In the Beginning...

... God created Guiness (or so the Irish would like to believe!).

[btw: this turned out to be a novella, so althought I encourage you to read it in its entirety if time allows, feel free to skip around if that suits you better...basically, do what whatever you want]

After 50+ hours of travel and tourist voyages, 9 of us walked the final six blocks from the bus station to our final destination: Leeside Apartments, County Cork, Ireland - our home for the next 5 months and hopefully the place of many-a-future memory.

So about those 50+ hours...

the whirl that is the last 2.5 days are some of the most memorable of my life-to-date, yet my exhausted mind is in a slightly elevated state of amnesia.. so bear with me.

First of all... none of this actually seems real. If feels like I've been in Ireland for 2 weeks and MSP seems like and eon ago. I remember airports, stiff legs, card games, and shitty airline food... but it's all a blurr. When we arrived at the airport (MSP), I was relieved to see Pat (Sitzer) there... just someone I know was going down the same path and who I know we could "bounce" off eachother. We checked bags, met eachother's families, and said our goodbyes. Sidenote: Goodbyes were weird: I knew I was saying goodbye for 5 months, but it never felt like it. It felt more as if I was headed out with some friends for the weekend and I'd be back in a couple days. This is/was obviously not the case. I don't know... yes, it was tough, but I'd like to believe that I've had enough time on my own to know what I was getting myself into and knew I could handle it... even though it was rough... whatev

I watched familiar faces fanish for the last time as I removed my shoes and belt for security (forgot my Irish cell phone and set off the alarm... whatever) and then it was on to gate E6. There we found the reminder of our travel group and I was once again delighted to see some friendly faces.

The flight to Chicago was short (I thought). I didn't really know what to do with myself. Part of me wanted to journal, another wanted to read, another wanted to listen to tunes, and and even larger part of my wanted to sock the woman next to me who couldn't seem to get off the phone with her "honey" and who was talking about how much she "misses her honey" and... you get the picture. As you can imagine, it didn't exactly foster any trend of positive thought as to what I was leaving behind in Minnesota.

We arrived in snowy Chicago and I was quickly reminded of how large O'Hare really is. We took a tram from concourse 1 to concourse 5 and were soon bording an Aer Lingus flight (conplete with our first taste of true Irish accents... compliments of the captain and stewardesses) that I REALLY hoped had the "umph" to jump the pond. This time I was seated between Darcy (my good friend and roommate) and what I guessed to be an 16/17 year-old girl, decked out with piercings, tattoos, leather boots, the works, and clearly wanted nothing to do with me except to check what time it was now-and-again. Again, I found myself unable to do anything productive except dumb my brain by staring at the audio-less screen showing endless episodes of Top-Gear and Friends and guess with Darcy as to what the actors and actresses were actually saying. MAN, that was exciting (not). Darcy, Pat and I eventually got to some card-playing and onward to some napping and music listening (for me, at least). The 7+ hour flight didn't actually seem that bad as we were told to buckle up to begin our decent into Dublin. As we decended below the cloud-cover, the morning sun began to break up the fog and green pastures lined with small rock walls became visible - my first sighting of Ireland (wish I had a picture... sorry Mom).

We landed, exited the plane, got through customs (the guy REALLY didn't like that I was in HIS country until the end of May... maybe it's because I had to keep saying "WHAT?" into the speaker because his accent was so thick and I wasn't accustomed to it yet)... retreived luggage (minus Pat's guitar), boarded a bus for 6 euro, and were soon checking in to the Four Courts Hostel on Merchant's Quay (pronounced "key") in Dublin, Ireland... unreal.

By this time, we had built up quite the urge for a decent meal... so we figured: why not have an appetizer.. the Irish way... i.e. Guiness!! We found what was advertized to be "The Oldest Pub in all of Ireland" not two blocks away, settled into the back room by the fire and some locals, ordered a round of Guiness for the 7 of us, and clanked glasses... if nothing else, a reassurance that we had finally arrived on Irish soil.

We then returned to Four Courts to rest (only to whind up taking a four-hour long group nap). We woke up, showered up (with hot water... unbelievable right!?), and got ready for our night on the town - New Years Eve in Dublin. After some sandwiches and cheap beer from the local "petro station," and a couple quick games of pool with two guys from Vancouver, Canada who had been backpacking Europe for months they said, we started walking east towards Temple Bar and the epicenter of Dublin nightlife.

We found a quaint pub on the corner of Parliament Street (if anybody cares enough to google it or something... forgive me if I throw in random street names or directions but it's sometimes how I remember stuff) and nested in with a Guiness to listen to a live musician who got the place rockin'. This guy played everything... I mean everything: he sound-checked with Green Day, got me singing with "Take Me Home, Country Road" (gheesh, i never thought all those John Denver vinyls would actually come in handy mother!), and concluded with numerous traditional Irish drinking songs which got the whole pub arm-in-arm singing along at the top of their (probably) alcohol-filled lungs. I couldn't possibly write enough about how perfect and surreal the whole atmostphere felt that night. I looked out-of-place the way it was... but to be looking around the pub wide-eyed at the guitar player, the locals, the lighting, the guiness advertisements everywhere on the walls, I must've looked like a fat kid in a candy store. I still can't believe that was real.

My head eventually found my pillow back at Four Courts, even though it took what seemed like decades to fall asleep for some reason. But, apparently I did, and sure enough, my alarm blared at 9:00am, forcing me to leave my nice warm sleeping bag (btw: good choice to purchase one before I left home... it's COLD here).

We got some free hostel breakfast consisting of toast, milk, and cereal before packing up our things. Initially, the plan was to catch the 12:00pm bus (also known as just "12:00" European time... you'll get more of it) to Cork, but an ice storm had hit overnight, leaving ALL the sidewalks, roads, and the airport runway completely coated in 1/8 inch of solid ice. Therefore, all the buses were cancelled to Cork until further notice and the airport was cancelling all fights. The hostel host was polite enough to help us (people are really nice around here) by calling the bus station to see what the deal was and was told that the bus company was going to "re-evaluate" the road conditions at 13:00 (1:00pm) and then we would have to call back. So, we busted out cards and played some 500 (Yes, 500, Ellory) before 13:00, and called the station to hear that buses were back up and running with a bus to Cork departing at 14:00.

We had 30 min to get to a bus station that was a 15+ minute walk from the hostel... with full packs and luggage... AND extrememly icy sidewalks. Needless to say... for as bright as our "tourist beacon" shown before, the wattage was now cranked up rediculously high: 9 people waddling along busy Dublin streets with backpacks, some carrying luggage, suitcases, you name it, and rushing to catch a bus... I'm sure it a visual massacre of tourism at its finest.

We reached the bus station, I bought a ticket for 11 euro, and hoped on the coach bus with 3 minutes to spare. As the bus began to depart Dublin and the surrounding metropolitan area, I began to get my first glimpse at Ireland outside the big city... and it was beautiful. I don't know why, but for some reason I wasn't expecting much topographic variation, but was delighted and awed to see snow-capped "hills(?)" with rolling green pastures at their base in the distance and the whole countryside was shrowed in mystery by mist. I wanted to stay awake so badly, but I was exhausted and my logic told me I would have plenty of opportunities in the future to see rural Ireland and to give it all the alertness it deserves.

4.5 hours passed relatively quickly as an abundance of street lights in the distance told us we were nearing Cork. It was dark so I couldn't see much of anything, but at least I was able to make out larger buildings and get a feel for how the city around us might look... I suppose I'll get a better look in the morning. We hoped off and completed the 10 minute walk to Leeside Aparments, our new home. I called Josephine, the Leeside landlord, who kindly welcomed us, showed us our rooms, gave us keys and bedding, and made us feel quite at-home... which was pleasent. The rest of the evening I've spent jumping from room to room, greeting and hugging other CSBSJU students who have arrived here already, talking about our previous travels, and building excitement for the days to come. It's so nice to be here...

As I've said... none of this seems like reality and I'm a mental "flubber:" bouncing from memory to memory, thought to thought, trying to get my brain mentally organized. I've been anxious about making sure all my travel arrangements are in order for so long that the last few days have just felt sort of robotic - catch flight then, board bus then, sleep now, eat whenever you get the chance, shit! we have 2 minutes to catch the tram! (you get the picture). I've just recently begun to feel the emotional sonar waves of last spring, returning to me and forcing me to remember what it was like to be away from Ellory for an extended period of time. Of course, it's not at all enjoyable to experience and I HATE thinking about but I'd like to believe I'm stronger for it...

So... to end this novel (sorry if you're still reading!)... I'm in Cork, I'm here, I'm safe, I'm with good friends, and (so far) I'm in a great country. The next few days will be interesting as I begin to settle in for my new, albeit temporary, life here in Cork. Again, sorry for writing so much...

I love you all and I'll try to continue to write (although probably in shorter amounts!) in the near future... peace and Happy New Year!