A most unusual but wonderful experience happened to me recently on a return trip from Europe to the United States.
A series of heavy Nor'easters[1] hit the U.S. East Coast over the last couple weeks, one of which coincided with my trip back to Rochester, NY. While we didn’t have flooding, we had a lot of snow. A lot of snow means canceled flights.
As I made my way through border control in Dublin, Ireland on March 7, I discovered my connection to New York City would likely be canceled. A meander from baggage claim to the check-in desk confirmed this. Fortunately, Aer Lingus[2] had no issue putting me up in a hotel overnight, with dinner and breakfast, so that I could catch the next flight to New York the following day.
While waiting in airport queues, a friend happened to retweet an event happening in Dublin the next day.
The event was a local Wikimedia meet-up[3] to celebrate International Women’s Day[4]. Participants would create and edit Wikipedia pages for influential women in the history of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland[5]. After digging deeper, I found out the event would take place 30 minutes away from my hotel, from 09:30 to 12:30. My flight was at 16:10.
I put in my RSVP.
Meet the Wikimedia Ireland community
In a stroke of fate, I would spend my extended layover during my first time in Dublin learning about women role models in the Irish medical community. I didn’t know it yet, but I would also take part in writing some history.
#WomenOnWalls
The first part of the event focused on an introduction to