Feb 28, 2019
A love letter to Dublin
People usually ask me why. Why Dublin? Why Ireland? Why do you like this shitty wintering wet city that much? I cannot find one single reason. I have thousands of them.
It’s almost three years since I saw Dublin for the first time: it’s was May, a sunny summer, with some low temperatures (to my perspective, of course!). The trees were full of colours, and the sun was there, shinning in the middle of the white and grey clouds.
People were taking care of their own business, always smiling, always willing to help, always so kind that you could barely believe that it was true. And after the rain, there it was: a colourful rainbow crossing the sky.
Seriously people: how many cities do you know that have the number of rainbows that Dublin has? And what about the colours of the sunshine? There are days in which you can see it blue like an ocean or purple like a unicorns tale. But there are also the days in which you see it as pink as a strawberry candy or as orange as the fruit itself. It’s a must-see.
I’ve gone back to my city, but it was love there. A love that I had to find again, to feel again. I wasn’t the same anymore. My place was so empty, my home, the one that I’ve spent so much time dreaming about, and also some money investing on the right furniture, the comfiest bed and the decoration that suits my temper, all of that wasn’t a place in which I wanted to stay anymore. I wanted to explore the world, but I wanted to feel that sparkling joy of the cloudy city again with those enchanted landscapes and the hills full of green. I wished to listen to music in the streets, to stop by to observe the majestic trees and the green mountains, to discover more about those historical places and those gentle people. I wanted to learn how to communicate with those with thick accents. I wanted to hear the silence of the parks, while people are chatting, reading or just having their lunch. Then I decided that I needed to stop thinking about the city that I’ve missed so much and to fly there again. And then, a year and a half passed by and I came back.
And all of this was still here. All the pubs breathing happiness and excitement, all the historical places surrounded by poetry and art and music. And ah, music! There’s music everywhere here. From folk and traditional songs to the most innovative independent bands, some tacky rock bands as well, but the point is that it’s possible to find music in every single inch of the city. For me, this is also true love.
Here I am again facing the Gregorian houses mixed with the modern buildings and the clean streets, the pure air with the parks and the green always making its places, even during the rare snow time… the first time I’ve seen snow in my life was here, in Dublin. And there was my College and those ancient walls, that reminded me of a castle of my teenage favourite books. My neighbourhood that looked like it was just spotted out from a movie scene. And the pubs. And the people. And my Brazilian community, always feeding me with love when I miss my friends and my culture.
Dublin already gave me so many things. Different jobs, which one of them with a new challenge to take me away from my comfort zone and give me a new perspective of the world. Loads of different learnings during my Masters time. A new load of friendships, with people from the most diverse cultures, to teach me the magic of the differences and to make me respect and celebrate it even more than before. Veganism as a lifestyle and one of the most beautiful changes that I’ve done in my life so far. A passion for cycling and to discover places while observing the great shapes of the clouds and the different colours of the sky. Dublin even gave me a love story, a fast and intense one, that taught me a lot about myself when it started and even more, after it’s over. No hard feelings Dublin, nothing is perfect all the time, I know, okay?
To the cloudy city of the war heroes, remembered on their families surnames and on the city museums, to the black stuff and the craic, to the Celtic background and to the cycle lanes that allows me to have the breeze on my hair while discovering new amazing sightseeing points with my bike: I love you, Dublin. From the bottle of my heart. Now, tell me, my love, what’s the story?
