More officialness

So, the airline ticket has been purchased for a while but what about the work visas. Well with the help of BUNAC.org and a money order for $1069 I can happily say I have attained work visas for 4 months in Ireland, and 6 months in Britain. I also have health insurance included for my time abroad. The first three nights I will be staying in hostels booked in Dublin. I have to attend an orientation meeting before I can get jobs, an apartment, etc. I also have to drop another €100 to register at the Garda when I arrive. There Ireland will give me a tax number and validate my work visa. This should be an exciting start to the trip. I still don’t know where I’ll be living or what I’ll be doing. Hopefully it will be picking potatoes, herding sheep, or caddying on a golf course. I’ll be living out of my Whitney backpack made by Gregory, which I purchased at moosejaw.com for a little over $300. I got a rain cover to go with it, as I hear it rains a lot in Ireland. Next up is to find a raincoat, pack my bag, and jump on the plane. The time is flying by, and I am getting really excited now. The ice cream gig has been great and I have been able to pay off some debt while saving money for the trip. There is still a lot of paperwork to take care of: lining up reference letters from banks, landlords, and previous jobs, selling my car, international driving license, and spending some extra time with the family. I’ll let you all know how it goes and the progress I make in the next few days!

The homeless life.

So as July ended so did having an apartment. Luckily I have been traveling with Edy’s and the ice cream mobile and haven’t needed a place all that often. I have gotten to see a lot of Iowa and had a great time. I have also found that the amenities at a hotel can really add to the enjoyment of the stay. I got to barbeque while staying at a Hampton Inn and it almost felt like I was at home. The whole traveling has been a lot of fun and when I have been back in IC, I have just crashed on friends couches or headed back to Monticello to see my family. It wasn’t until about a week ago that I needed an actual place to stay. This is when I dusted off the ol’camper and headed towards the Coralville Res. Matt and I booked a spot for two weeks which will take us up to the time we need to leave. Stop out and say hi if you wish, we are the ones with quality flare around our 34 foot residence. The flower stung up in the tree, pink flower pinwheel, and Floyd the flounder on the picnic table should set us off. At $16 per night it is a great set up. With the assistance of my brother’s trusty tailgating grill(the grill has over 10,000 miles on it!) we have been eating great meals and living the high life! Hard to believe in 10 days I’ll be starting my journey across the drink! Matt and I fly out of Chicago Labor Day and are going to spend a day in DC before heading over to Ireland. Check out Matt’s blog too at Kyhnn-year-abroad.blogspot.com. It’s getting really close now and the excitement just keeps building.

The DC expirience!

So I am going to visit Matt in DC. I am sure at this point he is like, Brian is coming to visit? Seriously? And he was pry a little weary as we hadn’t really hung out much. Luckily Adam Brown was in town with his mom visiting his brother. He did a lot of out planning and took us to a few of his brothers favorite places(…bears). Lots of beers were drank, a few shots of jamo slammed and an oyster or two were eaten. It was a short trip and I crammed all the culture I could in. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln monuments, Vietnam wall, FDR memorial, Smithsonian Aviation(I am Brian Wolken and I want to walk on the moon!), Capitol Hill, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Georgetown, etc. I saw a lot of great sites. We hit a lot of great local drinking holes and eateries as well. One night in particular we consumed a large number of beverages and were headed towards the metro. This is when I decided to give Matt a little shove. He had just finished using the restroom and had no clue that I was playing middle linebacker down the street. After what I recall was a minor shove, Matt bit the curb, literally. Dazed and now bleeding it was lucky he didn’t break anything. It was a sobering moment and I now had to figure out how to get us home. We got to the closest metro stop and after some talking convinced the security guard that I wouldn’t let matt fall on to the tracks or get blood on anything. With the help of some friendly metro riders and kleenex we got the bleeding stopped from his scraped nose and upper lip. At this point matt’s favorite saying was “why would you do that to me?” Matt tried to get off at every stop, as he was a little po’d at me, but we finally made it out to Bethesda. While walking home Matt decided to take a scenic route by a nice water fountain. This route involved going up a bunch of stairs and attempting to go down more stairs to street level. I say attempting because he got to the bottom but it was face first. He didn’t walk down the steps, he dove down them. Now the damage I had done was minimal and he was bleeding again. We luckily made it back to the apartment without anything broken and without getting arrested! His roommates couldn’t believe the shape Matt was in and that I would do that to him. We put some frozen peas on his face and went to bed. I was awoken to a stunned Kyhnn, asking holy crap, what happened last night. We filled in the missing pieces and continued site seeing. I felt pretty bad, and Matt got over the whole situation amazingly quick. I did have to give him a one time free pass though and now at anytime, Matt can punch me, tackle me, hit me with a car, whatever, but he only gets one free pass so I think he’s holding on to it just until I forget about it. We went to a few more sites, and then both headed off to Thanksgiving with our families where Matt had a lot more explaining to do because of the ruffed up face. The trip was the beginning of a great friendship! I am not sure if this is because Matt really likes me, or if he is just afraid that I will beat the crap out of him if he’s not my friend. Either way it works out great for me.

How I met Matt

So some may be wondering how I know Matt, as we are embarking on this great journey. Well no need to worry as I am about to bring you up to speed. As a college student who have racked up some credit card debt I needed to find a job. I saw an ad to work at the University of Iowa Foundation as a Telefund Caller. The job paid $9.40 and the hours were 5-9 3 days a week. I figured what a great way to make some quick money and still have plenty of time to go out. I started the job and really enjoyed it. As a caller I got to cultivate relationships with University Alumni and raise money for the school at the same time. Friendraising as we call it is where I met Matt. When I started we were both callers. Matt was known for his unconventional need to stand and walk around while calling. He also resembled a guy who wanted to be a hippie but couldn't quit fully commit. Shaggy hair and bandannas were the common look for this guy. As you may be able to tell I didn't much like the guy. I don't know why but I just hated having to work by him never really talked much too him. Shortly after starting I interviewed to become a PA and didn't get it. This was understandable as I hadn't put enough time in yet. However, Matt did get promoted. He was now basically my boss. This drove me nuts. He was very to the point, and often times harsh. He was know as Mortal Kyhnnbat for his ability to make girls cry while trying to coach them to make better phone calls. This didn't help my liking for him. The next time we had PA interviews I got the promotion. I was now working side by side with Matt. As I was learning my new position I didn't find Matt helpful, in fact remember him reminding me how slow I did tasks. What can I say, we can't do everything lightning fast like he did. I finally got acquainted to my new position and started looking up more and more to Matt as he lost the mortal attitude and I learned more about him. It was when I found out that Matt was leaving to work for a non-profit in Washington D.C. that I started looking at Matt as my mentor. I had grown to realize that Matt added a lot to our staff and if I didn't step up the program was going to be missing a big piece of the puzzle. This is when I became a better PA and realized that Matt wasn't such a bad guy. It wasn't until Matt was gone until I realized what a huge impact he had on me. This is where the friendship began.

It's official

So today marks the completion of my first week as an Ice cream man. It's been great so far and it is adding some great padding to my bank account as I prepare to move to Ireland and Britain for the next year. Who would have thought that an ad in the Daily Iowan stating "Ice Cream Sampler Wanted" Would turn out to be such a great job. I am officially the Ambassador of Fun for Edy's Ice Cream. I go around the state of Iowa and into Chicago to hand out samples of Edy's Slow Churned Ice Cream(It has half the Fat and a third the calories of regular Ice cream) and Edy's Dibs(the next great thing in ice cream snacks). It is a great gig because the company has international ties and who doesn't like free ice cream.

Moving to Ireland is official as it can be for right now. My friend Matt and I booked our tickets. We will go to DC on the 3rd of September for a day and then head for Dublin on the 4th. We should arrive about noon on the fifth. Booking a one way ticket is a great feeling. Now I have to get my work visa and I will be set. No word on a job or where I will be living.

Well it's back to work for me so that I can pay off some debt and save a little $ for the big move. It's a nervous and exciting feeling all at once!