Now that I’m done pontificating for the moment about the deeper truths of the universe, why not recollect the positively silly hijinks of a bunch of Americans let loose in the most cosmopolitan, tourist-ready municipality on the whole Irish island? On both nights, drink ran gratuitously, songs were sang (beautifully, of course), dancing, frivolity, whatnot roiled through the night, despite early starts every morning. It was a grand time.

Now, this may sound, for anybody familiar with our Belfast trip, incredibly similar to our previous experiences traipsing about Ireland at-large. They would not be terribly wrong.

But the people around us were the differentiation. Surely this has more to do with our placement and overall gentrification than with the actual people of these respective cities (across the river from Temble Bar in Dublin vs. Ruffian Alley at the corner of Badass Lane in Belfast [see picture below]), but the people in Dublin were cosmopolitan, international, and occasionally erudite. I don’t say this out of surprise or anything like that, since, after all, I am not a small business owner in early 19th century America.

But even the working class people of Dublin were informed; a bouncer we talked to outside of a karaoke bar spoke fluently about monetary policy, commenting on the benefits and perils of maintaining a weakened currency. The people of Belfast seemed disengaged at best, asking us first and foremost about our respective zombie apocalypse survival plans and television shows we have in America.

Again, this is a limited experience and certainly not reflective of all the people in all of Dublin and Belfast. However, this is also my blog post and I get to be as self-centered as I want. So, I guess, in conclusion, Dublin people are smarter, smell nicer, and are more beautiful than Belfast people.

But seriously, this isn’t to disparage people in Belfast. Everyone we met and conversed with in both of these cities were either in school or finished school. They were all well-spoken and opinionated. But it must be absolutely exhausting to live in Belfast. There were riots there just the other day. It’s one thing to live in Armagh; but there are a quarter of a million people in Belfast living with sectarianism all up in their shit every day. Who can blame them from trying to escape the unnecessary crap they live with every day of their lives? Not I. Not anybody with the least bit of sense.