Ireland Update: I'z Here!!!!
29/08 (at around 7:00 PM, Central time)
Is it all that peculiar that I felt like we had an easier time at O’Hare than at Midway? The international terminal at O’Hare was a breeze… very little trouble (and it seems like we made perfect timing, because there was no waiting to board for an hour+).
At the moment, we’re flying just past Canada. I’ve been watching the flight map since we got in the air. And according to estimations, we’re going to arrive early-at least a half an hour early. I haven’t a clue what we’re going to do until 09h00. The other day, I pre-booked an airport cab to bring us to UL, so I’ve got a feeling that timing won’t be in our favor in the morning. I’m just hoping everything will work out so that getting to Paris won’t be a huge hassle.
But this is… just unreal. I’m so happy and so nervous.
****At this point, I gave up typing because the gentleman in front of me pushed back his seat so far that I couldn’t see my screen anymore without making my neck hurt. Nap time!****
30/08
It’s tomorrow:
Oh. My. GOD!
First and foremost, I’M IN A NEW FREAKIN COUNTRY! And I’ve got a stamped passport to prove it! Secondly, Ireland is the most amazing, adorable place I’ve ever seen. True, it has rained about 60% of the time we’ve been outside (the rain ranges from “Eh, I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Umbrella” to “Holy Crap It’s Really Raining!”), but in no way has that kept me from enjoying where I am right now. And I’m pretty much all settled in to my cute little place in Kilmurry Village at UL.
So. We landed safely. At a quarter after 5 in the morning. A half hour before we were supposed to. On one hand, it’s a good thing. No rushing anything, we could take our time, blah blah blah. But, again, I had pre-booked that cab. So there was someone waiting for us since 5 AM. So that made me feel really lame. But of course, I expected customs to take some time. It took a little while, but not as long as I had expected. So we were done around 6. Brilliant. It only takes 40 minutes (or 30 if you’re a cab driver who is a speed demon) to get to UL from Shannon…
Oh, about the cab driver. Wow. He was an older fella, but he sure had a lead foot. I’m still not confident in my metric-US conversions, but we had to be going at least 60 or 70 miles an hour.
Note to self: deter Mom from renting a car. I foresee many problems with Mom driving in Ireland: 1) Driving on the opposite side of the road, 2) Driving on the opposite side of the car, 3) Very probable she’d be driving stick (she can drive stick, but that’s one more thing she’s got to worry about), 4) Rain, 5) Irish drivers are FAST, 6) She is a talker and would need 100% of her concentration on the road, and finally 7) Nanny. It just wouldn’t work, and I’d rather them spend extra money for public transportation and cabs than get in an accident and get badly hurt.
But anyway, our driver showed us some castles and Limerick City and other glorious sights… driving at an insane speed. I wanted to take pictures, but my camera is not good enough for that kind of movement. And it was raining. Did I mention it was raining most of today? Because it’s raining again.
We arrived in Kilmurry Village at approximately 6:30 AM. There was nobody around. It was probably the absolute weirdest feeling ever. I just knew that nobody was awake yet, so I wasn’t about to wake Noreen (the village manager) up at the crack of dawn to help me check in. And there were no shops or cafes or restaurants open at that hour… so we wandered west a bit to see what we could find. We came across a Laundromat that was open, so we brought our luggage inside and we waited. Yes, in a Laundromat. At that point, we tried calling family to let them know we’d arrived safely. Too bad our phones are pretty useless out here right now. We bought new, international pre-pay sim cards on the plane, but we can’t activate them until we have Internet access, which I most certainly do not have right now. We did successfully send a few texts to our hubby and boyfriend, though. It’s rather frustrating to not be able to communicate with people back home. I just need five minutes on the Internet, and we’d be fine. So we were standing there in the University’s Laundromat, waiting for people to rise and shine. We must have looked like the strangest people, poking our heads out every once and a while to look for other human beings. Oh, and by the way, there are cameras everywhere. Hopefully the people in charge of all that surveillance understood why we were killing time in a Laundromat. Poor lost Americans…
I’ve gotta say: I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore. It’s Sunday, and there’s nothing open. There’s no one around. I can’t get over it. But apparently, that’s how it is all over Europe. I’m hoping that it will change somewhat by next week. Even so, it’ll be nice to sleep in on Sundays without anybody bugging you to wake up.
At 7:30 or so, I rang the doorbell to see if we could check in, to find that I had awoken poor, sleeping Noreen. I felt bad, but she didn’t seem to mind, even though she was still in PJs. We walked over to the Village Hall (which quickly became our point of reference, as a part of it is a large, very recognizable clock tower), got situated and checked in (first check-in of Kilmurry Village! Score!), and I received the key to my room, luckily not too far from the reference point. The fun part? It’s on the upper level of the house. So that meant lifting two large and two small pieces of luggage up a flight of pretty small stairs. And this is after I had serious issues opening my front door. The trick is that you have to turn the key to the right (so forget all the lefty loosey crap you already know), pull towards you and THEN push in. Ugh. I don’t know what sort of shape I’d be in now if I were on my own, but I would probably not be awake (going on 22 hours, baby!), and I certainly wouldn’t be in the frame of mind I’m in right now (believe it or not, I’ve only cried two or three times-I’m holding up better than when I got dropped off at NCC last year).
We unpacked, sort of got things organized, took some flattering pictures and videos of us in the house, and then realized that we were starving. Noreen had mentioned that a sports bar by the arena opened at 8, so we wandered down only to realize that it was closed. Some boys nearby said it opened at 10. So we wandered some more, this time eastward, towards the center of the campus. It’s very different than what I’m used to, being an actual university and all. It’s like UL is its own little city. It’s not huge, but it’s no itty-bitty NCC.
Everyone (the four or five people we’ve run into along the paths) is very friendly. They can tell, without a doubt, that we’re new around here, and they seem to want to be as helpful as possible. Right about now, I’m definitely thinking that I picked the right place to be my first time away from America.
At the sports bar we ate scrambled eggs and toast, had tea (loving the Irish tea), and a Twix bar each, thanks to a suggestion from Keri. And now we’re resting. Auntie is sleeping, but I couldn’t. I was exhausted, but not ready to nap or sleep. Damn adrenaline. I cleaned myself up a bit, since I was uber sweaty from all my “hard manual labor”. I’ll probably take my shower tonight because I still feel kind of scummy and I want as much sleep as possible… because it’s PARIS in the morning! We’ve got to meet another cab at 4:45 AM to get to the airport in time.
Today has been busy, and I’ve learned quite a bit already. Photos will be uploaded on Flickr and Facebook soon. Now, time for some Irish soap operas!
One more thing: They drive Fords here. I saw an Escort across from the soccer field. Luckily it was blue and European-style, but still. If I see a silver ‘97 Ford Escort, I’ll need a one-way ticket back to Chicago. Bob, get a damn passport, wouldja?
Is it all that peculiar that I felt like we had an easier time at O’Hare than at Midway? The international terminal at O’Hare was a breeze… very little trouble (and it seems like we made perfect timing, because there was no waiting to board for an hour+).
At the moment, we’re flying just past Canada. I’ve been watching the flight map since we got in the air. And according to estimations, we’re going to arrive early-at least a half an hour early. I haven’t a clue what we’re going to do until 09h00. The other day, I pre-booked an airport cab to bring us to UL, so I’ve got a feeling that timing won’t be in our favor in the morning. I’m just hoping everything will work out so that getting to Paris won’t be a huge hassle.
But this is… just unreal. I’m so happy and so nervous.
****At this point, I gave up typing because the gentleman in front of me pushed back his seat so far that I couldn’t see my screen anymore without making my neck hurt. Nap time!****
30/08
It’s tomorrow:
Oh. My. GOD!
First and foremost, I’M IN A NEW FREAKIN COUNTRY! And I’ve got a stamped passport to prove it! Secondly, Ireland is the most amazing, adorable place I’ve ever seen. True, it has rained about 60% of the time we’ve been outside (the rain ranges from “Eh, I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Umbrella” to “Holy Crap It’s Really Raining!”), but in no way has that kept me from enjoying where I am right now. And I’m pretty much all settled in to my cute little place in Kilmurry Village at UL.
So. We landed safely. At a quarter after 5 in the morning. A half hour before we were supposed to. On one hand, it’s a good thing. No rushing anything, we could take our time, blah blah blah. But, again, I had pre-booked that cab. So there was someone waiting for us since 5 AM. So that made me feel really lame. But of course, I expected customs to take some time. It took a little while, but not as long as I had expected. So we were done around 6. Brilliant. It only takes 40 minutes (or 30 if you’re a cab driver who is a speed demon) to get to UL from Shannon…
Oh, about the cab driver. Wow. He was an older fella, but he sure had a lead foot. I’m still not confident in my metric-US conversions, but we had to be going at least 60 or 70 miles an hour.
Note to self: deter Mom from renting a car. I foresee many problems with Mom driving in Ireland: 1) Driving on the opposite side of the road, 2) Driving on the opposite side of the car, 3) Very probable she’d be driving stick (she can drive stick, but that’s one more thing she’s got to worry about), 4) Rain, 5) Irish drivers are FAST, 6) She is a talker and would need 100% of her concentration on the road, and finally 7) Nanny. It just wouldn’t work, and I’d rather them spend extra money for public transportation and cabs than get in an accident and get badly hurt.
But anyway, our driver showed us some castles and Limerick City and other glorious sights… driving at an insane speed. I wanted to take pictures, but my camera is not good enough for that kind of movement. And it was raining. Did I mention it was raining most of today? Because it’s raining again.
We arrived in Kilmurry Village at approximately 6:30 AM. There was nobody around. It was probably the absolute weirdest feeling ever. I just knew that nobody was awake yet, so I wasn’t about to wake Noreen (the village manager) up at the crack of dawn to help me check in. And there were no shops or cafes or restaurants open at that hour… so we wandered west a bit to see what we could find. We came across a Laundromat that was open, so we brought our luggage inside and we waited. Yes, in a Laundromat. At that point, we tried calling family to let them know we’d arrived safely. Too bad our phones are pretty useless out here right now. We bought new, international pre-pay sim cards on the plane, but we can’t activate them until we have Internet access, which I most certainly do not have right now. We did successfully send a few texts to our hubby and boyfriend, though. It’s rather frustrating to not be able to communicate with people back home. I just need five minutes on the Internet, and we’d be fine. So we were standing there in the University’s Laundromat, waiting for people to rise and shine. We must have looked like the strangest people, poking our heads out every once and a while to look for other human beings. Oh, and by the way, there are cameras everywhere. Hopefully the people in charge of all that surveillance understood why we were killing time in a Laundromat. Poor lost Americans…
I’ve gotta say: I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore. It’s Sunday, and there’s nothing open. There’s no one around. I can’t get over it. But apparently, that’s how it is all over Europe. I’m hoping that it will change somewhat by next week. Even so, it’ll be nice to sleep in on Sundays without anybody bugging you to wake up.
At 7:30 or so, I rang the doorbell to see if we could check in, to find that I had awoken poor, sleeping Noreen. I felt bad, but she didn’t seem to mind, even though she was still in PJs. We walked over to the Village Hall (which quickly became our point of reference, as a part of it is a large, very recognizable clock tower), got situated and checked in (first check-in of Kilmurry Village! Score!), and I received the key to my room, luckily not too far from the reference point. The fun part? It’s on the upper level of the house. So that meant lifting two large and two small pieces of luggage up a flight of pretty small stairs. And this is after I had serious issues opening my front door. The trick is that you have to turn the key to the right (so forget all the lefty loosey crap you already know), pull towards you and THEN push in. Ugh. I don’t know what sort of shape I’d be in now if I were on my own, but I would probably not be awake (going on 22 hours, baby!), and I certainly wouldn’t be in the frame of mind I’m in right now (believe it or not, I’ve only cried two or three times-I’m holding up better than when I got dropped off at NCC last year).
We unpacked, sort of got things organized, took some flattering pictures and videos of us in the house, and then realized that we were starving. Noreen had mentioned that a sports bar by the arena opened at 8, so we wandered down only to realize that it was closed. Some boys nearby said it opened at 10. So we wandered some more, this time eastward, towards the center of the campus. It’s very different than what I’m used to, being an actual university and all. It’s like UL is its own little city. It’s not huge, but it’s no itty-bitty NCC.
Everyone (the four or five people we’ve run into along the paths) is very friendly. They can tell, without a doubt, that we’re new around here, and they seem to want to be as helpful as possible. Right about now, I’m definitely thinking that I picked the right place to be my first time away from America.
At the sports bar we ate scrambled eggs and toast, had tea (loving the Irish tea), and a Twix bar each, thanks to a suggestion from Keri. And now we’re resting. Auntie is sleeping, but I couldn’t. I was exhausted, but not ready to nap or sleep. Damn adrenaline. I cleaned myself up a bit, since I was uber sweaty from all my “hard manual labor”. I’ll probably take my shower tonight because I still feel kind of scummy and I want as much sleep as possible… because it’s PARIS in the morning! We’ve got to meet another cab at 4:45 AM to get to the airport in time.
Today has been busy, and I’ve learned quite a bit already. Photos will be uploaded on Flickr and Facebook soon. Now, time for some Irish soap operas!
One more thing: They drive Fords here. I saw an Escort across from the soccer field. Luckily it was blue and European-style, but still. If I see a silver ‘97 Ford Escort, I’ll need a one-way ticket back to Chicago. Bob, get a damn passport, wouldja?