After 36 hours of travel I have finally made it into my hotel in Rome where all I want to do is take a shower and finally get some sleep. Before I do though, I feel the need to share the adventures I have encountered since I departed Birmingham. I think you guys are going to like this. I have legit made about 20 new friends.
I'll give a brief overview as it's late and I can't figure out how to make the lights stay on in my room. Every 2 minutes I have to get up and swipe my card again by the door to keep them on. Oh, how I wish I were joking. Alright, new friends:
There was a librarian who drinks double gin and tonics at 9a (no judgement zone, yo) and happened to work for the international school agency that I am looking to apply to for 4 years in two seperate countries. So that worked out well.
Then there was Jenny in Charlotte who literally told me every detail of her life and about how there is no such thing as a no-kill animal shelter and kept putting half her sandwhich on my plate to eat and told me her niece smokes too much pot, but made straight As all through school. Rock on Jenny. Judging by the way she pulled me out of my seat and hugged me for literally a minute and a half when she decided she need to go board her plane, either Jenny could maybe use a little counseling or she just really needed to try to force feed someone half her sandwich and talk about her life with a stranger. Oh, Jenny.
Then in Dublin there was the grandmother (I apparently am really good at making friends with older people- not sure what that says about me) and her sister who told me all about snow owls and when they learned I was from Alabama they insisted that I do in fact know every memeber of The Alabama Shakes and that I needed to put them in contact with them because they absolutely love their music. Needless to say I can very accurately tell you exactly how long the bus ride is from the Dublin airport to the city centre. Long. It's very, very long when Ruth and Nancy are chatting your ears off.
Then there was Jenny in Charlotte who literally told me every detail of her life and about how there is no such thing as a no-kill animal shelter and kept putting half her sandwhich on my plate to eat and told me her niece smokes too much pot, but made straight As all through school. Rock on Jenny. Judging by the way she pulled me out of my seat and hugged me for literally a minute and a half when she decided she need to go board her plane, either Jenny could maybe use a little counseling or she just really needed to try to force feed someone half her sandwich and talk about her life with a stranger. Oh, Jenny.
Then in Dublin there was the grandmother (I apparently am really good at making friends with older people- not sure what that says about me) and her sister who told me all about snow owls and when they learned I was from Alabama they insisted that I do in fact know every memeber of The Alabama Shakes and that I needed to put them in contact with them because they absolutely love their music. Needless to say I can very accurately tell you exactly how long the bus ride is from the Dublin airport to the city centre. Long. It's very, very long when Ruth and Nancy are chatting your ears off.
I just figured out how to keep the lights on. Emilie: 1 Rome: 0 (for future reference, you have to leave your room key in the little slit in the wall) you're welcome, world. I'm like the next Rick Steeves.
I have loved all of the things about the past 36 hours. My favorite part though was arriving in Dublin and although we were stuck on the runway for about an hour until a gate opened up, there were rabbits EVERYWHERE. I kid you not. Just living their dreams, bouncing around and then they would stop and I swear stare right into my eyes as if they were greeting me.
"Top o' the mornin' to ya, lass! Welcome to Dublin, we hope you have a hoppin' good time here in Ireland!"
That's what I imagine they were saying in their minds to me. It happened. I'm telling you. It didn't help that from the moment I touched down in Dublin all of my own thoughts starting coming out with an Irish accent. I could not control it. So I'm sitting here on this plane thinking about lunch and all the things I need to do when I get off the plane and every single thought was in an Irish accent. It's happeneing again, right now. I CAN'T STOP IT.
Alright, I have to call it a night so that I can actually function tomorrow. I am picking up my other compatriots at the airport and then we are headed off to Venice for a few days. I absolutely cannot wait to share a romantic gondola ride with a complete stranger. It's going to happen- fret not.
Shake on, America. Shake on.
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