Day 1

Hello from Dublin,

I have arrived to Dublin, Ireland safe and sound.

After leaving my family in the Pittsburgh Airport with a few tears in tow, I went through security to find out one of their workers shared my name. I also got a stern look and a, “Laptops must go in a bin by themselves,” after I sent mine through still in the bag. Sorry Pittsburgh Airport Security I haven’t flown for eleven years which was pre 9/11. Anyway my flight to Boston was quick and painless, until I arrived in Boston that is. I had no idea how to find terminal E and I had arrived in terminal B. The nice man who sat next to me on the plane directed me to an info desk and told me the best restaurants are in terminal A, too bad I didn’t get to try any of them out. After not understanding the info desk girl, I took a couple escalators around the terminal before asking a security guard how to get where I needed to go. Turns out I had to take a bus, who knew? I got into the longest line ever for a boarding pass with 20 minutes to go until the security gates closed for my flight. Luckily a nice Irish lady asked me if I was direct to Dublin and got me to the front of the line, when I got to security I went to the front of the line as well, but I must not look like my passport picture as the security woman looked between me and my passport three times before letting me through. I then grabbed a quick dinner and boarded the Aer Lingus flight 136 to Dublin.

My seat on the flight was a middle isle seat and there were two empty seats between me and another girl who is actually a DBS study abroad student too. The movie selections were interesting, The Simpsons, Night at the Museum 2, and Ugly Betty. I didn’t take out my headphones until Ugly Betty because to me it was a comfort, before that I had attempted to read, sleep, listen to music, and failed at all three. I just have to note on some people on the plane, first there was a couple, he was Irish and she American, they had two little twin girls who were so excited to get on the plane that they ran ahead of everyone, they were the most adorable kids and the one’s name was Lucy. Another couple that sat two rows ahead of me had a little boy who when we landed kept saying “I-eh-lan, I-eh-lan!”, he was also counting in English and Spanish, from what I could gather they are from Barcelona.

Passing Immigration was not nearly as scary as it was made out to be. (I got to see “Mind Your Head” painted on the underside of a staircase which is so much more sophisticated than “Watch Your Head”.) It took a long while, but after reading my letter of introduction and taking my picture I was stamped to stay in the country through December 20, 2009 without the scary green card saying that I owe the Garda € 150 by October 2, 2009. We arrived ahead of schedule, approximately 4:30am Dublin time. I sat for some downtime by myself for a couple of hours after talking to my parents. At about 6:30am Elizabeth McGloin from DBS met up with the seven of us who were there. After a trip to the loo, seeing the disturbing eyebrow kid commercial for Cadbury chocolate, a purchase of bottled water and a Mars bar (Yes they sell chocolate in Ireland even if they don’t in Germany and some other European countries. Kit Kats actually seem to be a big thing over here.), and about three hours later, we boarded the bus. The mirrors on the buses actually looked like dog ears, I’ll just leave it at that. Also their signs don’t say, “Pedestrian Crossing”, they say, “Pedestrian Diversion”. We got to see a bit of the city before pulling up to the apartments where everyone except for seven of us got off. The apartments aren’t clearly marked for security reasons, the school doesn’t want anyone knowing that students are living there, kind of scary.

The rest of us headed to DBS where we waited for taxis to take us to our homestays. As I walked outside I got to experience my first Dublin rain along with my first taxi ride. Mary Jennings, my homestay, welcomed me openly and said she had turned up the heat because she had a Yank coming. At first I didn’t know how to react but then remembered reading that the Irish like to joke around or poke fun upon first meeting you, it’s a sign that they like you and want to get to know you. She right off the bat offered me scones and my choice of coffee or tea. I of course took her up on the tea. She then gave me a tour of her house, which to my delight has tons of books. She spent a good fifteen minutes pulling books off of the shelves that were her recommended favorites, I loved every minute of it. There are shelves filled in her downstairs and my room has five shelves filled with two empty for my own use. She has offered to take me to the different bookstores in the city along with getting me a membership at the local library, which is absolutely enormous from the outside. She discussed some current political issues that Ireland is facing right now and we both discussed our jobs and families.

After a tour of the house I unpacked, showered, and napped for about 2 ½ hours. I definitely needed the nap, I was feeling extremely homesick but I think part of it was attributed to being up for 24 hours straight. When I got up I felt much better and she fed me again, tea and cheese with soda bread. We then caught a Double Decker, #83, into the city, it is one of the routes I can take to get to my school and I’ll be taking it tomorrow. We got off at my school and strolled down Grafton Street, which is a pedestrian only street. She took me into three different cell phone shops; hopefully I can choose a plan and purchase a phone tomorrow. One of the phones was advertised with a slogan, “Impatience is a virtue”, obviously a phone for people who need fast connections, I just thought it was an odd fun thing to share. I caught a glimpse of St. Stephens Green along with one of Trinity College before going to buy a five day bus pass. We stopped a local shopping centre on the way back to her house. She made scrambled eggs and toast for dinner, again we had tea and she was pleasantly surprised that for an American I prefer tea to coffee. We discussed her family further, she has American cousins and she has a niece who married a man in the American Army and they currently live in Illinois. She herself has been to the States, to NYC at least.

Well I better get some much needed sleep here so I can make my way to Grafton Street tomorrow for a guided bus tour of the city. Hopefully I can set up a cell phone plan, which they aren’t trac phones here they are Top Ups. Anyway if you made it this far, thanks for reading and let me know what’s going on with you! I would make a promise that the next one will be shorter, but I don’t know if I can guarantee that.

Lots of Love,
Joslyn