Welcome to Cork

Four years of dreaming, two years of planning, one summer of waiting, and a couple days of slight panicking have brought me safe and sound to Ireland.

I left home Tuesday afternoon from Dulles International Airport on a flight to London.  After more than six hours of sitting in a cramped airplane seat next to a nice English couple who delighted in my request for tea over coffee and in front of a rather unhappy toddler, I arrived in the Heathrow Airport.  I followed the signs for connections, crossed the UK border check, and somehow made it the departure lounge where I waited for my flight to Cork.  Two hours later, I was buckling in for the second part of the journey. 

Only an hour passed before I was happily climbing down a flight of stairs and onto the runway.  In all my other plane travels, I have gone directly from the airport to the plane and vice versa.  There was a delightfully old-fashinoned joy to walking outside of the plane in the fresh Irish air with a distant view of green hilltops.

My room

The Kitchen and Living Room

It wasn't long before I had made it through customs, picked up my baggage, and was climbing into a taxi driven by a friendly and helpful Irishman.  He told me about festivals coming up in the fall and pubs and restaurants I should go to as we drove through Cork.  Between the exhaustion of jet-lag and my excitement at having made it to the city, I felt like I was on sensory overload.  I found myself caught between silence and prattling on as one moment I stared out the taxi window at the pubs and shops and the next I was being asked my studies, my travels, and my opinions of the US presidential candidates.

Twenty minutes later I stood with my luggage in front of my apartment gate.  I rang for the landlady and met Breda at long last.  Friendly and personable, she showed me upstairs to my room, gave me a key and some instructions, and then went off with a reminder to call or email if I needed anything.

Now, it's Thursday evening.  Shannon and I have spent a day exploring the city and the UCC campus.  Still slightly jet-lagged, we've retired to our apartment for dinner and a rest.  No doubt we will head out later to find a bustling Irish pub.