So to backpedal a bit on where I'm at with Europe 2015, I'm already in Europe as I type this. In the months leading up to today I've had meetings between my Irish and German travel groups respectively, updated my shot record with 5 new shots (sore arms for days), bought lots of travel junk, booked hotels and hostels in Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Amsterdam, bought plane tickets for Scotland and Norway, bought a euro rail pass, called credit/debit card company, changed my phone plan and more. BHSU is paying for our German trip so I saved around 3 grand there, so in total I've spent nearly 5 grand. I haven't budgeted for food of shopping, but I don't like to limit myself in those areas.
I haven't been excited. That's just how I am. If anything I've been a little nervous about flying because I've never flown abroad and I'm afraid of customs. When I tell people about how I'm mostly just nervous about flying in a foreign country, nearly everyone has given me advice on what it's like to fly. I have to politely remind them that 2 months ago I flew to New York and I've even flown by myself to Seattle before. In the past year I've been to the Rapid City airport 4 times. I know how to fly. But besides that small fear of customs and uncertainty, I've not been excited or anxious.
Let's consider that good enough as a pre-euro update because fuck it, moving on. On Sunday, May 17th, I procrastinated for half a day before I finally packed my suitcase. It took hours to pack because I hadn't done laundry in a week, but I only brought 3 jeans, 2 shorts, socks and panties for 9 days, several tank tops and three tee shirts, 2 sweaters, 2 pairs of pajamas and a swimsuit. Add a rain coat and three pairs of shoes and that's all I brought for clothing. I had a jacket and scarf too, but that was what I wore on the plane and I must say I was looking pretty European chic. After adding all the crap that comes with being a girl (hair products, body wash, lotion, blah blah blah) the suitcase filled up. For electronics all I am bringing is my phone and kindle. My suitcase weighted 30 pounds once I was done.
Since I was going to the airport with Maria the following morning, I spent the night at her apartment. My mom gave me a ride there and that was nice of her. She would have taken me to the airport if I asked but she gets emotional over those sort of goodbyes. I thought I would pull an all nighter at Maria's, that way I could sleep on the flight to Amsterdam. I slept on and off for about 3 hours before Maria got up at 6 and we got ready. I met her mom and sister, nice people, and we ran errands until 9:30 when we left for Rapid. I checked in with my passport and that was neat, then we said "goodbye" and "see you in Dublin" to our suitcases and that was sad because what if they lose my bag? That would be terrible.
After saying adios amigos to Maria's family, we went through security and boarded our plane to Minneapolis. The flight was about 2 hours. Once we were in the Minneapolis airport we had a 5 hour layover. That was rough. Maria got a Caribou coffee and I drew on their chalkboard.
Aww
We went to an airport bar and ordered drinks and fries through one of the iPods on every table. That was neat. I had a vodka grapefruit and also drank Maria's tequila sunrise because she didn't like it and I don't like to waste alcohol. It was pretty gross though. How do you fuck up a drink that only has 3 ingredients? Anyways, it was an expensive snack at $18.
Order up
On the 0 to 10 scale of fun, it was a solid 5.
Once I had a nice buzz going on we wandered around the airport. We got fro-yo in hopes the sugar would keep us awake. It barely worked. After 5 long hours, it was time to board the plane to Amsterdam! The plane was big, it had 4 seats in the middle and 2 seats on each side. We had windows seats and didn't have to sit with any strangers. The TV's had games on them so I took 2 sleeping pills and practiced my Korean.
Yo I got this, it's the third one
What the swear word
After that I watched Big Hero 6 (not your best Disney). Then I watched Fantastic Mr. Fox (Loved it Anderson). Then I stared out the window. Sleep never came. Halfway through Big Hero 6 they served dinner, a vegetarian pasta or beef stew. I got the pasta and it was honestly not disgusting.
What's the deal with airplane... I don't remember how this joke goes.
It eventually got dark outside and all I had to stare at was Saturn.
Or it's Neptune. I didn't take Astronomy.
Maybe 4 or 5 hours into the flight they served us breakfast. That honestly was gross so I didn't get a picture. It was this egg and cheese croissant sandwich and cheese and crackers with frozen orange juice.
Once the sun came up and we got closer to land, I got my first glimpse of non-American soil. Amsterdam is very nice. It's very green, had a lot of trees and a lot of water. I wish our layover in Minneapolis had been in Amsterdam instead.
European chic? More like American shit.
After we got off our flight, we had to pick up new boarding passes. The passes given to us in Rapid didn't cover Amsterdam. After a bit of confusion we got sent to our gate and had to go through another security check. Then we just sat around and waited for our flight. There was a snack machine that had a lot of candy I didn't recognize and the toilets were more round shaped than oval. Besides that, everything was the same as in America. The little differences I did notice made me really happy.
Our flight was delayed an hour and everyone was really annoyed by this but me. I was just thankful to be in a foreign country. Once we boarded, Maria and I both fell asleep on the way to Dublin. She sat by the window so I didn't get to look out at the land but there was a lady on the flight who had brought her knitting and it reminded me of my mom so I watched her. Besides watching the lady, we slept for over half the flight. It was only an hour or two long.
After getting off the plane we went to baggage claim and MY BAG WAS THERE! I was so happy. Maria's was there too. We took our bags and found our tour guide and his name is Tom. We were the first ones in the group to arrive. Then another solo traveler arrived and she and I talked about working at Disney World (she's an ex-cast member) and two hours after Maria and I landed in Dublin, the rest of our group arrived. There's 20 or 30 of us in total. We got on a bus and drove around Dublin a little bit, taking pictures of buildings and the canal and beautiful signs-
Dublin you cheeky bastard
Then we went to our hotel. Maria and I got paired up with Kaitlyn and her cousin Mia and we were all super excited about that. So we have Calla, Kaitlyn, Maria and Mia in one room. Every time we say someone's name it gets confusing. The hotel was okay, probably not great by my standards but I was in Ireland so it felt great. We took the "lift" up to our room.
Smaller than my bedroom.
We were all very tired. There was a place in the wall to put your room key in. If you took the key out, the electricity in the room would turn off. Weird.
At 6 we went downstairs for dinner. A lot of people were there, everyone from our group and then 2 other EF college groups. Everyone was nice. I kept getting dizzy which is weird because I never have an issue with vertigo. Too much plane time. For dinner we were served these little egg roll appetizers,
Not my favorite.
And beef stew with mashed potatoes,
No thank you please.
And coffee cheesecake.
Meh.
None of it was my favorite type of food, but it was all very good. I don't know if I liked it? I wasn't hungry and it was free so it didn't matter.
After dinner my roommates and I went downtown. My week in Manhattan last March really left an impression. Crowds don't faze me, neither does shoulder checking a bitch who steps too close, and I jaywalk like a pro. Once I noticed other people jaywalked in this city, I did it too. Only downside to being such a pimp is every time I crossed the street, I would look behind me and see my three roommates still standing there looking shocked and waiting for their signal to cross. But after a while they caught on and would look both ways then dart across the street. I am an inspiration.
We wandered around Dublin for over an hour. Maria said we walked over 4 miles. Something funny I noticed was our style at taking pictures. When we passed the canal, the girls would each take pictures of the water and the oncoming sunset.
Bridge in Dublin, 2015
While I'm looking at the bridge itself, finding more graffiti gems like this:
Well if you insist.
Anyways, we had fun. Dublin isn't intimidating like New York. It's kinda different! The buildings aren't quite as pretty and there are very few black people, but I like it. We're in Dublin at an interesting time too, on Friday gay marriage may be legalized. There's lot of signs saying vote yes or vote no on the act.
Our tour guide Tom warned us that people may be handing out pamphlets on the street and they will be very opinionated. I saw a few ladies with vote yes stickers.
We went back to the hotel at 8:30. I took a shower (the handles were confusing but I figured it out because I'm smart) and then we (the four of us) chilled in the hotel room. I still have vertigo. I finished today's blog while everyone else went to sleep at 10:30. It's only 3:30 Mountain time. I went to bed around 11.
My first day in a new country was very nice. Ireland seems quite alright by my standards.
Ginger Count: not a lot, shockingly. Maybe 15?
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