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29 April 06/ 30 April 06 I left St. John's on Saturday at 11:55pm after having my last cup of Tim Hortons Cafe Mocha for the summer with Auntie Rita and Uncle Joe. The flight to London, England wasn't that bad, however even though I asked for a window seat I got and isle seat which I guess was a bit better. My long legs were thanking me for the bit of extra space that the isle provided at times. Air Canada does not have that much space between their seats but I guess that is understandable because of the size of the plane. I didn't sleep that much on the plane but I seemed pretty wide awake. The plane landed early in London and then I had to find my way around Hethrow airport. I wasn't looking forward to that too much since I had been warned about how horrible it was before I had left. It acctually wasn't that bad. The airport wasn't that bad it was massive but all you had to do was follow the signs. I had to go through customs in London because the 2 airlines I took weren't associated with each other so
I had to go pick up my bags and then check myself in again. The only thing that i regret is putting so much stuff in my back pack. My back was killing my by the time I started walking to the next terminal, so I had to take a break on the way and give my back/sholders a rest. The flight from London to Dublin was really nice! I slept most of the way. I had all of the intentions to look out of the window all of the way up but that didnt last long. As soon as we started to hit the clouds and I put my head back, I was out like a light. I did wake up for a while and started talking to 2 buisiness men that were from Dublin. I guess that was my real first impression/ insight of Ireland. They were very friendly after I arrived they made sure I knew where I had to go to get my bags and that I had everything settled about where I was going. Because I'm sure I definentally looked lost when I was trying to figure out where to go once I arrived. THe
one thing that I noticed as we were landing was how green the country is. There was green everywhere whether it be inbetween houses in the middle of the city.. everywhere! but it as really nice to see that. I like it better than home where all you can see it rock pretty much and buillings.
It was easy to get to the hostel that I was staying at (once I asked people at the tourist information) I took the Dublin airlink bus and it dropped my right in front of the hostel. I ended up talking to a man from Finland who was here with his wife to do some visiting. I told him all about how my family was from Finland, and that my cousin had been there last year. That definentally peaked his intrest. My room in the hostel, I am sharing it with 12 other people. THere is a room that connects to mine and it has another 16 girls in it. We all have to share 2 toilets, 2 showers and 2 sinks. However it isnot that bad. I have to say there has not been a line up yet. After I got myself settled,
I went for a wander around Dublin. It was very nice there are so many old buildings and a lot of churches! It was very beautiful! Everything I about Dublin I like. There is a river that runs right through the middle of Dublin. My hostel is right on the river. Pretty much everything around this river is the town center. There are so many people around everywhere. Pretty much no matter where you go you will be bumping into people, especially if you go to the shopping areas. There are also a lot of buses. I stood at one a corner and counted 10 buses that I could see and that is what it is liek always. I still cannot get over the whole driving on the opposite side of the road. I don't think I will rent a car here because I will definentally crash or atelast come close to it. Also how the stearing wheel is on the opposite side. It is very weird to see. But beside all of that it has been easy to adjust to the change in everything (so far). After wandering I went back to the hostel to dry off (it had
been raining) I tried to stay up until 8 pm to try and adjeust myself, but by 6pm I passed out. I woke up around 11pm that night then went downstairs and met some people.. none of which are irish.
01 May 06 They serve breakfast at the hostel betwwen 7-10am and I thought after all of the sleep that I got I would definentally be able to get up in time for breakfast, but of coarse I didn't wake up until 10:30. There are 2 Australlian girls (Cassie and Meagan) in the room with me that were going to the mall, so I asked if I could go along. More so just to look and see more of the city. so us 3 annd Meagans boyfriend took the train up to a place called Dundurm and went shopping. We first got something to eat. I was very happy when I saw that they served Chicken Kiev. Mom it wasnt as good as yours though even though I know you hate making it 😊 I also has strawberry cheesecake with it! It was to die for! We ended up splitting up after that plus where I didnt have a
phone it made it harder so this way just worked out for all of us. after wandering around the mall I took the train back into the city center and I started looking around Gower St. (I think that is what it is called) This is probably the main st. for shopping in Dublin. There was a lot of people as usual and there was a lot of people doing acts trying to make some money. After I wandered around some more until I found the river to go back to the hostel. one thing I noticed about this city is they have a lot of phone places and banks. THe Bank of Ireland, for example has 3 huge banks in a few block radius of each other. and there are huge buidlings. I took some pics of one so once I find a place where I can put my USB cord in I will download them and post them on here. A lot of the builings that businesses are in are also very old. When I finally made my way back to the hostel I called a guy named Geoff who I had been talking with before I left
St. John's who was comming to Dublin the same day as me. He also was from St. John's. We ended up meeting and he showed me around Dublin for a bit ( he was here last year so he knew his way around). Geoff showed my another one of the major streets and pointed out certain things I should be aware of. He showed me this piece of art that is in the middle of O'Connel St. It is pretty much a metal pole with a point at the top. Some peoples idea of art bloggles my mind. We then went back a cross the river and he showed me around Trinity College. It was beautiful. Again very green. After walking around for a while we went back to his place to watch some tv. There I met another irish man. (only my 4th one) and some mroe of his roomates. We then went to get something to eat. and guess what?!?!? There is a TIM HORTONS in IRELAND!!! I was shocked! I thought my cup in St. John's airport was going to be my last one! Well watch out Dublin Tim Hortons here I come! 😊 I was very
happy though when I found this out and acctually saw it with my own 2 eyes! However, when we went there it was closed😞 We ended up going to a place called Supermacs?! I think. Its pretty much like the Irish equivelent of McDonalds. So when I told Geoff I told him I wanted to try something Irish I guess I got what I asked for! haha
02 May 06 Today after I got up I went out and bought a phone so now if anyone needs to get a hold of me they can. I'll send it in an email. After that I did some more wondering around. I went to the USIT it register for my orientation and they supposidly don't have any space for me until Friday so now I have to wait even longer. Which really sucks. But I'm going to start looking for myself. One of the guys in the hostel works with a job seeking agency so he said he would take my CV (resume) and pass it around. Then hopefully that will get me into the working force. I have to re-due my resume to make it like the ones they
have in Ireland. It supposidly has to be atleast 2 pages which is much different from the one page that we have in Canada. That is pretty much going to be my days today, nothing too exciting. Its raining right now so I'm going to have to run back to the hostel so I dont get too wet. (I'm ina internet cafe right now. which is in a subway- but they dont sell cheese,herb and garlic bread!
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Natalie
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Wow, Kathleen, Ireland looks amazing! I should have hidden myself in your suitcase when you went!