Day One

January 9, 2011

I made it to Ireland! Finally. It’s one of those things that you never think will get here and when it does, you scarce can take it in. I feel like I’m in America right now, but I’m Europe. Bizarre.

For an update: We left Cornerstone at noon yesterday (Saturday) and drove to Chicago. This is quite trivial, but I’m going to say it anyways. The international terminal at O’Hare has no food. Thankfully, we didn’t wait too for our flight to get here. And, it was the easiest international flight I’ve been on in terms of procedures and security and customs. The flight was good too. I listened to music and fell asleep fairly quickly. Praise God! Especially since the last couple weeks have been really late nights and really early mornings.

We arrived in Dublin this morning (Sunday) at 8:32 a.m. Dublin is in the Southern part of Ireland, and Belfast is two hours north located in the United Kingdom. The countryside is beautiful. Rolling hills and old stone buildings everywhere. I love that about Ireland. Everything is old, charming, and beautiful. (just as side note: Ireland, and probably many other places in Europe are energy efficient, so to put it bluntly…it’s freezing! Thankfully I brought all my sweaters!).

When we arrived in Ireland I was thinking it’d be pouring down rain and freezing. It is freezing, but the sun was out and ever so bright! We had the opportunity to stop at an old 15th century celtic grave yard. It was beautiful! The burial sites were really old and they provided so much history. I was really tired when listening to the tour guide talk so I missed out on the history of it, but I did catch one interesting tidbit. The crosses tell a story. They tell a story of the gospel. The crosses are actually nicknamed “poor man’s gospel,” because poor people in Ireland were illiterate, so the crosses on the grave stones helped them understand.

Then we headed back to the manor and “nested” as they call it. We ate lunch almost immediately upon arriving. It was delicious! I’d live in Ireland just for the food! It was wild rice and chicken soup, bread, and a salad. After lunch we had a couple hours to get settled in and unpack. We were advised not to fall asleep, but I did anyways. I really tried not too! Later we had a meeting with our group to go over expectations and talk about what we are going to be doing. Some reading for the class I’m going to be taking, and dinner. It was called an Ulster Fry. It’s an Irish breakfast…but for dinner. And oh boy was it ever good!

In our group meeting we were told to be thinking about our expectations for this trip. Before ever leaving I had the expectation of growing in who I am as a person and growing in head knowledge. As a person, I’d like to become more of myself and become much more confident in who I am. After my freedom appointment last Thursday, I am slowly learning that it’s good to be yourself. So, I’ve let my insecurities go. A lot of my class that I’ll be taking is discussion based. I can be so introverted and shy, so this trip will really challenge me to go deeper and become stronger. I may know how to get around an airport, but when it comes to things in groups and especially with people who I don’t know; that is scary. I expect myself to learn the value of education and knowledge. I have never taken school seriously. Of course, it’s always ended up on my New Year Resolution list, but I’ve never really followed through.

This year has brought with it so much potential, freedom, joy, peace, Jesus, love, strength. I know it’s going to be an amazing year! I want to enjoy this experience to the fullest. I want to sit down and read Irish literature and take in everything that we see these next two weeks. I want to get to know the people and the culture. I want to get to know myself more and learn what my mind is capable of.

That’s all for tonight. This is so bizarre. It’s bed time here in Ireland, but back home it’s 4 pm. Alright friends, enjoy your Sunday afternoon!