Weary, and Slightly Hysterical, Travelers

Dad dropped Mom, Carla, and I off the Des Moines International airport at roughly 5 PM CST Tuesday June 29th and we arrived at the Brookfield Hotel in Cork City at 5:30 PM local time (11:30 AM CST) on Wednesday June 30th. That’s just over 19 hours of travelling. I had to count that out on my fingers, that’s how exhausted I am. The flights were pretty standard, the longest being the one from Chicago to London which was about 6 hours long. It was easy as pie compared to the 18 hour marathon my family pulled in a car driving to Maryland earlier this summer though. Also, I got to watch the new Clash of the Titans and play Sudoku on the little screen on the back of the seat in front of me. You should probably be jealous Rachel. :D

The real entertaining part of the traveling didn’t come until it was time to load up our rental car and drive to the hotel. After we spend 10 min figuring out how to load all of our luggage and the three of us into the tiny car we proceed to spend 15 trying to figure out why the gas pedal isn’t working (emergency brake...it was kind of like that part in Star Trek when Zulu can’t get the Enterprise to go into warp speed...geek out finished) and then performing a several point turn in order to get the car out of the itty-bitty parking space. Once we finally had gotten on the road we managed to take about an hour and a half to get to the hotel, a drive that should have only taken about 20...tops.

Here’s the scene in the car: Mom is becoming reacquainted with driving a stick shift, except now she has to shift with her left hand (as she said “Thank god all the pedals were in the same place!”) and navigating narrow roads and roundabouts while staying on the left side of the street. Carla is in shotgun alternating between having her head buried in the map and screaming at my mom to stay in the right lane and not drive off the road. I am sharing the backseat with the luggage sleeping, as my attempts at helping to navigate were really only hindering progress. All of us at one point or another were terrified because a huge bus is hurtling towards us IN THE WRONG LANE. Did I mention that none of the streets are clearly marked? They are definitely not in grid formation!

We did finally make it to our hotel in one piece and spent a little bit of time resting, recuperating, and unpacking. We went down and got a map and some directions from the very nice lady working the front desk of a hotel to City Center, the area where many of the pubs and restaurants are located. She assures us that it’s just a 15 min walk. After walking for about 30 min in the rain we finally decide on a restaurant called Soho which, and I list only some of its many charms, can boast of a bright blue neon bar, some excellent deserts, and toilet paper that comes out in squares like Kleenex.

But now it is absolutely time for me to get some sleep. Tomorrow we plan on going to the Old English Market and discovering all the other delights that Cork City has to offer us. Night!

Amelia

PS. I ordered my first drink in a bar tonight!!! It was called the Hurricane Soho. Also there are tons of snails in Cork. Just FYI.

Two Days and Counting!

Hello all!

Just thought I’d do another post before I head off on my grand adventure. As you can see the packing is going well (no thanks to my cat Scooter!). I was a little bit afraid that my suitcase was going to weigh more than the allotted 50 pounds, but I somehow managed to keep it down to 40! It’s a good thing my roommates helped me narrow down my clothing selection. Haha

This last week at home has been both incredibly long and not long enough. Not nearly enough time to see everyone and do everything I would normally do in a summer spent at home but still way too long to wait until I leave! We had a nice going away/apartment party on Friday night to send me off, though. It gave me the chance to say bye to everyone in Cedar Falls. I’m spending this weekend in Des Moines with family and friends before I leave on Tuesday night! I was excited to get to go to the Des Moines Art Festival with Jeff and Kyle today. That’s one thing I won’t be missing while I’m gone!

Not much else to report. To all of those whom I won’t see in the next two days: I’ll miss you! Try not to have too much fun without me. :D

Amelia

Preparation! Engage.

So!  I'm officially counting down until I leave for Cork! T-minus 25 days (What does that phrase even mean?  It's probably a math equation.  Great.)

Anyway, I wanted to start this blog for a couple of reasons.  The first, and most obvious, would be to document all the really cool stuff that I'm sure is going to happen to me.  I mean, how could it not?  I'm going to be spending four weeks in IRELAND, GUYS, IRELAND.  Ahem.  Also, I wanted to have a way to keep in contact with people.  I'm not going to have a cell phone and there's not going to be a lot of time for lengthy conversations with everyone that I'm going to be missing.  This is my way to include all of you who are reading this in what, I'm sure, will be at least one chapter of my inevitable memoir and a good fifteen minute chunk of the movie they will eventually make of me (Natalie Portman could do me justice don't you think?). 

Alright, here's THE PLAN as far as I know:

I'm getting on a plane with my mom, Lori, and longtime family friend, Carla in the evening on June 29th. Following a very long flight (due to the 6 hour time difference- ahead), we will arrive at the airport in Cork City, County Cork, Ireland in the late afternoon June 30th and take a taxi to the hotel. The next few days are kind of a grey area right now. I can’t move into my room until Sunday the fourth and classes don’t start till the fifth, leaving us with almost 6 whole days to do what I call “the tourist thing”.

Once classes start I’m busy from about 9 AM to 2 PM every day, but the evenings are mine to do with what I will. I’m taking two classes: one on Irish history, for which I’m reading The Oxford History of Ireland (go figure, a British book about Irish history), and one on literature, for which I’m reading some Keats and Joyce (both of which are on sparksnotes, score!). I’m required to write four essays, not including the one for my scholarship, and two exams. I also get to go on three fieldtrips which should be fun. If you’re interested in seeing my everyday schedule, I believe you’ll be able to see it from my Google calendar. (This is only possible if you have an iGoogle account and a Google calendar. If you do, you can ‘add a friend’s calendar’ on the right of the page. Simply type in my name and I think you’ll find it.)

Classes are done on the 30th of July, but my flight doesn’t leave Cork until early morning on the 1st of August. I’ll be arriving home at about 4 PM that day (the time change is much nicer, and far more disorienting, on the flight home). What I’m going to do for those last 2 days is a mystery to me as of yet. Maybe I’ll be able to fit in one last little adventure before I go.

I’m pretty sure I have everything I’m going to really need in order to be prepared for the trip. My passport is up-to-date, I’ve received my acceptance letter from the program, as well as the books I’ll need, I have plane tickets and a place to stay once I get to where I’m going, and, one could consider, most importantly, I am insured by my International Student Identity Card (ISIC) against such misfortunes as luggage delay, accidental dismemberment (by air or any other means), and repatriation of remains. Just in case I wasn’t nervous enough. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to be careful. The only thing left to do is to inform my bank that I will be out of the country and get some Euros (the exchange rate is at about 1 Euro to $1.25, in case you were curious).

As a final note, I’d like to express my delight in the presence of an AWESOME music festival that will be going on in Ireland while I’m there. It’s called Oxegen and it’s a gathering of over 100 popular bands such as John Mayer, Earth Wind and Fire, Black Eyed Peas, Vampire Weekend, 30 Seconds to Mars, and 3!Oh3 (!!!) over four days. I would LOVE to attend one of the days, but there are several barriers that I must overcome. Barrier the first, tickets are expensive at about 100 Euro, or $120, (did I mention that this is the weekend right after my 21st birthday...HINT HINT). Barrier the second, the festival takes place about 2 hours from where I will be staying and I have no transportation of my own. I’m not super familiar with the public transportation system over there yet, so this may, or may not, end up being a problem. Barrier the third, inarguably the largest and most opaque of all the barriers, is that by the time I would go to this my mom and Carla would be out of the country, leaving me alone and without anyone to attend said event with. This would be a problem even if I was at home in Iowa because it is just NOT a good idea for a 21 year old girl to go to a Woodstock-esque gathering by herself, especially in a foreign country. I suppose I can just hope that I make some really good friends the first week of classes and find a buddy to go with me. If you’re interested in seeing more about this wonderful event you should visit: http://2010.oxegen.ie/ .

That is all I have to say for the moment. If you’re reading this and would like a small token from my trip, please leave a comment. I’ll do what I can. Otherwise, stay tuned.

Amelia