Better Late Than Never?

Hello Everyone!

I apologize for not starting this blog sooner. I had a plan to start this before I left but never really got around to it, but better late than never right? I arrived here in Galway on Tuesday morning at 8 AM, so I have been here for a week now. Luckily one of my best friends from home came with me, Hannah Knight. Anyways, I was all packed and ready to go at around 2 PM on Monday afternoon. I stopped by my Nana and Papa's house to say goodbye and then we were off to pick up Hannah and make our way to O'Hare airport. Saying goodbye to Bridget, my younger sister and my Nana and Papa were extremely hard, but I know the time here will fly by so I have to make the most of it. After we picked Hannah up, we were off (with a little detour back to my house because I forgot my umbrella). At O'Hare we checked our bags and entered the security line. Now I thought saying goodbye to my grandparents and sister was hard, but saying goodbye to my parents was even more difficult. I don't know if many of you know, but it doesn't take a lot to for me to cry, so saying goodbye to two of the most important people in my life obviously brought on the water works. However, I tried to remember that time will fly by, and I needed to take advantage of every minute. Having Hannah with me made things a lot easier, and she was fully prepared for my flood of tears. As we went back and forth in the security line, there was my mom waving at me as if I was 500 yards away (when in reality it was about 10 feet). I went through security, waved one final farewell to my parents and was officially on my way to Galway.

At the airport, Hannah and I waited at our terminal and met Moira Gorman-Fisk, a friend of Hannah's from University of Illinois. We talked for a little bit and then boarded the plane. The plane ride was fairly uneventful (thanks I'm sure to my mom and grandma's prayers). During the flight a flight attendant walked through the aisles selling some sort of magazine repeating “duty free” over and over again. This is for you, Colleen Novak: the episode of Friends when Chandler has a job interview and the boss asks him about his duties; this episode came to mind and I couldn’t stop laughing while everyone around me is trying to sleep. For those of you who don't know, "duty free" means no taxes.

As we flew past the clouds, I finally got my first glimpse of Ireland. To say it was beautiful would be an understatement. The coast of Dublin (where we were flying into) was remarkably breathtaking. Everything was so green. After we got off the plane, we headed to customs where we were directed into NON-EU (non- European countries, but mostly Americans) and EU (European countries) lines. Hannah and I laughed to ourselves because of course the first person we saw as we get off the plane was a fair skin man with bright red curly hair. I have never seen a leprechaun, but I imagine one wouldn't differ so much from this lad. Anyways, after the line for customs, we headed to the baggage claim. Thankfully, the airlines didn't lose any of our bags.

When we left the baggage claim we went off to find family of mine, Breege and Jim Moore. I was so happy to see them since it had been about 10 years since I saw them last. Breege grew up down the road from my grandma. Breege’s mother and my Nana’s mother are first cousins. I got a little nervous once I saw the size of Breege’s car. She has a little Honda four-door, and I didn’t know how we were going to fit our bags inside. Being the intelligent engineer student that she is, Hannah got all the bags to fit perfectly with room left only for ourselves. I was quite impressed because I never saw anyone pack a car so tightly than my dad for our family vacation to Spooner, WI.

As we drove across the country of Ireland from Dublin to Galway, I was amazed on how beautiful a place could be. As I said before, everything was so green. I couldn’t take my eyes off the scenery. Once we made it into the city of Galway, we came to the realization that we had no idea where our apartment complex was. So to quote Rick Steve’s Book of Ireland, “Want to really get to know the Irish? Ask for directions. It’s almost always a rich experience, and a fast way to connect with locals.” Oh Rick Steve, how rich of an experience this was. So here’s how it happened. Breege would stop the car, Jim would roll down his window and ask where Corrib Village (my home for the next four months) is. The response would always be with a smile and went a little something like this, “Go up to the light, take a right, go down two blocks, pass the roundabout, take a left at the next light and there you are.” (These obviously weren’t the exact directions, but you catch my drift). Then Jim would say thank you, roll up the window and say to us, “I have no idea what that lad was saying.” Now after the 5^th or 6^th time of this same routine, Hannah and I were dying laughing in the backseat. Nevertheless, we finally made it to Corrib Village. We checked in with the reception, put our bags in our rooms and headed to the Galway Shopping Centre. There, Breege set up my phone and took us for some lunch. Now as some of you may know, I am a pretty picky eater and was nervous about the food here in Ireland. However, at the food court they had chicken and chips (or as we like to call it french fries). This made me feel much more at ease because I knew I could at least survive on chicken and chips for four months. It may not be the healthiest diet, but I would survive. No worries though, I have had an array of delicious meals since then, but more to come on that in future posts. After lunch, Jim and Breege dropped us off at our apartment, and we were officially on our own. I must say though Breege and Jim are two of the nicest people I have ever met and am so lucky to have them here in Ireland because I know they are just a phone call (and 2 hours) away.

Immediately Hannah and I fell right to sleep because for us it was 9 AM and we had been up for 26 hours. After our naps we unpacked our things, emailed home, and watched a movie.

Now I hope that didn’t bore any of you (Mom, I know you are thinking to yourself, “How could that bore anyone? This has been more interesting than Janet Evanovich novel”, but that is just because you are my mother and you think everything I say and do is interesting). I promise in the next blog I will talk more about life here in Galway and the pub life. Well, that’s all for me right now. Hope all is well with all of you.

Love, Molly