Watching the Irish sunset!

So I finally made it! YAY!



I arrived this morning at 10am finally! It was a bit stressful as my plane was unlucky yet again. My flight from DC to Atlanta was re-routed to Augusta, Ga due to weather yesterday. We got stuck on the runway for two hours while they re-fueled us and we waited for the chance to finally make our destination. I was getting very worried that I would miss Ireland again. But we arrived in time, I had just enough time to check to make sure that my luggage had finally made it on this flight and would follow me to Ireland. I got a quick dinner to eat on the plane, got my seat assignment at the gate, and boarded in about 30 minutes time total. Phew!

I got an aisle seat with only one other person beside me (who ended up moving right before we took off). So I was lucky enough to have two seats to myself...unfortunately they didn't recline as they were in front of a bulkhead, but at least I could stretch out my legs while we were in flight. I watched two movies: "Last Chance Harvey" (Highly recommend with Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman) and "Yes Man" (very funny!). Dinner was surprisingly delicious (chicken, rice, carrots, salad, bread, cheese and crackers and a complimentary bottle of white wine.) After dinner and after my glass of wine (Thank you Delta!), I started to fade out during the movie. I grabbed my eye mask and got some shut eye. Unfortunately it wasn't completely restful...stupid legs falling asleep (*pins and needles aren't fun at about 3 am), and being awoken by the reading light of the woman in front of me...but at least I got a few hours. I awoke to a breakfast tray on my table and a cup of tea. I had just enough time to eat, finish my movie and we landed.

I breezed through Customs and Passport check. While waiting to get my bags I think I saw a fairly notable actress. I recognized her from "Far and Away" (http://i40.tinypic.com/2h6t83k.jpg a movie with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman about Irish people immigrating to the United States). http://services.windowsmedia.com/vidpic/pic200/drV000/V010/V001014N51Y.jpg
So strange...this movie was on tv about two days ago and my mom and I watched it. After I finished being a bit star struck and staring I found my bags and was greeted by the smiling face of Colleen. We drove through Dublin quickly and arrived at my Res Hall this morning. She was very gracious and had some breakfast items for my mini fridge, so we shared a cup of tea, I got refreshed and we were on our way. I survived through a couple meetings, and visiting around campus before I needed a nap this afternoon. I kept getting introduced as "This is Meg, she just finished a transatlantic flight, doesn't she look fresh?" I guess I appeared alive and perky to everyone...that's a good thing! I hoped that I would have blood shot eyes or smell a little funny. :)

I made plans to meet up with Colleen for the NASPA conference dinner being hosted here at UCD this week. I took a nap for about an hour and got a shower. It made all of the difference in the world. I met up with Colleen and some of her colleagues to walk to the on-campus pub for the NASPA dinner. It was lovely! We had shrimp (also known as prawns) salad, lamb with three different kinds of potatos (mashed, boiled, and mashed again in the color scheme of the Irish flag: mango- Orange for Protestant, white- convergence of Protestant and Catholic, and cabbage- Green for Catholic). Then we had a Bailey's toast that was done in "Irish" or Gaelic, a scrumptious strawberry desert, followed by Irish coffee described as Coffee with whiskey, another shot of whiskey, a drop of whiskey, and some more whiskey by Martin Butler the VP of Student Affairs at UCD. I had had my fill before the Irish coffee...maybe another day though. :) This was followed by some dancing! There were Trad players (known as traditional music of Ireland). An acordian, a fiddle and an acoustic guitar played for a young woman who danced with the Irish clogs made popular by Riverdance. She didn't dance in that style, but the shoes were the same. After her performance there were five other young women who were in highschool to elementary school who did perform in the Riverdance style. To watch their feet move was mesmerizing! I love it. Then finally the UCD students have created a community musical theater production that is in its second year running. They performed a few songs from "Guys and Dolls" and from "Rent" which I can only assume will be their next piece of work. I excused myself after all of this lovely entertainment to walk back to my Res Hall and watch the sunset. It is beautiful! Even now, almost two hours later it is still slowly disappearing into the horizon. So beautiful! The reds, yellows and oranges can only warm your heart against the green of the hills.

Tomorrow I will meet up with Jarod to work on our presentation for the conference in Sligo, and then we head to Greystones in County Wicklow for the weekend with Colleen and her husband, Pat. Hopefully I will be able to post some more...and maybe pictures next time!

Love to you all! :)
Meg