A Nap, a Pint, and a Bite (to eat). After an exhausting a and stressful day of travel, those thhree things are the best prescription for happiness money can buy.
We finally touched down in Dublin at 8am local time after a long, sleepless flight from O'Hare. I caught about 30 minutes of wine induced nappage after our in-flight dinner, but between my excitement and horrendous sleep schedule my body and mind were unable to coordinate efforts to deliver anything close to something that resembles actual, beneficial sleep.
When I went to turn on my phone after landing, the first (of what I'm sure to be many) snag in my plans occurred - my iPhone couldn't pick up a signal (after I specifically I went to verizon before I left and asked them to activate my SIM card for travel in Ireland. They said they did, buy apparently that was not the case, which I found out after visiting multiple cell phone stores in Dublin). I know realize how much of a "first world problem" this was, but at the time my sleep-deprived mind couldn't rationalize. It's funny how easy it is to get sucked into dwelling on negativity, feeling sorry
for yourself, etc...but all it took for me to snap out of it was walking around the city centre. I distinctly remember talking to myself, saying, "Hey dumbass - who gives a shit about the stupid phone. You're in Ireland. Enjoy!"
I took my luggage to the hostel but still couldn't check in for another three hours, so instead of taking a nap (which was my original plan), I decided to take in the sights. I visited Trinity College, Dublin Castle, and St Patricks Cathedral (all of which you can see on my Facebook/Instagram pages), but it was almost as if I was having an out of body experience. I was physically there, but mentally I felt very distant. I don't know where my mind was - probably in survival mode trying to deal with my severe lack of sleep.
Finally it was time to check into my room and take a nap. I laid down on the bed and I don't think it even took me 20 seconds before I was out. I'm not sure if I had ever been that happy to lay down in my entire life. I was sore in muscles I didn't even know I had. I didn't even have time to take off my shoes or change clothes before I was in the middle of full-fledged REM sleep. An amazing nap to say the least. I have taken many a good nap in my day, but very few were ever as sorely needed as this one.
I awoke feeling refreshed and ready to join my friends Erin and Shannon (convenient names for 2 US girls traveling in Ireland), who are also in Ireland visiting over their fall break, for a pint. It just so happens that the hostel where I am staying has a pub next door and, like all good pubs in Dublin, they serve Guinness. I enjoyed a great pint and great conversation. Always nice to see familiar faces when in a foreign land. After the beer I headed to Leo Burdock's for fish and chips to cap the night.
As mentioned at the top, sometimes all it takes is a nap, a pint, and a bite to heal any travel weariness. I'm back in my hostel for the night, showered (which was also amazing - that hot water pouring over my body did wonders. I think I need to add that to the list) and ready to head out for Galway tomorrow.
I'm excited to experience Dublin a again on Monday before I fly home, because I feel like I wasn't fully present today. St Patricks Park is absolutely lovely. I think I could just end up spending the whole afternoon there Monday.
More travels await - Cheers!
PS: If this post sucks, I blame it on the lack of sleep.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Ireland Trip - O'hare Airport
Well, this trip is starting off like all good things in life do: with a pint. Except this pint cost $10. Damn you airport bar. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of Sam Adams Oktoberfest - but $10? Really? I have a tough time splurging for a 6 pack of Bells Two Hearted for $10. So one measly pint for $10? I guess the old saying holds true: location, location, location. Where is capitalism at play, here? Where is the competition? This bar has a monopoly on the market. These prices need to be driven down. $10 for a pint?! Maybe I should open up my own airport bar chain. Perhaps that is the eternal entrepreneur in me? I digress...
So I'm going to Ireland! This should be a fun trip - one of my all-time spur of the moment decisions. Booked my flight a week and a half ago. I have no plans. I have no idea what to expect. This rivals my trip out west 2 years ago with my friends Caleb Laidig and Mark Lettinga. That trip was conceived about 3 days prior to leaving and all we had in the way of a "plan" was plugging downtown Denver into our GPS and figuring it out once we arrived. It was only supposed to be a 5 day trip to Colorado but we turned it into a 2 week excursion including Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone in addition to Colorado. Some great memories were made on that trip. On principal, we agreed that we would not pay for a hotel/any form of lodging the entire trip. Still don't know how we pulled it off.
Anyways, this will be my second time visiting Europe (my first trip to the "motherland" was another epic adventure that included visiting friends studying abroad in France and Italy over the course of 3 weeks) and I am so excited to get back! I still have 4.10€ in change from my last trip so I'm hoping that will cover my bus fare from Dublin airport to the city centre - fingers crossed! I cannot wait to explore the Emerald Isle and take in the culture by which we in America have been so heavily influenced. The Scott-Irish immigrants who settled in the Appalachian Mountains in America brought with them their Celtic folk music, and it is this mountain music which is the basis of American folk, bluegrass, and country music of today. Hopefully I'll be able to find some inspiration by truly getting back to the roots of the music I love.
I just finished my $10 pint so I'll stop my rambling. Hopefully I'll be diligent in keeping up with my blog throughout my travels. No promises, though. It's tough to find time to write during the craziness of traveling, exploring, and living in the present.
It's about time to board the plane, so the next time I sit down to write I will be in Dublin!
Cheers!
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Musings Under the Golden Dome (Part 2)
I find myself in a familiar place, both physically and mentally, today...
In the physical realm, I'm sitting on my favorite bench basking in a beautiful early fall morning beneath the young maples lining a sidewalk which leads to the Golden Dome - God Quad for those of you familiar with Our Lady's campus. The leaves are now beginning to tease us with the slightest shades of gold and orange. Words cannot do justice. If you have never experienced fall in northern Indiana, you must make a pilgrimage to this holy land I call home. I suggest late September or early October to understand the true beauty of this place - Our Maker blesses us with an embarrassing wealth of sensory pleasures during this time of year. The explosion of color, crunch of leaves under your feet, crisp autumn air upon your skin, the aroma of change; one cannot help but look up to the heavens and thank Him.
In the crazy, confused world of my mind, I am simultaneously kicking myself in the balls and hitting my head against the proverbial, nondescript concrete wall of regret. A breathtaking blonde (a rarity in these parts...she must have been a Saint Mary's student) just strutted past me and all I could muster was a sheepish grin before immersing myself back in the book I'm currently reading ("Proof of Heaven" by Eben Alexander, MD - it's a great book. I highly recommend you read it.) - I couldn't even produce a simple "Hey" to acknowledge her beauty and give her grace the attention it deserved. Sure, this book is a fine read, but it certainly does not warrant my undivided attention when such a transient, life-altering moment presents itself with such a gorgeous girl. Striking up a quick conversation would have potentially (nay, undoubtedly) transformed the trajectory of my life; launching me into a headlong romance which would one day lead to her walking down the aisle into my loving arms, proclaiming "I do" in a dress of white. Unrealistic and, most likely, unhealthy thoughts? Undoubtedly. But so is the way of my misguided (but, albeit, well-intentioned) mind.
Apparently today is not my day. Again. Perhaps I am destined to be forever chained to this printed type on worn paper - this book my one, true lifelong companion? I suppose it is not such a gloomy destiny - at least I would not have to suffer through the inevitable failings of giving myself (physically, mentally, emotionally) wholly to another imperfect being.
But Ted Mosby, the fictional character of undying optimism on the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," gives me hope that I will not meet such a depressing fate. And so I press on. Tomorrow, hope springs eternal. Carpe diem?
And so on and so forth goes the musings of a single 20-something. C'est la vie...
Unfathomable beauty surrounds us in the physical world, yet I am too foolish and selfish to recognize the gifts of our Creator. Instead I retreat into the recesses of my own self-doubt and self-pity; a prisoner of my imperfect, unconfident mind. God, I hope I can one day break these chains. The sooner the better.
In the physical realm, I'm sitting on my favorite bench basking in a beautiful early fall morning beneath the young maples lining a sidewalk which leads to the Golden Dome - God Quad for those of you familiar with Our Lady's campus. The leaves are now beginning to tease us with the slightest shades of gold and orange. Words cannot do justice. If you have never experienced fall in northern Indiana, you must make a pilgrimage to this holy land I call home. I suggest late September or early October to understand the true beauty of this place - Our Maker blesses us with an embarrassing wealth of sensory pleasures during this time of year. The explosion of color, crunch of leaves under your feet, crisp autumn air upon your skin, the aroma of change; one cannot help but look up to the heavens and thank Him.
In the crazy, confused world of my mind, I am simultaneously kicking myself in the balls and hitting my head against the proverbial, nondescript concrete wall of regret. A breathtaking blonde (a rarity in these parts...she must have been a Saint Mary's student) just strutted past me and all I could muster was a sheepish grin before immersing myself back in the book I'm currently reading ("Proof of Heaven" by Eben Alexander, MD - it's a great book. I highly recommend you read it.) - I couldn't even produce a simple "Hey" to acknowledge her beauty and give her grace the attention it deserved. Sure, this book is a fine read, but it certainly does not warrant my undivided attention when such a transient, life-altering moment presents itself with such a gorgeous girl. Striking up a quick conversation would have potentially (nay, undoubtedly) transformed the trajectory of my life; launching me into a headlong romance which would one day lead to her walking down the aisle into my loving arms, proclaiming "I do" in a dress of white. Unrealistic and, most likely, unhealthy thoughts? Undoubtedly. But so is the way of my misguided (but, albeit, well-intentioned) mind.
Apparently today is not my day. Again. Perhaps I am destined to be forever chained to this printed type on worn paper - this book my one, true lifelong companion? I suppose it is not such a gloomy destiny - at least I would not have to suffer through the inevitable failings of giving myself (physically, mentally, emotionally) wholly to another imperfect being.
But Ted Mosby, the fictional character of undying optimism on the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," gives me hope that I will not meet such a depressing fate. And so I press on. Tomorrow, hope springs eternal. Carpe diem?
And so on and so forth goes the musings of a single 20-something. C'est la vie...
Unfathomable beauty surrounds us in the physical world, yet I am too foolish and selfish to recognize the gifts of our Creator. Instead I retreat into the recesses of my own self-doubt and self-pity; a prisoner of my imperfect, unconfident mind. God, I hope I can one day break these chains. The sooner the better.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Musings Under the Golden Dome (part 1)
The breeze cools me. It's hot. Even underneath the protective cover of the juvenile maple trees that line the shaded walkway in the shadow of the Golden Dome, the heat finds a way to permeate and penetrate my attempt to elude it. It's a summer afternoon in South Bend - should I expect anything different? Soon the cool breeze of autumn will blow in, followed by the bitter chill of winter. In 3 months I should be so lucky as to bitch and complain about the heat. So I won't.
The cicadas don't seem to mind the heat. Their familiar call provides the soundtrack for another beautifully lazy day. Perhaps they are keenly aware that fall is knocking on the doorstep, with winter close behind. Perhaps they are just living for the moment, oblivious to the fact that life as they know it is about to come to an abrupt end. Whatever the case, their song ebbs and flows with the waning hours of the day - much like my emotions on this steamy September afternoon.
Currently I'm distracted by a squirrel in front of me, frantically scavenging nuts and burying them as fast as he can find them. Hoping he will stumble across this secret stash sometime after the snow melts in the spring in 6 months or so. He probably won't ever find the nuts - this amuses me. What a fool. Can't fault him for his lack of effort, though. But his frenetic work is all in vein. What a waste of time and energy...The more I contemplate, though, the more I suppose that I am not so different than this squirrel. Well-intentioned and hard-working. But dumb. Too dumb to just enjoy the gift of the present. Choosing, rather, to obsessively stress about a mostly uncontrollable future...
Back to the cicadas. They are still singing. They sing in the afternoon, into the evening. They sing well into the night. Providing this world with the gift of their song - whether we, the world, wish to listen or not.
I think I have something to learn from the cicadas. Just sing. Live in the present. Give the world your song and enjoy the gift of the present summer. Too often have I been like the foolish squirrel - frantically stressing over the impending winter. A winter - and future - over which I have little control. Instead of worrying, just live. And breathe. And enjoy this glorious day our Creator has given unto us.
The cicadas don't seem to mind the heat. Their familiar call provides the soundtrack for another beautifully lazy day. Perhaps they are keenly aware that fall is knocking on the doorstep, with winter close behind. Perhaps they are just living for the moment, oblivious to the fact that life as they know it is about to come to an abrupt end. Whatever the case, their song ebbs and flows with the waning hours of the day - much like my emotions on this steamy September afternoon.
Currently I'm distracted by a squirrel in front of me, frantically scavenging nuts and burying them as fast as he can find them. Hoping he will stumble across this secret stash sometime after the snow melts in the spring in 6 months or so. He probably won't ever find the nuts - this amuses me. What a fool. Can't fault him for his lack of effort, though. But his frenetic work is all in vein. What a waste of time and energy...The more I contemplate, though, the more I suppose that I am not so different than this squirrel. Well-intentioned and hard-working. But dumb. Too dumb to just enjoy the gift of the present. Choosing, rather, to obsessively stress about a mostly uncontrollable future...
Back to the cicadas. They are still singing. They sing in the afternoon, into the evening. They sing well into the night. Providing this world with the gift of their song - whether we, the world, wish to listen or not.
I think I have something to learn from the cicadas. Just sing. Live in the present. Give the world your song and enjoy the gift of the present summer. Too often have I been like the foolish squirrel - frantically stressing over the impending winter. A winter - and future - over which I have little control. Instead of worrying, just live. And breathe. And enjoy this glorious day our Creator has given unto us.
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