Day 2 in 1

I just asked Matt what the most memorable thing from the last 24 hours was and he responded by saying, "honestly, it is all a bit of blur right now - kind of like a dream." Well, I wish there was something more we could say for ourselves since last Friday morning but actually there isn't a lot of details you can make out from your surroundings when you have only cat napped for several days.

We missed Hurricane Earl, by some kind of miracle, and boarded our Aer Lingus flight 1/2 hour early. Our connection in Dublin had a small (20-30 people) group of us shuttled out to our model airplane of a flight. I had kept my cool the whole trip, being the one to reassure Matt over and over that "we are okay - consider the lilies" from one step to the next (checking luggage, security lines, making our flight connections, finding the hostel when we get there, finding apartments, etc); but when I saw that propeller plane a day with no sleep, I started to loose it a bit. When we got on, they began moving people from seat to seat "to even out the weight" of the flight. That was too much for me at that point so I closed my eyes and breathed deep listening to the safety instructions for our flight attendant "Kitty" in English then Irish. When I opened my eyes for a moment during take off, the cabin was shifting back and forth as I looked straight ahead. And forgive me for being overdramatic but somehow I found comfort in thinking of Mr. Ernest Shakleton (I recently read Shakleton's Stowaway) and how him and his crew did way more scary things. It made me brave. Luckily the flight was only 50 minutes long - by the time we leveled out, we headed back down.

The travel details are mundane really but for us they were exciting since they marked a beginning of an era for us and everything had a charming ring to it. From our shuttle driver to our hospitable hostel host, there was a thrilling feeling to the whole thing. Even an interaction on the street with an elderly pair of Jehovah's Witness ladies was a fun little moment. After handing us their pamphlets and seeing us waiting for the hostel to open with all our luggage, they asked what our story was. Matt and I have decided to tell people we are from Austin, TX because then people know where to place us better. The two ladies were convinced that we had "brought the warm weather with us" since the city was sunny. Matt and I shivered in our sweatshirts at the brisk sub 60 degree weather and smiled "why yes, the warm weather..."

The jet lag hit us hard. Matt was knocked right on his bunk bed several times with it. "I didn't know it was an actual thing!" he cried. "I always thought it just meant you were tired". He was a man without a time zone and that resulted in many headaches, a lost appetite and a grumpy Cate who wanted to find housing pronto. I walked through Meadows Park when he became helpless, watching the football players, passing the National Museum of Scotland and even getting a slightly obstructed view of the castle. When I got back, we passed the time by talking to our Swiss roommate (who happened to be a law student as well from the summer). He loved my joke about the heaven an hell of cultures (in Heaven the British are the soldiers, the Italian are the cooks, the French are the lovers and the Germans are the mechanics while hell makes the Italians the soldiers, the Germans the lovers, the French the mechanics and the British are the cooks). He laughed so hard at the British being the cooks - "I miss Swiss bread and cheese" he kept saying. Poor fellow. I think he was ready to go home. As for me, I will miss TexMex.

We more or less made it until 7pm and slept through the night. Off to walk to church today in a minute. Pics will come later.