So my flights went really well. The plane to Dublin wasn't even full so I was able to have the window and a smelly, yet very nice European man had the isle with a seat barrier. The extra leg room was nice! :C) I did end up taking CJ and Sophia in a pillow case so they're here with me now! Yay!
Haha.. anyways. Once I got off the flight I went through immigration and all that fun stuff. I had to wait approximately 30 seconds to get my luggage and found the aircoach thing with no problem. I got a tiny bit turned around walking to the hostel.. and my shoulder still hasn't recovered I think, but in the end I made it just fine and everything was nice.
Hostels are interesting. There are 4 of us in 2 bunk beds, so we all have our own bed and stuff, and we share a small bathroom. All that is fine, the problem comes with the lack of space for our luggage. We all packed for 5 months and there is not floor space for 4 people's shit for 5 months. We're making due though, we only have to stay here for a few days anyways..
So today we went to a group lunch and everyone seems pretty nice. There are only 5 people going to Maynooth and the rest are going to Belfast. But we're all doing our Arcadia orientation together. It's cute really. After lunch we walked around Dublin together. We went to Trinity College, tried to see the Book of Kells but the exhibit is closed until later in the new year, bitches. Then we went to the Archaeology Museum of Dublin and then to the Dublin Castle, which was closed because it's Sunday.
Tomorrow Arcadia paid for some type of sight seeing tour so we will probably get another chance to go to the castle. Yay! Right now I’m chilling in the downstairs lobby of the hostel and I think I’ll take a nap in a little bit. I’m trying to harass Jon to find Matt and make him get on aim. Most restaurants aren’t serving dinner tonight because it’s Sunday so I think we’re going to grab something quick on our own and then meet up later to go to a pub and hang out or something. Sounds like fun! :C)
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
My living room looks like it exploded with clothing. Therefore, the packing process has begun. I'm trying really hard not to overpack. (I know I overpacked for Greece. Sadly I think I packed more for Greece than I'm planning to for Ireland.. maybe not though.)
I'm packing my rainboots and in order to save space I was trying to stuff things inside them. My sheets are big an bulky so I attempted to shove each sheet in a boot. It didn't work very well.. as one could imagine..
Anyways.. one thing I was incredibly worried about I took care of this morning. In order to register with the Irish Police as an alien I need to show them a whole bunch of paperwork, my passport and a bank statement saying that I have at least 1500 euros (around $2000) in my account. I thought up until about yesterday that this could be your parents account and they could write a letter saying that they agreed to finance your trip, blah blah blah whatever. Well I found out yesterday that it needs to be in my name! Uh oh!!
Neither of my parents had a free $2000 lying around to put into my account and the program director said that I should really bring the statement with me. So this morning I put all the money I had for the first few months of my trip, plus the measly little amount that was already in my savings account, plus all but $40 worth of my checking account in Gettysburg, plus $500 Linda temporarily lent me. Whooo! I'll go back tomorrow morning and get the rest of the money I put in and take it out because you can't access saving accounts overseas!
A sort of sucky thing happened after my victory at the bank. I got a call from Amanda from Arcadia in charge of the programs to Ireland. She said that she had just gotten a call from Ireland and the Arcadia people there who decided to cancel the group pick up at the airport because not enough people were coming in that day (tomorrow.) So she asked if I was comfortable getting from the airport to the hostel in Dublin and walked me through the 2 main ways. Taxi--> easy but like $50 or airbus--> not as easy and only about $10. I think that's a no brainer. So that will be pretty interesting. I have the directions written down so I think I'll be able to manage. She said it was the first stop off the airbus, which comes every 15 minutes to the airport, and from the first stop (O'Connell street.. so Irish), it is only about a 5 minute walk with luggage. Can I do it? Yes I can!
Anyways.. I guess this is probably enough procrastinating and I should start making decisions on what I should and should not bring. And I think the dog just farted or something because he stink and the room stinks and he's awfully close to my jeans. Ick!
PS- I'm watching The Girl's Next Door while I destroy the living room and their trying to find the 55th anniversary playmate (a huge honor apparently). And the one girl was saying that when she got the offer to be one of the finalists the first person she called was her grandma and her grandmother was so proud of her and thought it was a great opportunity. Can I just say that if I told my grandmother that I wanted to be in playboy she probably would have dropped dead. Like seriously. I don't know if any of you have met my grandmother, but she like grew up in a tiny little town, with a one room school house, hand sewed her wedding dress, totally Little House on the Prairie. Seriously.. she would not think it was a great opportunity, to say the least.
I'm packing my rainboots and in order to save space I was trying to stuff things inside them. My sheets are big an bulky so I attempted to shove each sheet in a boot. It didn't work very well.. as one could imagine..
Anyways.. one thing I was incredibly worried about I took care of this morning. In order to register with the Irish Police as an alien I need to show them a whole bunch of paperwork, my passport and a bank statement saying that I have at least 1500 euros (around $2000) in my account. I thought up until about yesterday that this could be your parents account and they could write a letter saying that they agreed to finance your trip, blah blah blah whatever. Well I found out yesterday that it needs to be in my name! Uh oh!!
Neither of my parents had a free $2000 lying around to put into my account and the program director said that I should really bring the statement with me. So this morning I put all the money I had for the first few months of my trip, plus the measly little amount that was already in my savings account, plus all but $40 worth of my checking account in Gettysburg, plus $500 Linda temporarily lent me. Whooo! I'll go back tomorrow morning and get the rest of the money I put in and take it out because you can't access saving accounts overseas!
A sort of sucky thing happened after my victory at the bank. I got a call from Amanda from Arcadia in charge of the programs to Ireland. She said that she had just gotten a call from Ireland and the Arcadia people there who decided to cancel the group pick up at the airport because not enough people were coming in that day (tomorrow.) So she asked if I was comfortable getting from the airport to the hostel in Dublin and walked me through the 2 main ways. Taxi--> easy but like $50 or airbus--> not as easy and only about $10. I think that's a no brainer. So that will be pretty interesting. I have the directions written down so I think I'll be able to manage. She said it was the first stop off the airbus, which comes every 15 minutes to the airport, and from the first stop (O'Connell street.. so Irish), it is only about a 5 minute walk with luggage. Can I do it? Yes I can!
Anyways.. I guess this is probably enough procrastinating and I should start making decisions on what I should and should not bring. And I think the dog just farted or something because he stink and the room stinks and he's awfully close to my jeans. Ick!
PS- I'm watching The Girl's Next Door while I destroy the living room and their trying to find the 55th anniversary playmate (a huge honor apparently). And the one girl was saying that when she got the offer to be one of the finalists the first person she called was her grandma and her grandmother was so proud of her and thought it was a great opportunity. Can I just say that if I told my grandmother that I wanted to be in playboy she probably would have dropped dead. Like seriously. I don't know if any of you have met my grandmother, but she like grew up in a tiny little town, with a one room school house, hand sewed her wedding dress, totally Little House on the Prairie. Seriously.. she would not think it was a great opportunity, to say the least.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Boo!
I just wrote a really long post and accidentally deleted it trying to add a picture. Ugh. Whatever. The post was called the end of my procrastination, but it was a lie. I was procrastinating. Badly. Boo!
In short my trip to Gettysburg was amazing but I was sad that I didn't get to see a lot of people. Matt and I had a wonderful spur of the moment trip to Baltimore for our anniversary dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was delicious. Then we went to hang out at his cousin's house who lives in Baltimore. That was a lot of fun too.
I went into more detail in the post that I accidentally deleted but it involves med school, dissecting cadavers, and why I'll never eat fast food again. Ick!
Anyways I need to buy a couple things before I go. I can't for the life of me find my adapters I took to Greece so I guess I need new ones. There's actually a wicked cool one that has like 120 countries in one little device. (Which will be much harder to lose I hope.) And then I need like a toothbrush and a toothbrush holder I think. Maybe a loofah, a bottle of advil and a pack of socks. Other than that I just need to sort my paperwork, get the things I'll need to register with the Irish police and hopefully (if my insurance company lets me) get all my prescription medicine that I'll need while I'm over there.
Well, no that I've written a list of things I'll need I think I'll put on a load of laundry and write my list on a piece of paper and then read more or something...
In short my trip to Gettysburg was amazing but I was sad that I didn't get to see a lot of people. Matt and I had a wonderful spur of the moment trip to Baltimore for our anniversary dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was delicious. Then we went to hang out at his cousin's house who lives in Baltimore. That was a lot of fun too.
I went into more detail in the post that I accidentally deleted but it involves med school, dissecting cadavers, and why I'll never eat fast food again. Ick!
Anyways I need to buy a couple things before I go. I can't for the life of me find my adapters I took to Greece so I guess I need new ones. There's actually a wicked cool one that has like 120 countries in one little device. (Which will be much harder to lose I hope.) And then I need like a toothbrush and a toothbrush holder I think. Maybe a loofah, a bottle of advil and a pack of socks. Other than that I just need to sort my paperwork, get the things I'll need to register with the Irish police and hopefully (if my insurance company lets me) get all my prescription medicine that I'll need while I'm over there.
Well, no that I've written a list of things I'll need I think I'll put on a load of laundry and write my list on a piece of paper and then read more or something...
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
I have so much to do..
And I haven't even made any lists yet. I suppose that will be my main goal for tonight or tomorrow.. or whenever I get around to it. I have pretty much all the technical stuff done.. I just need to get the other stuff, like shampoo and what not. Lately when people would ask me if I had everything I need I would say that I needed rain boots (apparently it rains a lot in Ireland..), now when they ask I tell them that I have rain boots. I don't suppose that I can go with just rain boots though.
I'm still trying to figure out the Sophia issue. My options right now are..
1. Leave her in Gettysburg will Matt.
2. Have my mom mail her to me.
3. Stuff her in a pillowcase and take her on the plane with me.
3 seems like a good option but I'm thinking I'll have a lot of shit to carry when I get off the plane.. I don't know. I have time to think about it. But I really, really don't want to go to Ireland for 5 months without her..
Anyways I am beyond excited to go Gettysburg this weekend!! It'll be really good to see everyone one last time before I leave. Not to mention I get to see Matt for the last time and we're going to celebrate our 2 year anniversary a week early because I'll be in Ireland for the actual day. (Hopefully it will be better than our one year.)
Ugh.. more cleaning to get to. I don't think I'll accomplish my goal of re-reading all the Harry Potter books before I leave, but I will finish all my Nancy Drew games!! Woot!!
I'm still trying to figure out the Sophia issue. My options right now are..
1. Leave her in Gettysburg will Matt.
2. Have my mom mail her to me.
3. Stuff her in a pillowcase and take her on the plane with me.
3 seems like a good option but I'm thinking I'll have a lot of shit to carry when I get off the plane.. I don't know. I have time to think about it. But I really, really don't want to go to Ireland for 5 months without her..
Anyways I am beyond excited to go Gettysburg this weekend!! It'll be really good to see everyone one last time before I leave. Not to mention I get to see Matt for the last time and we're going to celebrate our 2 year anniversary a week early because I'll be in Ireland for the actual day. (Hopefully it will be better than our one year.)
Ugh.. more cleaning to get to. I don't think I'll accomplish my goal of re-reading all the Harry Potter books before I leave, but I will finish all my Nancy Drew games!! Woot!!
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