Hello from Cork!

So, my time has ended in Montana, my crazy week home has ended (DAT went well, brother's wedding was fabulous) and I am finally at my new home for the next 3 1/2 months!

Traveling here went well overall. I made it, and on time anyway, which were the two main goals! Tuesday morning I left Des Moines about 10:45am. Headed to Chicago, where I had about a 4 hour layover. From Chicago I went to London. The flight was long, and I didn't get any sleep really (quite a turbulent flight), but I did get to watch 2 movies (Made of Honor and the Sex and the City Movie). In London I had another 3 hours to wait. By then it was about 7am London time, and so I got some breakfast at the Giraffe restaraunt (really good organic smoothies!). My flight to Dublin was delayed by just a bit. Finally got to Dublin around 10:45am their time. Got through Customs fairly quickly and headed to the exit.

Took me about 20 minutes to find what I thought was going to be some sort of booth for Aircoach buses, but what turned out to be a man with a cashbox selling tickets. Bought a ticket to Cork City from him, and the next thing I knew I was being shoved onto a bus that would shuttle me to where the actual bus heading to Cork would pick up from. If I had had a bit more time to think, I would have waited for a later shuttle bus, as I knew the bus to Cork wasn't leaving until 1:00pm. But, as I watched the scenery pass by me, I realized it was a bit late for changing my mind on that matter. I knew I was to be dropped off at Trinity College in Dublin, at which point my pick up location was supposedly a few blocks away. What I wasn't aware of was that Trinity College is located in the middle of downtown Dublin. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but as it would happen, I ended up weaving my way amongst the very busy streets of Dublin pulling two very large suitcases and carrying a third as a backpack. And of course, I got completely lost. I eventually found out that the stop I was looking for was located in front of an O'Brien's Coffee Shop. What I found out after trekking down the street to one such shop, is that this particular shop is a chain. So, an hour or so after I had been initially dropped off by the shuttle bus, I found myself in front of the correct O'Brien's, waiting another hour in the rain for the bus.

The bus to Cork arrive right on time, and I was very thankful for the soft seat and roof over my head. I had planned to stay awake on the bus ride to view the scenery, but I kept drifting in and out of sleep. This probably turned out to be a good thing actually, since Irish roads do not seem to be made very wide, and Irish drivers do not seem to be made to drive very slowly. After was seemed like forever (but was actually only 4 1/2 hours), we arrived in Cork. I was expecting some sort of actual building when I heard the words "bus station," but this didn't seem to be the case. So instead I wandered over to a nearby hotel in search of some payphones. I must have looked rather frazzled, as an elderly woman sitting in the lobby asked me twice if I were okay! I found the phones though, and got through to my dad to let him know I had arrived, and the apartment landlord to let her know the same so she could meet me at the apartments. The woman at the frontdesk of the hotel was nice enough to call me a cab, and I finally made it to my final destination.

After getting checked into my apartment, I calculated that it had been about 29 hours since I had really slept, and about 11 hours since I had last eaten. I dug through my purse and ate a few melted and squished granola bar, blew up my traveling pillow, and slept. And boy did I sleep. I didn't bother to set an alarm, thinking I'd wake up on my own by 9 or 10am. So I was a little surprised when I found it was 1:00pm when I finally stirred - a good 17 hours of sleep!! And since it was now a good 30 hours since I had eaten a real meal, I also found myself quite famished. After a quick shower, I left my apartment and found myself nearly jumping for joy when I saw the cafe across the street. Who knew Pear Mango yogurt could taste so delicious?

Now that I had some food in me once again, I decided to hit the city centre and do some shopping (a real pillow was at the top of my list, blow up travel ones just don't cut it for actual sleeping, said my stiff neck). I have already decided that I love my apartment's location. The main shops started not 2 blocks away! And shops there are! I probably covered a total of 10 blocks and never could see what appeared to be the end! There are no large department stores here of course, which makes things both more difficult and more fun. All of the shops are much smaller and more specialized (for instance, I found my pillow at a bedding shop). I also hit up an electronics store for an adaptor for my computer, the 2 euro store, where I bought some OJ and trashbags, another discount store for hangers and the all important umbrella, a Subway for a sandwhich (they are still 6" and 12" subs, not the cm equivalents for those who are curious!), and a small grocery store for some frosties and milk.

I like my apartment quite well so far. It's a two bedroom apartment, with mine being a single, and the other being made for two people. I haven't met either of my two roommates yet. One is apparently moving in over the next couple of days (she's in town with her parents), and the other is coming from France on Saturday. There's a small kitchen, a small living room, and one bathroom. The views from the living room and my room both overlook the River Lee, which runs through the entire town. Thought I haven't been exploring that way yet, the campus is supposedly about a 10-12 minute walk, also very nice.

As for now, I should probably get unpacking. Got to make my room seem more like MY room.