Living in City Centre means I can walk to just about everything I need, so as you can imagine, I’ve spent a fair amount of time wandering campus and the neighborhood. And what does one do while walking in public? Look at other people and judge them, of course. While I do enjoy the occasional old woman smoking a cigarette while pushing a baby stroller and the Eastern European girls who will run you off the path (I should get an award for all the times I have not yelled ‘fuck you’ at them, I swear it only happened once), today I would like to discuss outerwear. With highs in the 40s, a jacket or coat is critical (and no, we will not talk about how long it took me to figure that out).
You’ve got your average parka walking around and every time I see one I am gravely disappointed. This isn’t Portland for fucks sake, and if I never see another parka again in my entire life, it will not have been long enough. Come on, we can do better than parkas. To the credit of many people, they do and I swoon over every beautifully tailored trench coat I see. If you’re picturing a classy, beige coat with a beautiful set of buttons held together by a sophisticated belt, then you can understand why I have outerwear jealousy. Shout out to my parents who got me my very own classy trench coat in a dark red that both stands out and fits in perfectly, so I can hang with the beautiful outwear crowd too. Because if I’m going to sound stupid in class, the least I can do is look intelligent while doing it.
However, a whole category of coat is missing: the denim jacket. By my calculations there exist three of them in all of Dublin…and they’re mine. I had a bit of an eye opening revelation this week while walking around in the cute new denim jacket I got over break (thanks, mom!). And as I’m sure you’ve gathered, that revelation was that I am the only person I’ve ever seen wear a denim jacket… There are jeans, though not as many as in the US, but other than that, there is a distinct lack of denim in Dublin. All things considered, this is not much of a surprise, but it’s something I can never unsee and therefore spend a significant amount of my time trying to find another denim jacket in the crowd. If you ever find yourself in Dublin, do me a favor and let me know if you see one so I can console my wonderful collection of outerwear.
P.S. Pardon the late dispatch, I was busy having a mental breakdown in the middle of class. But to quote my friend and fellow history student: “Is it really grad school if you haven’t cried in public?”
Leave a comment