Saturday, September 18, 2010

Day 1: September 11, 2010


“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little “extra”. Today, demand more of yourself than you or anyone else can expect.”

Today was an absolute nightmare. I’m sorry – I know I should be keeping positive but the feeling of no sleep and being completely jetlag was BRUTUAL. Once we arrived at Dublin, we waited in baggage claim and that was another completely spastic event. We got all our bags and met Nellie O’Duill to give her the 4 bags going to Maynooth – that was extremely helpful considering there were 4 people traveling with 6 bags and lots of carryon junk. We hiked it over to Hertz and waited for a good hour for our car that was supposedly just getting “washed”. After about 30 minutes, Meghan and I started doing our zumba moves to keep us warm in the cool Irish morning. The stubborn man finally decided to upgrade us to a large and in charge Nissan (similar to an American xterra, different name). Personally, I was a little hesitant because I don’t think big cars should be allowed on the very small roads, and it was a manual car. Of course, we had a little trouble getting the hang of it but once we had a little malfunction, we were off on our journey to Fermoyle. Meghan probably fell asleep 10 minutes into the journey, and the last thing I remember before falling asleep was seeing the sign to Maynooth. I woke up one more time, right when we were entering Longford (the county where my house is) and tried my hardest to keep my eyes open – I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t fight my eyelids and the fact that I was absolutely, extremely, 100% tired and in dire need of sleep. Once we got out and showed Meghan the Child’s, we of course went straight over to the Nolan’s as a much usual routine. Aiofe and Emmett are neighbors and kids that I have known since they were born. It is so terrifying to see children grown – I mean really grow. Aiofe is slowly approaching my height, and Emmett is becoming more of a teenager. The most shocking and scary was Niall Nolan who was born in 1997, the first year that I started coming to Ireland. I literally have known him from the very beginning of his life – and he is a good 4 inches taller than I am. His friend and neighbor Shane Kenny (I usually help his dad milk the cows when I’m in Ireland) is 6’2 and becoming a man! It is so scary but cool to be the one seeing the difference, because usually when I’m in Ireland I usually get the “you are so tall” or “you’re so grown up” so it was weird doing the “you’re so grown up” spiel. We came back home and I took a shower – which felt really good and half of what the doctor ordered, along with a nice good Irish meal. So we went Keenan’s and all order cheeseburgers and my first drink of BULMERS! EXCITING. We fell asleep again when we got in the car (I now understand why the car does that to kids) because it was probably 2 minutes into the ride and I was asleep. We came home and went to bed at 7… It was scary how tired I was and how easily I feel asleep! It’s great to have my best friend with me and to be starting our journey in Ireland together! WAHOO. Until tomorrow my friends!

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