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My day of travelling ended up a success. My mom dropped me off at the SeaTac Airport at around one, which gave me plenty of time to get through security, find my gate and have time to get a snack before boarding at 3:00pm. (I didn't even have to do the body scan!) That flight was about 2.5 hours long. It didn't seem like it took that long even because I sat with two people who were good at keeping up conversation. The man was a Seattle Police Officer and he recognized Robert's brother-in-law Eric's name (he is also a Seattle Police Officer). He is also a former coug and that is where a lot of our talking stemed from...he was headed to San Diego to see the coug's football game (too bad we ended up losing...).
The first flight landed me in San Diego. It went as smoothly as I thought it could have gone in the airport. Once again had plenty of time for security and snacks prior to boarding the plane. (And once again did not have to succumb to the body scan). I couldn't have asked for a better 10 hour plane ride. The seats were 3 across and I sat by the window, a lady sat in the isle seat and our middle seat was empty! We were both able to be very comfortable and I would say I was easily only awake for an hour of the whole trip! (Also...small thing that made me giggle...the pilot's name was Benjamin Franklin).
However, next comes Heathrow airport which is where I had issues. We got off the plane at 3:30 from San Diego and my next flight left for Belfast at 5, which meant the gate is supposed to close at 4:30. This gave me an hour to go to baggage claim, find my bag, go through immigration, recheck my bag, and get through security and to my gate. So to start off, every place I had to walk to was practically the farthest from where I was. By the time I got to where I had to check my bag they told me I couldn't check anything this late. When I finally got them to check it, it was 4:35...fine min after when my ticket says they close the gate. So then at security I was asked to step aside for a random body scan (either to make up for the two I was able to skip over...or my nervous look at possibly missing my plane made me look suspicious). They did that and they had to then find a girl TSA because then they decided they needed to do a pat down (I'm wearing sweats, not sure why they needed a pat down after the body scan). I ended up practically running to my gate and thankfully everything worked out and I was able to make the flight. I was a little disappointed at first by my seat (the middle seat) but I wasn't even awake long enought to see us take off, and our landing is what woke me up so I guess it didn't matter where I was sitting. :P
The plan was that I was getting to Northern Ireland a night early. So my parents booked me a night at the same hotel I would spend a couple more nights at in Belfast for my programs orientation. I knew I needed to get a taxi to the hotel, so when I got off the plane and got my luggage I went to stand in line at ingformation to ask about a taxi. While I was standing in line a man came up to me with a paper with my name on it. Very confused I asked how he knew to get me and who set it up. He informed me that he set it up and introduced himself as one of the IFSA staff. They had changed plans and instead of staying in Belfast, Northern Ireland he would be taking me to Dublin, Ireland to do orientation with the 3 students going abroad at the Trinity College in Dublin since apparently I am the onlly Jordanstown University of Ulster abroad student for IFSA this semester. (They didn't think it strange not to tell me any of this)?
But whatever! I'm in Dublin, Ireland tonight staying at the O'Callaghan Monte Clare Htoel. I got here and spent about half hour in the dark trying to figure out how to turn my lights on (felt like it would be too rediculous of a thing to call the front desk for in my opinion). Turns out this is how they work...
So I went down to the front counter to ask where the closest place to get something to eat was and the lady at the front desk ordered me in a pepperoni pizza from downtown. (When she asked me for my credit card to pay for it she just read it out loud in the lobby of the hotel to the pizza place...something that wouldn't happen in the states). I didn't even think about the fact that I wasn't in America anymore until the pizza arrived. It looked very similar to any pizza I'd had before just with a very thin and quite dry crust. It didn't taste like normal pepperoni and overall the whole thing reminded me of how spaghetti-o's taste. I ate the whole thing (and whish I'd ordered bigger than a small) and now I'm settling down with a cup of tea and getting ready to go ninight. Alarm is set for 9 so even though I slept most of my flights and am not really tired I have to sleep!
Saturday Morning September 17th
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I may have thought I wasn't tired because I slept most of my flights but I don't even think I remember my head hitting the pillow last night! I slept like a rock until my alarm went off this morning. I just got done having breakfast in the hotel which was bangers (sausage) and scrambled eggs with a banana and break and jam. It was very tasty! Now I am back in my hotel room with a little less than an hour to get dressed and ready for my first day of orientation. This is what my schedule for today says:
11:00am - Meet in the hotel lobby and walk to our office (IFSA).
11:15am - Welcome to Ireland. We will discuss some of the major cultural differences between Ireland and the U.S.
11:30am - Academic Talk. Tim will discuss the best ways to navigate the differences between the Irish and US academic systems.
12:15pm - Student Services meeting with Geoff and Maria.
1:15pm - Lunch in The Blarney Inn on Nassau Street.
2:30pm - Safety talk with Garda Paula Moran, a member of the Garda Siochana (Irish Police Force).
3:15pm - We will bring you for a self-guided tour of The Guinness Storehouse, the home of Guinness.
Following this talk you are free for the remainder of the afternoon. If you need any suggestions on what to do, please don't hesitate to ask us.
Saturday Night September 17th
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After a very loooong day, I am finally back to my room for the night after taking a taxi back from the other IFSA students apartments in Dublin (they had the option of moving in today so they did). Today was a lot of fun, the group of us get along really well and had a great day! We started off this morning by finishing watching a really important game of Rugby for Dublin. Maria was at the hotel to pick us up, but the game was on in the lounge and she wanted to finish the last couple minutes so we did before heading off. It was really funny because it was me, Catherine, Jess and Maria and 3 guys and 1 woman watching the game and every time something good happened for Dublin it sounded like there could have been 50 people cheering in that room! Dublin ended up winning! So to introduce those names I mentioned...Maria is another IFSA staff just like Tim and Catherine and Jess are two of the girls studying at Trinity. Catherine came here from Massachusetts and Jess from New Orleans. They are both very nice! We then walked to the IFSA office with Maria and that is where we met the other student, Matt and he is here from D.C. There is also a girl from South Korea who is pretty much studying at Trinity on her own but is partly using IFSA butler...I didn't really understand but I think she is just with IFSA butler to do her housing while she is here. She is very sweet though.
At the office we did the first couple things on the schedule I posted which were pretty much just good information to have. No need to really retype any of it...it wasn't much that I didn't already expect. But after we talked we went out to lunch at The Blarney Inn and I had the Irish Stew with brown bread and it was very good. The stew had potatoes, lamb, carrots, celery and onions in a broth and it was very tasty. After we went to lunch Maria and Geoff took us to the Guinness Storehouse and gave us maps and told us to find our way back after the tour! The tour was pretty interesting...it explained how they make Guinness and a lot of the history behind it. Your ticket for the tour gets you either a free chance to learn to pour your own glass of Guinness or a free pint of Guinness on the top floor in their Gravity Bar that has mirror walls with a 360 view of Dublin. We did the pints up in the Gravity Bar. Matt finished mine off (which was all but the one drink I took) because I kinda thought it tasted like shoe. :P But I already knew that I wasn't a beer drinker.
We got a bit lost trying to figure out where to go to get back...but Irish people are incredibly nice and very willing to help if you just ask. I forgot to mention that by this point we moved the others stuff into their apartments in Dublin. So we were trying to find our way back to their apartments and not the hotel. When we got back to their apartments we decided it was time for dinner so we went out in search of a restaurant. We ended up going to a place called The Village and I ordered the homemade Lasagna and Chips which was very good! Irish lasagna more tastes like meatloaf with noodles because they use way less sauce than Americans but it was still really good food. It had a lot of cheese on top too which always makes things better.
After dinner we went back to their apartments and hung out chatting for a bit and around midnight I got a taxi back to my hotel which is where I am now. I'm chatting with people on email...and I'm completely not tired which is a problem but hopefully I will get some sleep.
On a side note the only people who have laughed at how I talk have been the other Americans that I am with which is pretty funny. I'm the only one from the West Coast and so they looked at me very funny when I said "pop" and informed me that it was "soda." Then, one time I said "hella" and they told me that they either use "wicked" or "mad." Just thought that was really funny.
Sunday morning but still Saturday Night Really Late September 17th/18th
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So...it's 6am and I haven't been able to fall asleep all night and have my alarm set for 8am. Still not on Ireland time I'm afraid. I'm going to regret not being able to sleep but I am beyond wide awake. Hopefully that will make me really tired tomorrow night and I can get closer to the right sleep schedule. I still have a week before my classes start so that's good.
Sunday Night September 18th
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Today wasn't a good day. It was definitely my first "I'm freaking out because I'm really far away and just want to go home" day. Well, the first part of it was fine. I had breakfast in the hotel again and had rice crispies with a banana in it. I also tried the black and white pudding which is a very common thing in Ireland. Look it up...you will be amazed that I tried it...knowing full well what it was. But really it didn't taste that bad. The white pudding I would explain as tasting and having the same texture as a vegetarian chicken nugget. The black pudding tasted very similar but had a different texture. It was a lot more dense and kind of reminded me of the texture of liver a little?
After breakfast Maria met me in the lobby and Geoff met the others at their apartments and then they brought us to where we got on the Viking Splash tour. Pretty much the same thing as the Tour the Ducks in Seattle but you wear viking hats and going around Ireland yelling YYYAAARRRRRR at people. Pretty fun. Saw some cool stuff and learned some cool things.
After the tour the others got to do a Food, Cooking and Health thing with a lady named Jess Keane, a nutritionist and cook. She was giving them some guidance on cooking for yourself and keeping healthy while you are in Ireland. She also was going to show them how to prepare some simple and nutritious meals and then go out to lunch. When I thought I got to go I was really quite excited about it...but then Tim informed me that we would need to do an earlier lunch and head off to Newtownabbey and get me checked in to my dorm.
So after the Viking tour we headed up North around 12:30. It takes about two and a half hours to get to my place from Dublin (wait...where's my lunch? yeah...apparently Tim forgot). Then, we got here and he helped me get my keys to my place and then just left me! The others staying in Dublin got an entire weekend of introduction to their town and a map and tours of everything. I got dropped off, given my keys and I was on my own. I didn't have bed stuff or even toilet paper and they advised us not to go out on our own but I didn't have a choice because I have no one. I'm the only one moved in to my flat even. I walked to the AbbeyCentre to buy bedding because someone told me it was close. I walked straight there without a problem finding it...spent no more than 15 minutes in the store...and walked straight back and it took me from 3:50 and I didn't make it back until 6:15! I would NOT say that is close. On top of just walking that far...on the way back I was carrying a blanket, a duvet, a sheet set and a pillow. I'm sore...I'm lonely...I haven't eaten since breakfast...I'm going on 1.5 hours of sleep from the night before...and I'm using the wet wipes my mom bought me as toilet paper because I didn't want to spend the time to find a store with toilet paper and not make it back to my place before it got dark. On a slightly funnier note (because I...probably unlike you...don't find the toilet paper situation to be funny) am using my emptied out Excedrin bottle as my water cup because our kitchen is apparently not stocked. But I'm hoping that this means that with how bad today has been...it can only get better from here.
I guess I could tell you about my place...first if anyone is curious this is my address:
Audra McDaniel
Room No. 13.3.1 University of Ulster
Jordanstown, NEWTOWNABBEY
Co Antrim, Northern Ireland BT37 0QZ
It's pretty much a hall of single dorm rooms and we share a common area that has some couches and a table and a full kitchen (minus any dishes) so it has a fridge, stove, oven, microwave, sink, cupboards and counters. My room isn't very big but it doesn't really need to be. It has a bed, cove to put clothes in with two shelves and a hanger wrack. Desk, chair, lamp and shelving for books and such. I also have my own bathroom in my room with just a toilet sink and standup shower. The best part about my room is the view.
We had goodie boxes waiting for us in our common room so I got something (sort of) for dinner. Dinner consisted of a little bag of ritz crackers, a little bag of kellog's krave's which are these little crispy cereal shells with chocolate in the middle and they also gave us a little bag of fruit snacks that I'm saving for the morning.
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