First Day in Ireland

Now that I've gotten some food in my belly and a refreshing afternoon nap, I have some time to elaborate on my journey.

Our plans to leave the house at 1pm went off without a hitch, which was pleasant and unexpected. Dad drove Bill's Durango, with mom in the passenger's seat and Bill and me in the back. There was a strange traffic jam two miles from the Pittsburgh airport which set us back perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes. We expected to see some sort of car accident because snow was starting to stick to the roads, but much to our bewilderment, we saw nothing.

After getting my luggage and papers checked, I said goodbye to Mom, Dad and Bill at the security gates. I had a bit of a panic attack as I watched them walk out of sight, and the panic didn't fade until I was through security, after the tram ride, sitting at my gate and waiting to fly out to Newark.

That flight went just fine. I arrived in Newark very hungry, so I ate a couple pieces of pizza from Sbarro's and went to the next gate. Once there, I checked in quickly, and minutes later boarded the plane. Amazingly, I had the entire row of three to myself! Before we took off, however, a man came across the aisle and asked for the window seat since it was crowded on his side of the plane. We chatted on and off through the flight, and he offered to help if I needed anything during my stay. Believe his name is Sean. He's from Londonderry, about 75 miles (I think) from Belfast.

Once the plane landed in Belfast, it took me a while to go through the passport checkpoint. The lady stamped my passport quickly; waiting in line simply took a long time. When I at last got through and approached the baggage claim, Sean was waiting, with two familiar-looking bags on a cart. Unbelievable.

We arrived early, apparently, and Ian was not there yet. Sean let me use his cell phone to give Ian a call before he had to leave. Twenty minutes later Ian found me and drove us to his place, where I met his son Andrew, who made a special trip to the store to buy me some milk. I had some cereal and croissants with jam.

After breakfast I took a quick shower, then watched half of The Count of Monte Cristo with Andrew. I skipped lunch to take a nap and slept for a solid three hours (I was not able to get much sleep on the redeye), and woke up quite refreshed. Andrew and I finished the Count, then Ian drove us downtown to have a look at Queen's, where we met Susanne for coffee at the Students' Union. She cooked us a delicious dinner of eggs, bacon, sausage, and some soda bread which I particularly enjoyed. After that, we watched the movie 39 Steps and I hopped online to check up on things.

That's about it for now. I'm aching to talk to some friends back home who will likely not get online until much later, but I'll probably fall asleep soon. Tomorrow I will be moving into my room in Mount Charles and checking on the dining situation. Looks like Mount Charles might be self-catering, which means I might have to buy food and cook for myself. :/ Not so happy about that... Hopefully something will work out.

I'm excited to get settled in tomorrow and do some more exploring! The lush green countryside here is very relaxing, and the city has some wonderful architecture; can't wait to get my camera out!

Until next time,
~Catherine