Despite the fact that today I'm en route back to the good ol' United States (Dunkin Donuts!), this is not going to be my last post as I still have some Viennese and Spanish adventures to write about. But I wanted to take a quick minute to try and sum up how much this year in London has truly meant to me. I'll try to keep the sappiness to a minimum (no promises). While attempting to be as emotionally open as possible and not hide behind my typical sarcasm (I like to call it WIT), I have to say that this year has been without a doubt the best year of my life. I've been able to travel to 11 cities and 7 countries. I drove an English car without dying. I extended my education and was able to use my brain for more than drafting work emails and scheduling meetings. But most of all, and as it turns out most importantly, I got to meet some of the greatest people. People who took in a solo foreigner who didn't know anyone here and helped her to never once feel homesick ...

Oh man, Bath was just the best. I can safely say that it was one of my favorite places that I've traveled to during this whole year. Mainly because it was a completely spontaneous trip and everything went smoothly (not something I'm used to, clearly if you read this blog. If you don't, you have a lot of catching up to do. I'll wait). My friend Rachel was in town and after dinner one night (Indian, natch), the following occurred: INT - SARAH'S ROOM - NIGHT Rachel:  "You wanna go to Bath tomorrow?" Sarah (without a beat): "Yup." Rachel: "You wanna drive there?" Sarah (without a beat): "Yup." END SCENE. So that's how these pictures happened: Rachel, summing up everyone's feelings.  Me, looking more confident then I should. Once I said a quick prayer and stuffed some tissues into the armpits of my shirt to catch the inevitable river of nervous sweat that was bound to fl...

Following my excellent planning skills when it came to Stratford-Upon-Avon --->Venice, I naturally decided to do the same when it came to Dublin. I got back from Italy on a Friday evening and by the next afternoon, was on a plane to Ireland. (Well, it was Ryanair so I think "plane" is too good a word for it. Maybe a 1994 minivan that flies?). Either way, I was racking up airline miles. Considering I've always thought something was fishy in my family and that I was actually born into an Irish family (Michael Flatley? Bono?) before they shipped me over to my parents, I felt that Dublin was more of a homecoming. There were more people who looked like me here then in Portugal or France combined. (For example, when we were on a plane to the Azores, my sister looked around at everyone and then at me and said "one thing here is not like the other." Thanks, Al.). No, I think I finally found my people. I even got compliments on my hair everywhere I went. (From men! ...