In this photo, it is beauty

Over River Liffey

The photo is simple. One of my favorite photos taken during my trip—of Dublin, Ireland while crossing a bridge over River Liffey. I had set my digital camera to have a slightly longer shutter speed to capture the colorful lights bouncing over the water. It is amazing.

However, what it doesn’t capture are the emotions before and after. The nuances that I will always remember from that photo.

I had just rejected an invitation to dinner, hoping that I would catch up with someone who could potentially connect me with UX in London. My hopefulness and optimism came from a full day of conference networking—where I felt that I made genuine connections. For the first time, I really felt at ease. However, right before I took that photo, I went up to a female that looked like the person and apparently, I was wrong. Attempting to cover up my embarrassment, I laughed it saying that it was hard to figure out how people looked like based on their twitter photo. So I walked along the river…alone…feeling a bit lonely as I saw groups of people walking together to dinner.

Then I crossed the bridge and saw this amazing sight.

After the photo was taken, I went to the restaurant that the person indicated on Twitter. Of course, plans change and not everyone had data on in Dublin. I was the only Asian in the restaurant…and I stared at all the white females in the restaurant. In disappointment and anxiety, I ate a small dinner alone—of soup and bread—sitting near the window next to a girl who was listening to the ipod bopping her head up and down. Fortunately, I spotted the ice cream store across the way…and that was the only saving grace of that moment.

Murphy's ice cream: Brown bread and Dinkle sea salt in cup.

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