My Lucky Trousers

I lack poise, grace and allure. I'm not the kind of person who turns heads in the street, with possible exception for when I'm tussling with a suitcase and a load of bags and fighting my way across College Green on a Friday morning, and only then because I'm getting in everyone's way and making a bit of a nuisance of myself. I'm a clumsy and nondescript person, and the best I hope for is that this will occasionally manifest itself in a sort of awkward charm. I assume that most of the time I go unnoticed in a crowd unless I've tripped over my own feet and fallen down or dropped something or whatever which is fine because I also assume being very striking and Vogue model-esque would be both time consuming and burdensome. Last Wednesday though, as I battled my way towards college hoping the five-minute walk would today go minor incident-free, someone actually noticed me when I wasn't embroiled in some sort of awkward scene. Like, I was just standing there. Waiting for the lights to change. Unprecedented. 

This well-dressed man standing beside me at the crossing turns to me and says, "I love your trousers, they are very chic" and I was all like, "oh, why thank you! That's so nice of you!" I was genuinely flattered. I do actually really like the trousers I was wearing that day, they're my third favourite pair. They've got a kind of ombré effect going on, brown turning into blue down the calf, and they cinch in at the waist and widen at the hips. They were also only a tenner and have not yet fallen apart. 

He continued, "can you tell me how to get to Ballsbridge?"

"Yes, of course! Take the 4 or the 7 bus from that stop over there, it takes about ten minutes."

"Are you studying in Trinity?"

"Yes, I am indeed! Law and German!"

"Ah! Beauty and brains!" (I thought I'd reached my maximum capacity of flatteredness when he complimented my trousers but now I was positively beaming) 

"Oh stop, you're far too kind!" 

By now, we'd crossed the street and were waiting for the second set of lights to change. I was running quite late for my lecture so this charming stranger's timing was a little inconvenient and also I was kind of sweaty and some of my hair was stuck to my face so I had to question his genuineness but was thoroughly enjoying this unexpected onslaught of compliments so I resisted the urge to run into traffic and away from him. 

"Where are you from?", he asked.

"I'm from Louth, it's about an hour north of Dublin." (It's not that I'm patronising, he was foreign and obviously here on business)

"You're kidding! You're Irish? Irish people are never usually so stylish or beautiful!"

"Oh hahaha!" (My actual reaction, very high pitched and embarrassing)

"Listen, take care of yourself, won't you? You're all you have. Have a good day!"

And so the kind stranger ran off to catch the 4 or the 7 bus to Ballsbridge, as per my instruction. I made my way to my lecture, feeling extremely taken aback but also very pleased with myself. The kind stranger is right, I thought to myself. I am beautiful! I am all I have, and need, in this dog eat dog world! I will look after myself! I'm every woman, it's all in me! Anything you want done baby, I'll do it naturally! Maybe I'll wear these trousers more often!

The next time I wore these trousers, which was yesterday, a woman at the bus stop told me she thought they were "just gawwjusss!" (I live in Inchicore) and asked where they were from. I was just AMAZED. Who knew a pair of ten euro H&M trousers could inspire such great vibes, and good feeling? My mood was buoyed by her kind words for the rest of the day and I feel all happy and fuzzy just now as I type about it.

I always notice things I like about people as I'm pottering about Dublin, but I so rarely tell them unless I actually know them. I always thought they'd find it creepy or think I was distracting them as my accomplice went through their pockets or handbag. In light of my two recent experiences with compliments from total strangers (after which I'm still in possession of my both wallet and phone) however, I've decided to start complimenting others more often. I mean, my day was absolutely made by what those two people said to me about what I now consider my lucky trousers, and if I could make someone else feel even half as touched and made up as I did I think that'd be really nice. I don't mean to get all soppy, but lately especially I've really learned that almost everyone you meet is going through something or other, big or small. A nicely thought-out and genuine compliment could go a long way. 

That said, me being plagued with social awkwardness and discomfort has thwarted my half-hearted attempts to live up to my new resolution thus far. Yesterday evening, there was a couple sitting at the table next to us in the café I was in with a beautiful newborn baby. She really was a dote, sleeping peacefully on her dad's shoulder with little tufts of dark hair on her tiny head. When I was getting my coat and bag together on my way out, I caught the dad's eye and smiled and my brain was egging me on to ask "how old is she?" and tell them how sweet she was. Alas, the "complimenting strangers is possibly a bit creepy never mind complimenting strangers' babies" worry started to creep in so I left without saying anything. I'll try again another time, honestly. Compliments are excellent. And I'm kind of convinced my trousers actually hold magical lucky powers. 

I'm going to Berlin on Erasmus in September

On Thursday, a very exciting email landed in my inbox.

"Dear Aisling", it said. "We are pleased to officially offer you a place in Berlin for the Erasmus programme 2014-2015".

A wide grin crept across my face, which did not falter for the next four hours. A place at the Humboldt University of Berlin for the coming year was mine, and once I replied to confirm the offer (which I did almost immediately, the Enlightenment essay I'd been working on abandoned) nobody was taking it away from me. 

Spending third year studying German law at a German university is a compulsory part of the degree for which I'm studying so although I knew I'd definitely be spending next year somewhere in Deutschland, the exact city in which I'd spend the year was not yet definite. We have ten universities across the country to choose from. Having spent three months in Wiesbaden, a small city of about 280,000 people, I ruled out the possibility of going somewhere similar like Marburg or Erlangen. The application process is far less formal than it is for other courses, and done primarily through our course coordinator, whom we all know very well. In general, we're free to choose where we go ourselves. Our course coordinator offers her opinion and makes suggestions but the decision is ours for the most part and she does work hard to ensure everyone is happy with where they end up (and who they end up going with - some of us go alone and others in pairs). However, she tends to be tougher on who goes to Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, and it took some convincing before she agreed to me going to Berlin. She suggested Hamburg, which I considered, but I couldn't let go of Berlin. Berlin was the first place in Germany I ever visited, aged thirteen, and I've always loved it. In transition year, we had to research college courses and universities, and even then I knew I'd love to go to Berlin to study for a year.  The fact that Berlin was a study abroad option for Law and German was a major factor in my decision to include Law and German in second place on my CAO form. When I narrowly missed out on my first choice of European Studies back in August 2012 and was offered Law and German instead, it was with the possibility of a Berlin Erasmus that I consoled myself. Berlin was always something I'd wanted. 

Now I have it. My course coordinator can't change her mind and strongly suggest I go to Hamburg instead. It can't be taken away from me if I don't get a certain grade in a certain module (although I obviously still have to pass my exams in May). I'm going to Berlin in September, to study German law through German in quite possibly the most exciting city in the world. Although I've been to Berlin seven times before, I see it in a new light each time and there's always something to be discovered there. Sometimes I think I might be better off somewhere smaller and friendlier, a place where I might find it easier to make friends and get to know people. Sometimes I think I'm not cool enough for Berlin and its reputation as a city of hipsters and trendsetters. Despite these niggling doubts, I know Berlin was the right choice. Berlin is amazing, and despite my awkwardness, uncoolness and occasional reluctance to step outside my comfort zone socially-speaking, I know I'm going to make the most of it. 

Funnily enough, the day I officially accepted my place in Berlin turned out to be very Berlin-themed in general. Each February reading week, the junior freshman Law and German students go to Berlin on a study trip with our German law lecturer. Last year, our lecturer was accompanied by a teaching assistant, but this year there's no such assistant. To my surprise, I received a phonecall that same morning from the course coordinator asking if I'd be interested in going along to help out - all expenses paid, except for the flights. Because she openly refers to me as ditsy and thinks I'm a bit of an airhead and I wouldn't have thought she'd have considered me for any task requiring any degree of responsibility or competency, I was taken aback. Nevertheless, I jumped at the chance to go and although I've yet to book my flights I'm very much looking forward to it. It's not going to be a week of lounging about Kreuzberg or Prenzlauer Berg people watching and mooching about quirky shops and cafes, but a week filled with visits to houses of parliament and official buildings, however Berlin is Berlin and a week spent there is never a week wasted. Fortunately, my lovely classmate Karen (has her shit together a whole lot more than I do) was also asked to go so I won't have to spend the week making tedious conversation in German with my German civil law lecturer. 

This year is looking promising, and I'm very excited. Sixteen year old me, to whom Erasmus seemed a very distant concept, wouldn't know what to make of all this. September still seems ages away, and the whole thing is still extremely surreal. But brng it onnn guna b class xxxxx

 This was just another landmark to me when I took this photo back in June 2011. Now I'm off to study there! Yippee!