The Isle Files: Arriving in Spiddal

Hello All! I am writing to you from Cottage 6, my new home for the next few months at the Park Lodge in Spiddal, Ireland! A little update on the past week:

A week ago today, Erin and I arrived in Roma, where her parents and brother met us at the train station. They had just finished a trip around Italy, and ended their travels in Rome to meet up with us before going home. They generously got us a room at the hotel they were staying in, and it was so nice to sleep on a good bed and clean up in a nice shower after 18 days in hostels. Not the we were really roughing it during our trip, all of our hostels were very nice, but it was fun staying in a nice place for the last two nights. Our two days in Rome were sort of a whirlwind, so I am SO glad I have been there before and didn’t feel like I needed to cram a lot of sightseeing into the time we were there. It was great to catch up about our travels over a delicious Italian dinner.

On Tuesday we walked to the nearby Spanish steps and Trevi Fountain. When I was there in 2008 on the trip through Hill-Murray, I would never have guessed that I would be back again so soon, even if it was just a brief visit. In the afternoon we went out to the neighborhood where Erin’s apartment for her time in Rome is located and waited until the designated move-in time. It was a lot a fun seeing some of the other Bennies and Johnnies from her program for a little while. We got a little tour of the apartment, which was incredible. Seriously, I’m jealous. It is huge, bright, has a balcony, wood floors, and a giant kitchen. Anyways, after that we said our goodbyes and were on our way! The remaining Lanz family and I got dinner, then I had the fun task of getting all my stuff re-organized for my flight the next day.

But now…I’m in IRELAND. I was nervous for my day of solo travel on Wednesday, but it all went really smoothly. I rode to the airport with the Lanz family in the morning, but their flight home to MN was out of a different terminal, so I was on my own from there. I was worried about carrying on both my little rolling suitcase and small backpack on the plane, since the Aer Lingus website is pretty specific about only being able to have one carry-on, but the really nice guy at the check-in counter told me that because he was very happy he would let me take both. There was a nice woman and her daughter from Dublin sitting next to me on the flight, and we chatted for awhile. Once I got up to go to the bathroom, and when I came back she goes, “I just have to ask you…” (it sounded like she was going to say something really serious) “what are bangs exactly?” She said they even looked it up online but could never figure it out. The daughter asked if bangs were the same things as “fringes”, and luckily I knew that fringes and bangs were indeed the same thing. I thought that was funny though. They also wanted to know what a “sophomore” was. After arriving in Dublin, I caught a bus to Galway, which was about a three hour ride, and then all that was left was the taxi ride to the Park Lodge Hotel in Spiddal, where we are living! The rest of our group wasn't arriving until the next day, but a few of us were here early and the staff made us a delicious meal for dinner.

The next day the few of us who were here early went in to Galway with our directors, Jane and Mike, to meet the rest of the group arriving at the bus station. And since then things have been busy! But I will fill you in on that soon, and for now here is a peak at my new home.