My eyes and the sky

When I left my parents at the checkpoint at O’Hare, I had no doubts or fears. Okay, that’s not entirely true… I was nervous, but I had more excitement in me to override my fears. I knew I would miss my family and friends in time, but for now I was looking forward, ready to embark upon my greatest adventure yet.

The flight left about an hour and a half late, but only lasted about eight and a half hours. After eating my dinner of chicken, potatoes, beans, bread and butter, cheese and crackers, and an Andes candy served by Damien on the flight, I drifted in and out of sleep—in and out of dreams of green fields and Irish boys.

We met Roberta, our Saint Mary’s “mother” while in Ireland. She checked us all off and sent us onto a bus with a strange and quiet Irishman with a large nose and watery eyes. Boarding the bus on the left side was strange, but at we drove the 50 minute drive to Maynooth, I was happy and at home to see the large amounts of Toyotas and Nissans on the road (although they were on the wrong side of the road). I slipped off to dreamland once more, and when I awoke, we were pulling up to our Village apartments at NUIM. They were lovely and quaint on the outside with ivy growing up the walls. We proceeded to get our keys and swipe cards from the O’Neils—our lovely landlords—and then it was time to drop our things off in our rooms.

I a vision in my mind of what my first apartment would look like, and this was certainly not it. Although a nice whistling man that was hanging notices on the doors helped me carry my suitcases up the stairs to the second floor, I was instantly presented with my first shock when I opened the door to my apartment. The door opened to reveal a long, cold, and narrow corridor with four green doors on either side. My room (8D) was on the end, and as I dragged my heavy baggage down, I ran into the first of my flat mates coming out of her room. We said hello and exchanged names (although I’m pretty sure she was foreign and I honestly don’t remember her name to save my life), and I dropped my stuff off in my room. (That was the last I saw of my first flat mate so far). I met up with Roberta and the rest of the girls in the middle of our four apartments for a “tour” or Maynooth. That “tour” consisted of a stroll down the main avenue in Maynooth (which, is so cute), and an indication as to wear Roberta’s office is so we could find her if we needed anything.

After naught but a few words of wisdom, Roberta deserted us for the second time in one day. We were tired, hungry, and scared, with not a square of toilet paper in our washclosets, and our supposed “mother” just left us in a foreign country with hardly any of the guidance we expected. I mean, I know that this is all supposed to be a learning experience, and it’s all about independence, but there’s got to be a better way to ease into this independence thing. Last year, when I moved into my room at Saint Mary’s, I at least had a cell phone and my belongings, I was familiar with the campus, I knew who my roommates were going to be, and my parents were just a phone call or an email away if I had any questions.

Now I am in a foreign country with no cell phone, no internet access, no way to contact my parents to even tell them I made it safely across the pond. It is cold and sprinkling, my bed is naked, and there are no drawers for my underwear! My outlet doesn’t work, my room is sad and lonely, the cheap sheets and duvet I was able to buy so far make me feel like I’m in a hotel room or a Travelodge. My room has no character, my roommate has not returned since I saw here earlier this afternoon, I have spent so much money on stupid things that I have at home and don’t want to spend money on, the food is foreign and expensive, you have to pay for “trollies” (what we call carts) at the grocery store, you have to buy your meat at the butcher, and I still don’t have a hair dryer or any pictures on the walls in my room.

I do, however, have a cell phone, which cost me approximately $100. I get unlimited texting in Ireland for €20 a month, but calls are 25c per minute nationally and 50c per minute internationally. (Although I get free incoming calls, so if anyone has an international plan at home, feel free to call me!) I’m not sure that is the best deal out there, but I needed something quick so I could at least call home, and that’s what all the other girls got.

My labtop, thankfully, still has some juice left on its battery, but I need to get an adaptor if I want to use it after tonight. Josh Groban is currently soothing my worries.

It doesn’t all sound bad at all, but there are a lot of new things. I didn’t realize how foreign Ireland really would be. I mean, there were things that I expected to be different, but there were lots of things I DIDN’T expect. And it’s so hard to know what to buy when my flat mates aren’t here yet. But I do finally have sheets on my bed, a few towels, some shampoo, and a little bit of food to get me through the next day. We’ll make another trip to “Dunnes,” the department store with EVERYTHING that is just down the road in the nearby mall in Maynooth. But I’ve already spent a ridiculous amount of money, and I still have so much to buy.

The girls and I (Elizabeth, Beth, Missy and Me) clinged to eachother today, and when we made our cardboard pizza for dinner and tried to help eachother figure out how to start up our cell phones, we all started crying out of such frustration. We just felt so abandoned… we are planning people, and to not have a plan at all, nor any sort of guidance was just such a difficulty for us. I wish I had my pillow.

But, I’m trying to look on the bright side—things can only get better from here on out. I will learn things every day that will help me survive here, and I always know that I have my new Saint Mary’s friends even if I don’t make friends from Ireland or Europe. I think it will get better when the rest of my flatmates move in, when I get everything I need, when I get a chance to decorate my room and make it more my own, and when classes start and I make more friends. It’s just been a VERY VERY long day, and we’re all overwhelmed. I just need to cry myself to sleep and hope my toes don’t fall off from frostbite (we have to pay for our heat and electricity, so Roberta told us not to turn on our heater unless we’re sick. We also have to turn on the water heater about 20 minutes before we shower. And our shower doesn’t even have a shower curtain! Oy.)

It will get better. I just need to take it one day at a time.