My new year began in Rome at the Piazza of the Pope in Rome, Italy. 12:00:00 started to a fanfare of opera, kissing a cute canadian, getting soaked with champagne and having fireworks going off in my general direction�.i knew from that moment it was going to be an interesting year.
SPRING (TRAVEL, LOVE, BUILDING LIFE IN DUBLIN, BACK TO CANADA)
Went back to Dublin to continue my studies at Trinity College�. My international student parties had grown and had become regular Tuesday night pub nights and we also threw a few theme parties Welcome Back, Valentines Day, Carnival (One of the Final parties at U2 Kitchen Club) and St.Patricks Day. Also keeping me busy was my Events Officer position with Trinity�s Grad Student�s Union (GSU) where I organized a Wine Tasting, Surfing Trip to the West Coast of Ireland. During the first few months of the year I attend a conferences in Edinburgh, Amsterdam and take a few side trips to Luxembourg, Glasgow and Belgium. My friend Adam and I started a Canadian Club and we had a huge party in Dublin for the Olympics Final where Canada defeated USA. We also got people out to Blue Rodeo, Tragically Hip and Terry Fox Runs. During the spring months I started dating a Parisian named Anne-Laure who really opened my mind to French perspective, travelling in the developing world and art history. It was a short but intense love affair as she went back Paris in May. In May I return back to Edmonton, Canada after 1 � years away�my whole family is reunited for my sister Fiona�s Wedding and we have a absolute blast. To see all my friends and family again is special indeed. While it has always pained me to live so far away from them�I know that I need to explore the world while I am young. During the trip I got good news and bad news. I was elected as GSU President position but at the same time my supervisor has told me that my Ph.D is no longer being funded. Since the GSU role doesn�t start until Nov I had absolutely no way to pay for rent, food and Guinness! I spend a few days in Calgary chilling out and enjoying the Rocky Mountains contemplating my next move.
SUMMER: ( PUBCRAWL VENTURE, BLEEDING TO DEATH IN MALTA, SCUBA DIVING)
Since I feel like I thrive on adversity I came back to Dublin with full spirit and energy. I decide to take a backpacker pub crawl idea from my trip to Rome and make it happen in Dublin. After a month of hard prep work On July 2nd I kick off my backpacker pubcrawl venture and ONLY 2 people showed up�and one of them was my best friend. The next day I was worried no one would show up and almost didn�t continue�.but to my surprise and delight 15 smiling faces were there looking for the pubcrawl. The rest of the summer I entertained and toured around with hundreds of backpackers from across the world. A American girl named Christine showed enthusiasm and became my first employee. We ran the pubcrawl all summer and had so many incredible moments and I made some friends for life. For the GSU I organized some more events such as a memorable softball/keg tournament and a night at the dog racing. With the money from pubcrawl I took a 2 week trip to the beautiful Island of Malta to meet up with my Columbian friend, Juan Pablo and to learn scuba diving. I got my open water diving license and discovered a new world in the process�.being underwater for an hour at 20 meters is a feeling like no other. On my last night in Malta I went to a student party and almost lost my life. At the beginning of the party I was walking down some stairs when from behind a person tripped and hit my�.we both went tumbling but I fell on a broken bottle and broke one of my arms in three places�. The bottle had cut my other arm so deep that by the time I reached the hospital there was hardly any blood left in my body. Luckily I was stitched up and brought back to life before taking my plane back home a few hours later. The next month taking showers, getting dressed, and even moving was painful as one arm was broken and the other arm looked like Frankenstein.
AUTUMN (DYLAN the DJ, GSU PRESIDENT, TEACHING FOR THE FIRST TIME, SOCIAL LIFE MULTIPLIED)
I hit the new school year with new energy and felt alive as my body repaired itself back to normal. Went on the tour cycle of international student orientations and my weekly pub parties became massive club parties. Every week 500-1000 international students showed up and I even got the chance to start Djing. Djing was such a new and fantastic feeling. To have 300 people on the floor going crazy and the stress of having to keep the floor going in less than 3 minutes is an absolute rush. The Autumn was also about self development---reading philosophy, consolidating/filtering my ideas and minimizing clutter/material possessions. The school year brought a series of Grad Student Orientations where I met many new friends. Luckily I had also got on the Dublin List through my club nights and my association with Gerry and Michael at Backpacker Magazine who were invited to every event/party around town. I moved the Backpacker Pubcrawl to Fri and Sat nights to accommodate increasing responsibilities for GSU president and also because I started lecturing at a private university. DYLAN WAS FINALLY TEACHING�.I taught two classes of Marketing to European Business students and had an absolute blast. Getting up each day at 5 in morning to prep was absolutely painful but I felt I had finally evolved from student to teacher. No more taking tests�.making tests!! 65 students under my guidance and many of them became friends. My monthly theme parties grew in intensity as the new volunteers of Dublin International Students spread the positive vibe�Halloween, Thanksgiving, International Dinner Christmas. We also organized a conference on the developments of the European Union which opened minds and brought some student leaders together to talk and think. Started going to Raves and other Electronic parties and getting ideas about putting on alternative parties and happenings. Met up with an entrepreneur and we started a international student exchange venture bringing in international students from India and Dubai. I want to bring international students to Dublin and to mix different cultures. The more cultural diversity and awareness the better. Took over the GSU and spent a month going to meetings, learning the system and fighting for grad students
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS IN EGYPT: NEW INSIGHTS AND NEW MOTIVATION
Christmas time was full of parties and took a side trip to Northern Ireland to take a black cab and see the Belfast Wall that divides Protestants and Catholics. Dublin is only 3 hours away from Belfast but it feels like worlds apart. For Christmas holidays I met up with my travel buddy Juan Pablo again and we backpacked through Egypt. Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Dahab� It was at times the best experience (going inside the pyramids, felucca sailing on the Nile, seeing the gigantic Ramses Statutes in Abu, the Pillar Hall in Karnack, Mint Tea, King Tut�s Tomb in the Valley of the Kings, scuba diving in the red sea and of course smoking sheesa in the hippy village of Dahab) and some of the worst experiences (fighting off scam artists, getting ripped off, fighting with corrupt taxi drivers, getting hassled from morning to night, trying to shield girls from rude attention, getting in broken bottle fights, mental exhaustion, suffering from acute ancient Egyptian overload (AEO), and armed military escorts) The good far outweighed the bad�and I was happy that we did it ourselves and didn�t take the conventional (stay in hotels and take the tour package) approach. But after so much stress, strain and exponential learning�.I AM READY FOR 2003!! And so the year begins back in Dublin and looking forward to the next year. Who knows what it will bring? Last year I created many different organizations, ideas, activities now in 2003 I hope to DEVELOP them. --Dylan Jan 3rd, 2003