Rain, rain, rain

I wish I had been able to update this the first day, but unfortunately my computer was not working with the Forde’s internet. Anyway, here is a rundown of how my flight over went. I will update on the rest of my adventures later on tonight..

I really started to second guess myself when my dad and David were leaving me at the airport. It was very hard for them to leave me, knowing I might not see them- or anyone else for that matter- for nine months. Once they said goodbye, the worst was over with.

I had a very short layover in Philly and got on the plane to Amsterdam without any problems. The flight to Amsterdam lasted about 7 ½ or 8 hours. I was very ready to get out of my seat by the end. The one bad thing about having a window seat is trying to get up in the middle and having to wake up the people next to you, so I stayed put for the entire trip. I took an Advil PM before taking off and it hit me pretty quickly. I was immediately drowsy, but the effect was never enough to make me stay asleep. I dozed in and out for the whole flight. By the time the sun was rising, I was much more awake (even if it was 1 in the morning my body time).

We landed in Amsterdam and even though it’s a pretty country, I never want to go to that airport again. It was huge. It took me a good 30 minutes of brisk walking to get from my gate to the gate of my next departure. In Amsterdam, the security checkpoints are outside each individual gate (seems like a waste of staffing to me, but I guess they do things differently in Europe), so I had to go through security again and then I was able to check in just as they were boarding the plane to Cork.

I landed in Cork to find my bags had safely made it. Gillian and Katie were waiting for me outside baggage claim and I knew them immediately from the pictures. Kieran and Eoghan (pronounced Owen) had gone to get the car. My first impression of them was great. They were nice enough to not drop their jaws when they saw all of my luggage (and David, Kieran didn’t even complain about carrying my 45 lb bag, thank you very much).

Eoghan started asking for “chippies” (French fries) right away. Gillian and Kieran were humiliated, but they took me to McDonalds for my first meal in Ireland. Tay’s wish of me coming back obese is in the works. Then, after a tour of their town (Killavullen), I crashed for about three hours. We then headed off to Kieran’s family’s home for his younger brother’s graduation party. Their graduation parties are like our proms. The boys invite the girls to go to dinner, they wear tuxes, stay out really late, etc. I got to meet most of Kieran’s brothers and sisters (he’s one of seven) and his parents. I really enjoyed his dad’s sense of humor, even though I couldn’t understand what he was saying to me 90% of the time. The older guys have very thick accents.

All in all, things went very smoothly. I am not even too jet lagged thanks to my long nap. Katie is the happiest baby I have seen in a while. She is very well behaved and only gets cranky when she’s hungry or tired. Eoghan has an endless amount of energy, which may be hard to keep up with when I have him to myself, but with Gillian’s help it wasn’t bad at all. He is very independent and also puts away more food than anyone I have ever seen. I really don’t think he stopped talking until Gillian put him to bed. He did say to me several times, “Page, you’re my friend”, so that’s a step in the right direction… Anyway, thanks for all the emails (and presidential updates- Savannah…) from home. I really miss everyone.