Clam Chowder- shell and all! And don´t forget the butter!

Today was laid back for the most part. I woke up late and had to transform my daybag into an overnight bag. I am staying with Christof from CS. He lives just out of Dublin and on the way to Howth, which is where I went today.

This morning, I wandered town to explore. I was really disoriented yesterday, so it was good to see town. I found a Mark & Spencers, which is a big department store with clothes but also with a grocery in the basement. I found a sandwich, crisps (potatoe chips) and drink (cola, sparkling or still water) for €3.95 which is about $5.30 and a good price for Dublin. I also got an Orange Juice with ´juicy bits´, or pulp. That cost more, but juice sounded good.

Later in my strolls, I found a small street (really alley) market and bought an apple called a Delisdor. It looks like an asian pear and kind of tastes like one, but is certainly an apple. The guy gave me a sample and it turned out he was from New Jersey. Go figure. We chatted for a while and then I went on my way.

I took my sandwich to eat in front of the Book of Kells in Trinity College and got a phone call from Elana, from CS, asking if she and Daniella could join me for Howth. We met and headed out there. Note there are no toilets in the DART train station nor on the DART itself. We learned that the hard way. For €4.20 we got roundtrip tickets to Howth and once on, we sat next to a gentleman, Sean, who told us all about Howth and Dublin. He showed me just where my next host´s home was and gave plenty of suggestions. In Howth, we walked along the harbour. There were seals, islands, a lighthouse and plenty of fishing boats. We found a place with €3 clam chowder takeaway that we planned on returning to on our way out of town to eat on the DART. It smelled really good but they didn´t give us spoons. Elana and Daniella asked for one but they didn´t have any. She said usually the locals just drink it from the bowl and then pick out the shells with their fingers! Turns out the clam chowder is made with a buttery broth and the clams (small) are put in with the shells so you drink the buttery broth and then pick out the shells with meat in them still (most fall out) and eat them kind of like oysters. A good deal of meat sinks to the bottom so that´s a treat, too. Yummy, buttery, fresh clams. Neither Elana nor Daniella finished theres, so I boldly offered the three French guys from Brittany who were in the booth across from ours if they wanted it. The guy who took it (sorry if you are reading this, I´ve forgotten you´re name!) was the one who asked us if the train we were on went to Dublin, the bolder of the three. They seemed like nice guys. It always pays to be bold- you may get free soup out of it!

I got off at the DART station maybe 15 or 20 minute walk to Christof´s house. We had salad with lettuce, tomatoe, cucumber, blue cheese and a yummy yougurt and balsamic dressing. It was a good finish to the clam chowder. Christof is now off in town with some friends and I will be going to bed soon, possibly to not see him tonight nor tomorrow, but that is ok with him. Tomorrow he leaves for New York City and Niagara Falls.

Tomorrow I will go with Elana and Daniella (and a bus load of tourists) to Bru Na Boinne, or Newgrange, and Hill of Tara. Newgrange is a neolithic burial tomb and Hill of Tara has old land carving in it (ditches, mounds, other land formations). The tour is 6 hours, so it should be a lot of information.

tTomorrow night I will return to Ibrahim´s house and back to my computer and I won´t have to retype so much- I´m on Christof´s computer now and he is German so his Z and Y are switched, he has extra keys for Ä, Ö, µ, € and other buttons which throws off my typing. Of course, it doesn´t help that I´m about to fall asleep.

Here I am!

Greetings from Dublin! I arrived early this morning after more than 24 hours travel. Everything went well- I was allowed to carry on both my bags and I was able to sleep about three hours on each flight and two hours in the Boston airpot in my 11 hour layover.

I met a nice gal, Alice, who is from New York and traveling to Ireland for a week and renting a car with her son. I spoke with her on and off for a few hours while we were waiting for Aer Lingus check in to open. Before our flight left, she let me use her phone to call Mom and Dad and let them know I was alive and well. On the flight from Boston to Dublin, I sat next to a gentleman from Germany, Frank, who travels a lot to the US and elsewhere, and he had great advise for me.

At Dublin, I took the bus from the airport to city center but the bus driver pointed me in the wrong direction for Aungier Street, which I soon figured out and turned around. It was a bit early to go to my Couchsurfing host's house (around 6.30a by this time) so I went to the hostel just by his house and had a latte macchiato (with a beautiful heart of foam! yes, I took a photo. I'm a dork). Jetlag, hunger and exhaustion hit me hard while I was there, so I was grateful when Ibrahim let me nap while he was at work until he came back for lunch (he works a 5 minute walk away). When he went back for lunch, I went to wander the town and wound up at Dublin Castle. I bought the Heritage Card which gets you free entry to many sites in Ireland. It's good for a year and usually 21 EUR but they took my student ID (with out a year on it! The best thing I got from Luther besides an education) so I paid only 8 EUR. I came back to meet Ibrahim before he went to class and took another nap and then watched the football (soccer) match with him and his roommate. Now we're about to eat and watch the Obama 100 Day speech.

All's well. Plenty of sleep and rest and then tomorrow I plan to hike in Howth. Hopefully it won't be too rainy (it rained most of the day today). Friday I'm going to Bru Na Boinne (Newgrange) with a gal from Virginia and her sister who I met on Couchsurfing.

Slightly productive day

So today I got some done but not what I should have gotten done.

I went to Michael's craft store and bought some Velcro adhesives for the ties on one of my dresses. When I tie it in a bow, it makes a big lump and is quite uncomfortable to sit in. I'll have to apply them later tonight to try it out tomorrow.

I was at Best Buy and bought an extra battery for my camera and a flash drive to transfer files, music, whatever from my computer to someone else's or visa versa.

Lastly, I went to my Starbucks home and so hi/bye to some people working. I'll actually see a few of them when I come in on Monday to pick up my tips before I head South for the airport.

Actually, that wasn't last... I went to Trader Joe's but didn't actually go in... I just parked there and walked to Youngstock's- a outdoor fruit stand- and bought a mango I had been craving earlier in the day and a really crisp gala apple that I ate on my drive home.

When I got home, I planned my Dublin days more- but I'm sure most of the planning will come once I'm there and get advice from my hosts- and I transferred my music from my old laptop to my new one. Next task (besides packing) is to charge and sync my ipod and once Dad is home he can help me to transfer my photos from my old laptop to my new one. It told me I couldn't access my photos in the same way as I could my music. I don't remember what Dad did to fix the problem when it said that for the music, so I'll just wait for him to get back from him rehearsal since there are other things I should do.

T-6 days: Uncaffeinated,overwhelmed and slightly motivated

So today is my first day sans Starbucks. Yesterday was my last day and it was actually a good time. Some customers were very generous and I appreciated everything everyone did for me. My last moments were spent with Kathy and Chris and they were grand. It's had to believe that I was at Starbucks for three years (and three days, and three stores!). It's by far the longest job I held, longer than I've stayed in one place and longer than any other committment I've had. Even school, in a way. I went to private kindergarten, then Carl Cozier Elementary for 1st, 2nd and part of 3rd, then moved to Harmony Elemetary for the rest of 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th (ok, so that's more than three years), then Mt. Baker Junior High for two years, Mt. Baker High School for two years, Holden for one year and then back to Baker for my senior year. So besides Harmony, no major committements for more than three years! Ok, maybe that only excites me.

Anyway, it was a great last day.

I've begun my search for a couch to surf for my first week in Dublin. So far, I've had a few no responses (people traveling or taking a break from hosting- Dubliners get a lot of requests I'm noticing) but I've had one possible/yes but only fot the 30th and maybe the 29th. He'll get back to me tomorrow. It's tough to find someone who can let me put my bags at their flat early in the day (my flight gets in at 5:15a!) but it sounds like there are places I can stash my bag for the day in city centre and then just meet up with my host in the evening. Something will work out, I'm sure.

I'm in the process of cleaning out my car. There is a gentleman doing work on my parents' house and in lieu of getting paid, he's getting things off an 'exchange list' and my car is on it. If he takes it (and it sounds like he will) Dad will give me $600 for it. That'd be fantastic. One less thing to have to worry about. It's a nice sunny day here, so I have it sitting out in the driveway airing out.

Still my room to go through. Harder to do when it's sunny because I want to be outside but I really should go through it while I'm motivated to toss things I don't need and save things I do so I can give them to my cousin KJ before I go.

Farewell Potluck and Just Over a Week To Go

We just finished my farewell potluck here at the house. There were a lot of good family friends, a few Starbucks people and naturally, family. We encouraged people to bring a dish from another country. People brought curry, Scandinavian desserts, Italian baked ravioli, German meatballs and many other delicious dishes. There were maybe 50 or 60 people here! It was great. You could get a great plate of food and then come back after 30 minutes and there would be several new dishes there. It was great. Thanks to everyone who came! It was really great to see everyone and be wished bon voyage by you all!

I have just over a week to go. Just eight days, four hours and 10 minutes until my flight leaves from Seattle. I was able to get rid of a few bags of clothes, toiletries and other stuff that my cousin will be able to either use, give to her roommates to use or try to sell at a garage sale they are holding in a few weeks to benefit their house. I hope they can put it to good use but I'm also really glad to get rid of stuff. Hopefully I can sort through more stuff in my packing in the last week and find more stuff to get rid of to lighten my load when I return and move to wherever I go next.

One more day of work and then that's it for me and Starbucks! At least until I get back and need a job to get back on my feet when I return. Then it'll be Auf Wiedersehen Starbucks! It's been a nice three years and three days! Oh- and three stores too- J. Clyde Morris, Newport News, VA 10705, Rivanna Ridge, Charlottesville, VA 7828 and Meridian Haggen, Bellingham, WA 320! Ha ha- 333! I don't know what that means but it's got to mean something, eh?

New Haircut!

Ok- it's been a while since my last post. I was busy housesitting for a few weeks and now I'm back home for my last two weeks before leaving!

I got a hair cut on Saturday- nice and short. It will be much easier to keep up- not that it was hard before- but now it takes about half the shampoo and dries much faster. The photo is of me with my cousin, Olivia.


I've got a lot to do in my last few weeks. I need to renew my driver's license, see about getting an International Student Identification Card and International Youth Hostel Membership Card. It may be too late for those two, but I can probably get my student discount with my Luther College ID card (no year on it! score!) and I can buy a membership to the major hostel chains. Tons of stuff to do, but if I don't get it done before I leave, I'll just have to deal with it.

Toss it, Chuck it, Bin it!

So, the sorting has begun. I've gone through all my guidebook pages and ripped out ones that I don't need. I ended up throwing away nearly 200 pages! It's great! I went through my Ireland book the past week and determined that a rough plan would give me 27 days in Ireland, plus another week for Northern Ireland. A little longer than I initially thought, but there's a lot more to Ireland than I thought there was. I'm very excited.

I just got back from a load of returns to REI. I love REI! Great return policy. I order a lot of stuff online and have it shipped to the store (free!) and then return the sizes of clothes that don't fit. They're quite nice about it (most of the time).

I'm house-sitting this week and next and have packed me bag with everything I thought I would want/need on my trip. I've eliminated my sweater-vest, a pair of walking shorts and a pair of pants. It's nice to have a little more room there, but I know I'll be filling some of it with things I forgot to pack or will be buying there (shampoo, small souvenirs, heavy coat in the summer, etc) so hopefully I can eliminate more space and weight before I go.

I've ordered free business cards with my email, blog address and couchsurfing page address on it to give to people here who want to follow my adventure and for people who I meet there who want to stay in touch and/or have connections for me in Europe.

A lot has happened the past week and a lot more still needs to be done in the next few weeks!