Day 3: September 13, 2010

“Good luck happens when an opportunity presents itself. Meet it with preparedness.”

Today started at around 10:30, which was way better than our 1 pm wake up the previous morning. Got right in the shower (still suffering a little bit from the jetlag) and that woke me up and got me prepared to see my new college! We left at around 12 and stopped to get sandwiches to jumpstart our energy. It was a really easy drive, taking only an hour from Fermoyle to Maynooth. Unfortunately it was a crummy day, definitely no sun shining but that didn’t stop us from enjoying ourselves. We walked around the south campus, which is the older part of campus, which use to be a ministry. The old buildings were really, really beautiful. After we took a quick look around, we met Roberta (who is in charge of us Saint Mary’s girl, she is a SMC alum) and she gave us the lowdown on what we should expect for the next couple of days. We saw the student center – which has a bar in it, and Meghan and I both really enjoyed that idea! Roberta directed us toward the River Apartments, and luckily we got to sign in and get our room keys to check out our new rooms for the year. First we went to my apartment. I am living in Foyle 6C. I walk in and am greeted by a large (like 6’6) Chinese boy… straight from China, who calls himself “Louis”… like the bag. He was very shy and seemed to be having a little difficulty registering that I was his roommate. It was humorous and of course, if it was to happen to anyone it would be me – considering the experience I have with the Asians from boarding school. After checking out the apartment, which was nice for a college apart… we went right across the way to Meghan’s. She was on the first floor (I was on the 3^rd) and her apartment was the first apartment in the building… very convenient. We sat in there for a few minutes and then one of her roommates, Keira (spelling?) came in and was really friendly! We felt that it was time to leave, so we headed back to Longford to do some dorm shopping… I came extremely unprepared for that portion of the trip, but I got most of the things that I need and it wasn’t too expensive! There’s a lot to get use to but I’m staying completely optimistic because I want to be happy and enjoy my time here.. I don’t want to be thinking about the bad things or worry about something that is out of my control. I can’t do that anymore – if someone acts a certain way, or does something – it is out of my control. I deserve to be happy, and I need to surround myself with happiness, even if I’m the one giving it to myself! Happiness is key. Until tomorrow, when I will officially live at Maynooth! X

Day 2: September 12, 2010

“You get world peace through inner peace. If you’ve got a world of people who have inner peace, then you have a peaceful world.”

This morning was another spastic morning. I woke up at 5:30 to get water and my mom was sitting in the main room eating an apple. I’m not even going to explain to you what happened because it’s so stupid but it was a strange time to have a fight with my mom. I got back into bed and slept for what I thought would be another couple hours. The sun came up and I thought it must be around 9 or 10 since Chris had planned on waking us up at 11, turns out that we all slept until 1 and that was the time that we were suppose to leave for our cousins house to have dinner. We moved quick and headed out of the door by 1:20, only being 15 minutes. We had a great dinner at the Martin’s (as we usually do, Anne is use to cooking for my 9 cousins). After dinner, I took Meghan on the usual Shannon walk, and we had the most disgusting outfits on… Skinny jeans and sneakers. Every time I looked down I felt like a grandma… it was way unattractive and I’m sure that neither of us will do that again – especially if we are planning on meeting our future husbands. After our walk, my mom came back and then Chris left for his. We made a choice to go see Bridie and Eddy, and Chris came back just in time before we all got a little impatient. So off to the Leavy’s we went and luckily we got to see my cousin Deirdre (one of the original 5 girls that use to play when we were small) before she went back to Galway for the week of study! We had tea (what do you expect… we are in Ireland) and a nice sandwich, followed by our second slice of apple tart. We stayed and chatted for a while, and got to catch up with my cousin Eamonn who had just come back from a triathlon on Ackle Island. We all got hit with the tired stick again (surprise, surprise our body clocks are all sorts of messed up) so we headed back home. It’s a rainy night in Fermoyle but that’s okay because we need our rest for tomorrow – we are headed to Maynooth to scope out what we will call home for the next few months! I can’t wait and again, it is really nice to have fun company in our presence. All is looking up from here – just like the song “ain’t no stoppin’ me now”. Until tomorrow with more stories from across the pond. X

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!

I know I've been so behind on my blog but there will be more to come. The first few days I have saved on my computer, which is dead... and I don't have an adapter to charge it. So far, the past 3 days as a NUI Maynooth student have been nothing but dramatic and memorable. I'll write more later, because I am NOT going out tonight - and you can all laugh/have pity on me and what my adventure has been like so far. Until then!

The Final Countdown

I am starting to anticipate my adventures! My best friends are all starting to leave which means that my turn is slowly approaching. I cannot wait, yet I am not fully ready to leave my family, especially my beautiful nieces and nephews. It is reassuring for me to know that my mom will be in Ireland until the 10th of October that way while I'm still trying to get use to things at Maynooth, I'll have the comfort and closeness nearby. On the bright side, I will still have my space while she finishes the final touches to our cottages in Longford. Thank you for following me, I hope that you enjoy reading the blog as much as I will enjoy sharing. Here's to the start of a scary, exciting, educational and mostly UNKNOWN adventure :)