Whatever happened to that guy?

So if any of you are still trying to keep up with me I apologize. I got here and got so caught up with everything that I have neglected my blog for almost 3 months. To say the least a ton has happened to me in that 3 month period. So where am I in Ireland? What have I been doing? Where am I working? Well I am going to get you up to speed. The first few entries will be the quickest and most brief overview of the entire trip. Then I will break it down into more detail but I think you can look at Matt’s for a good review of what happened before we headed in different directions. His blog again is www.matthew-kyhnn-year-abroad.blogspot.com

So I instantly fell in love when I got off the bus in downtown Ireland. I had to ask a cop on a horse where to find the Temple bar district as we were staying there. After a couple hectic and sleepy days in Dublin we began to travel the countryside. Galway, Kells, Tramore, Donegal, Cork, Aughram, Ennis, and many other towns were hit. I saw tons of historical sites. The History over here is amazing. Everywhere you turn there is something that some town is proud of. And if you a curious just ask a local at one of the pubs and you’ll pry get an answer. And if you are in Kells you may have to knock on Mrs. Carpenter’s door to find the real answer. I have seen castles, high crosses, the Book of Kells, Guinness Brewery, Jameson Brewery, high crosses, towers, light houses, monastery ruins, cemeteries, and tons of churches! There is no shortage of sites to be seen in this great country the size of Iowa. So after about three weeks of traveling I had spent all the money I had brought and plus some.

So Matt and I had looked at a company called Face2Face Fundraising before we left. We applied and got the job which entailed talking to people in the street about a said charity and then trying to get this person to give 12-21 Euros a month. They did this by giving us their bank details for a direct debit. Sounds easy right? Well after 7 days I thought so. Then I didn’t sign anyone up for the next five days and got sacked (fired)! Oh well, the hours were long and pay was just ok. The plus was they had been providing my transportation and lodging. So it was back to Dublin for me as my couch surfing friend Lori happened to be coming to town the day after I got fired. We met up and I showed her all over Dublin. Then we grabbed a few pints, listened to some stellar traditional music and she headed back to her hostel as she had to catch a flight back to DC the next morning. From here I headed back to Galway. The young bustling town that 7 other Face2Face ex-employees were also moving too, to live it up. I got here before most of them and had a harder time than I thought finding a job. I finally did as a kitchen porter at Martine’s Quay St wine bar. I washed dishes, and on occasion plated a dessert. This lasted two and a half weeks. It was really tough work which didn’t bother me as I was eating first class food every night. Then I found out I wasn’t going to have any hours for two weeks as we were hitting our slowest time of the year. I couldn’t go too long without work and began looking elsewhere. I came across an ad at bestjobs.ie and now I am working at the Delphi Lodge Salmon Fishery. And I must say I couldn’t be happier. It’s funny how you find your way to a job that suits you. Even all my friends in Galway after being here just one week all told me I was in a much better state of mind! As I am now about an hour and a half from Galway I don’t get to see them too often. Working here in the nursery, netting salmon, clearing streams is great. Love it! Now I am starting to plan my transition to the UK as it is less than a month away. So that’s as short and sweet as I could possibly keep it. Oh how the time flies. That’s it for now but check back soon. I promise I won’t neglect my blog again!

Galway:

Day 3. So today was a pretty relaxed day. I woke up about 12:30 and headed down to the commons where I started work on my CV (Europe’s resume). I needed to add my Ambassador position and Skybox as previous bar experience is quit necessary here in Ireland. As for finding a place to live we have to wait until Wed. because a list comes out with all the flats available. I’ve heard the line starts forming about an hour before it is released. I submitted my CV to a company called face2face fundraising. They would send me around Ireland trying to raise awareness and funds for various non-profit organizations. Pay is great and I wouldn’t have to rent a flat which would save me a bundle. Now the question is do Matt and I try and rent a flat or do we bank on getting these traveling jobs. That’s something we are going decide first thing tomorrow. As for dinner went we attempted cooking for the first time in a hostel, which was crazy. There are tons of people fighting for burners and pans. As for the cuisine, Penne pasta, lasagna sauce, black pudding, and white pudding (that’s blood and bloodless sausage). We had attempted to go to 3 pubs each which had just quit serving food. Of course we didn’t find this out until after we had ordered our pints. After dinner I hit the hay in hopes that I can get a few things accomplished tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll hear back from face2face and I still need to get my PPS (SS#) so the Irish government can tax me!

Days in Dublin

Day 1: So it’s finally a reality. I have made it to Ireland! We landed about noon local time and got our bag which was a bit of a relief, we had 3 plane changes and London has one of the worst track records for losing luggage. All went well we got our bags, caught a bus and in about 30 minutes were at the city centre. Our Hostel was about a 15 minute walk from here. We stopped by the Temple Bar in temple bar district. Our first pints went down quit well and we ended up meeting another American that had taken his student loan and was backpacking Europe. The black stuff (Guinness) is easy to drink, mostly I think because the locals are so friendly. After heading back to the hostel to get caught up on some sleep I went out for another pint or two. It is outrageous that the pints are average 5 Euro’s. I don’t even want to do the conversions. After enjoying some live Irish music I called It a night. Back to the hostel where I have to share my room with 8 others, one whom is German and snores lightly. More to come when a few sights have been viewed

First Days Away

So things started a little rocky leaving from Chicago. Nobody informed us that the public transit ran on the Sunday schedule for Labor Day. So we headed to our 6:30am flight about 4. It was supposed to be a 45 minute L-ride. Thing is the orange line wasn’t running. Ok, no problem we will take the bus as informed by a friendly guy who had just gotten off work at a downtown club. Well, turns out the bus doesn’t go to the airport on Labor Day early but we ended up taking it anyway. We got close to the airport and by this time it was 5:30 with-in an hour of our plane leaving. I flagged a cab and got dropped off at the Southwest terminal and went to check in. Time was now getting tight as to whether we were going to make the flight or not. Luckily southwest had a short line and I was quickly to the front of the line only to find out that our flight was now being operated by ATA and that we needed to check in there. ATA had a long line and we then found out that we use a kiosk and still check our baggage. Matt and I did this and dashed for the plane. We made it time for the final boarding call. I caught a little sleep on the plane and was refreshed and ready to go when we got to DC. We headed out to Bethesda for a drink at the Rock Bottom. This turned out to be quit a stop. What was supposed to be a quick stop quickly changed? I ended up meeting a guy named Gerry Lee from Galway, Ireland. He was full of knowledge and stories. He bought us our drinks and even called a friend who might have work for us helping at banquets and events around Ireland. We are supposed to check in once we get to Dublin. After this we stopped by the coffee shop to check in with our families and grab a cup of coffee. Of course my PC wouldn’t pick up the signal so I ended up taking a nap while Matt spent an hour or so emailing, blogging etc. He had to point out several times that had I simply bought a Mac I wouldn’t be having these problems. From here we headed to Chinatown to meet our couch surfing host. For those of you not familiar with the site, you basically stay at people’s houses, apts, etc. on their couches for free in hopes that someday people can do the same on your couch. This was my first experience with anything like this and I was a little weary. We met Lori at a Thai restaurant were we talked and got to know about each other. Matt and I picked up the tab and then headed back to her place. She lived only several blocks from Capitol Hill. We continued our discussions and called it a night. The next day I woke up, enjoyed a cup of coffee and headed out. After a quick tour of our nation’s capitol it was time to head to the airport. We went back to Lori’s, got our backs and jumped on the metro. This time we got there checked right in and were ready to be on planes and in airports for the next 12 hours. It should be quit a trip, and the anticipation is now building.