The Adventure Begins!

The Adventure Begins!

After a year of planning and pontificating, we have finally arrived in Dublin! We’ve been here just over 24 hours and already have much to report.

The adventure began in Chicago, when Mer’s Philadelphia flight was canceled, which left us arriving in Shannon Airport on different planes with the slightly-nervous last words of, “I guess I’ll find you (sans cell phone) in Ireland!” The luck of Irish was on our side and the rendezvous in baggage claim was both simple and joyous. At last we were together in Ireland!

But the day had only just begun. We hopped on a three-hour bus ride across the Irish countryside from Shannon in the West to Dublin in the East. It took a few kilos to get over the fear of traffic coming from the right lane – these silly UK drivers. The scenery between there are here was undoubtedly breathtaking, with hedge-lined roads that wound through green fields peppered with castles and cows, but we wouldn’t know, because we were sound asleep. It seemed like neither of us got much sleep on the plane.

We arrived in this great city in the early afternoon and hailed a cab to our hostel. Appropriately, it rained the entire first day here, a pattern we have already decided to celebrate, as complaining about it all summer would take up too much time. We got straight to work and traversed the city multiple times to get our bearings, pick up some last-minute items and find cell phones with free calls between the two of us. If you have the desire to call us, Al’s number is 0852748542 and Mer’s is 0852758562.

The apartment search commenced in the evening, after a dinner whose questionable flavor was only forgiven by its much-welcomed low price. The first apartment took us on a 10-minute walk west of the Hostel to a small flat we would share with Gionothan, a friendly Italian in his 20s. The location is great – in an exciting, accessible and safe part of town, within 15 minutes of everything we need. We then walked 30 minutes to the other side of town to check out our second option with Irish roommate Frank. The place wouldn’t be so bad were it not for the corridor of intense graffiti leading up to it. Frank claimed it was a legal “art sight” that people used to pay homage to U2’s old studio, but the frequent appearance of the word “kill” had us wondering if that was true.

By now, our feet were sore and our bodies damp from the persistent downpour, so we elected to stop for our first Irish beer. No, it wasn’t a Guinness. It was a Smithwick’s for Al and a Heineken for Mer and there was soccer playing and the bar had an “O’ ” in its title and, of course, we took an obnoxious American picture for all of you to enjoy.

To celebrate our arrival and our jam-packed day, we hit up Temple Bar in the evening. Our hostel mate, Elek Rico from L.A., was celebrating his 22^nd birthday, so we took him around to a few bars. The loud folk musicians played Irish music as well as spunky renditions of “Country Roads,” “What do you do with a drunken Sailor?” and some song with a complicated clapping scheme that Al mastered by the second chorus.

After our early afternoon tour of Dublin Castle, jet lag set in fairly hard, so we napped through the rain and now are getting ready to check out the final apartment. We’ll make a decision tonight and hopefully be true Dublin residents by tomorrow! After that, the job search begins in full, but we’re taking this adventure one day at a time. Wish us luck!

Cheers, love (as they say in Dublin) and here is a poem Al found to send us on our way:

From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lives.

Going where I list, my own master total and absolute.

Listening to others, considering well what they say,

Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,

Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.

-Walt Whitman, “Song of the Open Road”, from Vagabonding J