We are heading home a week from today, I started thinking about the things that I'm looking forward to and the things I'll miss when I'm home.

Things I'm looking forward to:

• IRISH FOOD!!!!! Mammy food, rashers and sausages, anything involving sun dried tomatoes(ok pedants, I know they aren't Irish but they are just so expensive here!) O'Briens Sandwiches, opening the fridge safe in the knowledge that there will most likely be food of the edible sort there, possibly even a selection, most definitely an improvement on the current situation in my fridge (a sad looking pepper, a long life yoghurt and a block of cheese that promises it won't go off until next june....worrying!!)
• My bed.
  
• Dishwashers!
• Being able to satisfactorily argue in shops and defend my place in queues without being laughed at for my accent.
• Being able to walk down the street without having to stare at the ground, comparatively safe in the knowledge that the worst I'm going to step in is a puddle. Here we've all had a few run-ins with the ice on the footpath, I almost had to grab a few old ladies for support as I skidded past them with all the grace of a baby elephant and we know of a few people here who, painfully for them, hilariously funny for the rest of us, have fallen down open manholes!
• Being able to wear impractical shoes at night time, knowing that there's a pretty low chance of losing a toe to frostbite.
  
• Oh yeah, and seeing my family and friends.....of course!
  

Things I'm going to miss when we are home:

• Being able to hail a car on the side of the road, any car, and preagree the price, usually you can get almost anywhere in the city for about 4 euro. I don't think I can handle the queueing for taxis and watching the meter lark in Dublin!
• Being able to buy a litre of vodka that won't strip your insides for 5 euro (honestly mum, I'm not an alcoholic!)
  
• SNOW!
• My friends, especially our americans who are bailing out and going back to the motherland (or France!) , DONT LEAVE US!!!
• The metro; it may be overheated and overpopulated by fragrantially (its a word!) challenged individuals but its so fast and cheap, Dublin Bus has a long way to go....

Thats it for now, we were supposed to have a politics exam today, our lecturer couldn't stay for it so we didn't have it....nice!