficult, though, when I’ve gone from eating pizza bagels to shepherd’s pie, when I’ve gone from friend-specific, iPod-influenced dance parties to kicking it in sweaty spaces with strangers and DJs playing alternative rock songs from my childhood, when I am suddenly going to the gym on a regular basis. I’ve even started reading for fun—something I’ve never been able to do (or pushed myself to do) at Sarah Lawrence—and am currently on a quest to consume as much Philip Roth as possible before returning to the States. I really do feel like I’m becoming a different person, and, what’s more, like I’m changing for the good. And I know, I know everyone says this, that it’s cliché and typical of anyone who spends time abroad, but if you suddenly climbed a mountain, wouldn’t you think the same thing?

Around noon today, I met two fellow playwriting students (and new friends), and we set off to catch a train to Bray, a seaside town just south of Dublin. Another playwright in the program had ventured there about a week-and-a-half ago, and while we didn’t hop any fences (like she did) and get chased by any cows (like she was), we did take her advice and decide to try our luck and hike to the summit of Bray Head, which makes up a fraction of the Wicklow Mountains. Instead of going into detail about the excursion and how it made me feel (amazing, accomplished, alive), here are some photos that sum up the journey:

Even if you've grown up next to a large body of water, seeing the ocean is still exciting.


My first glimpse of Bray.


The mountain in the distance.














We thought there'd be a storm, but it passed.






This inn reminded me a lot of The Overlook Hotel from The Shining. When we went inside to use the bathroom, no one was there. Everything was dark. And yet, it felt so...inhabited.








This photo doesn't do justice to how steep the path was.






























We reached the summit!






A view from the top of the world.








This tree kept threatening to fall. It creaked and everything.


We headed back down.




The ocean at sunset. Unfortunately, the sun set behind the mountain.

Our day concluded with a greasy dinner of fish ‘n’ chips and chance encounters with dogs that kept running out into the road (from his blasé attitude, I gathered their owner didn’t seem to care about this much). Before this, however, we passed many houses, one of which had a cat perched on a window. The feline stared at me for a long while, so I took a picture of it:



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While there were many great things that happened this past week, the greatest, by far (aside from climbing Bray Head, of course), was being tapped to work at the 2008 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival red carpet launch party. Aside from catering mozzarella tortellini kebabs and copious amounts of Jameson whiskey to the glitzy and glamorous members of Ireland’s film industry, I had the pleasure of sitting next to the actress who plays Johanna in Tim Burton’s polarizing Sweeney Todd (Jayne Wisener, for the curious) and watching her date act like a dick to her. I also got two free glasses of whiskey. I’m not one for the brown liquors, but man, they aren’t kidding when they tell you you’ve gotta try Irish whiskey. That stuff is delicious! But the biggest, best perk of all? I am going to be working the gala presentation screening of There Will Be Blood on February 16th…and Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson are scheduled to be there! After personally introducing myself to the volunteer coordinator, I asked him very nicely if he could use my volunteer services at the event, and he said yes! Given that the screening is now sold out, and that I will be getting in for free, and that I will be in the presence of two artists who have had an immense impact on my life, I reckon that night will probably be one of the best of my life.


Volunteers, or total film geeks? That is the question.