I don't want to talk about it...

But I will! Ok, it wasn't as bad as all that, but I suppose, now that I've got a moment and am listening to Man of La Mancha (Jen yippie music), I'll give you details of my trip so far. I left Syracuse pretty much on time, with no hitches. It was really hard saying goodbye to everyone. I was put on this TINY aircraft that I hadn't seen the likes of since traveling with Dad too and from Idaho when I was a child. It was 9 "rows" long with only 2 seats per row. Once I saw there was only about 5 of us on the flight, I grabbed the only row with three seats together, the very last one. I ran into a woman from Poland who asked me to help her find her gate in Boston. Since I had a 4 hour layover, and she had an hour, I agreed to help her out. So, we get to Boston, I lug my baggage (only the carryons, thank God) to Terminal E with my Polish companion. Luckily, we were both leaving from the same terminal. Once we get to the terminal, I check to see where she is to go, as well as me. And what do I see next to my Flight... Cancelled! Ha ha, good joke there. So, since I don't have my next boarding pass, I have to help my charge as far as the next security point, where the nice security man with what sounded like a Polish accent had to help her with directions to her gate. I took off to the Aer Lingus counter to see what's up.I ended up speaking to Ryan (? who cares, he was cute) who told me that yes, in fact, my flight WAS cancelled. Apparently, two planes parked in Dublin were blown into each other by an uncharacteristic whirlwind! Apparently, 2 planes must be their entire fleet because life stopped for Aer Lingus (my internt who was suppose to arrive today has been left in the lurch because of this too!). So,I was sent over to the Hilton which is attached to Terminal E. They gave me a VERY nice, king sized bed room all to myself and food voucehrs. Not such a bad deal, right? Well, then we find out at 10 PM, that at 10 AM the next day, we are going to be BUSSED to JFK Airport in NYC! ACK! Ok, so we do it, take th 4 hour bus ride over. Then we sit in a LOOOOONG line for 3 hours waiting to get our new ticket. We take off almost 24 hours after the original flight was supposed to leave. This was the SMALLEST large plane I have ever been in (Aer Lingus had to charter a flight with World Airlines to get us there)! If you ever come visit me, please use a different airline if you can. I could not move an inch in my seat! We arrive in Shannon, Ireland around 6 am, and then fly to Dublinto arrive about 8 am. My first day in Dublin consisted of sleeping, unpacking, reading, more sleeping, freshening up (my hot water heater wasn't on yet and I couldn't see anything in the closet to make it work because apparently apartments don't believe in lights), having dinner with Tara and Mark (boss and hubby), checking in with Dan and Mom, passing out. I was able to wake up late the next day (yesterday)though, and have beaten jetlag surprisingly well. Tara and I spent most of yesterday doing shopping for the classroom, and she took me over to see the place. No bad, a little echo, but nothing I can't work with. My office has an old yellow shag rug in it that Tara was thinking of making them tear up for me, but after I told her that it reminded me of the run from my parents home, she decided it was a good sign and said we needed to keep it, at least for now. We'll see how long it lasts. :) My classroom has a statue of Mary in it which I figured Grandma would love. It also has huge windows which are a nice contrast to my old offices and the claustroboic feelings they brought.The school, St Mary's Secondary School, also has a little stage in the gym. I'm toying with the idea of having my speech kids perform some shows. I bought some flannel sheets for my bed and they were WONDERFUL to sleep in when Tara and I went out shopping. I've come to the conclusion also that I'll need to buy a hairdryer and such. Those converter/transformer things really aren't all they're cracked up to be. Today I spent the day calling parents to schedule assessments. It went pretty well and hopefully we'll finish up tomorrow so I can get over to the office/classroom and start setting up.I really haven't done much in the exploration department. I might go with Tara to a Toastmasters meeting tomorrow. Since I very well might be doing a bunch of public speaking, it might not hurt for me to get involved with this group. Tara also told me about a really great church choir to look into joining as well as a gospel choir. That would be a lot of fun! I sent out a few e-mails today for possible roomates. I hope to get that settled soon. But I believe that's it for about now. It's 7:50 here, and I should grab some dinner. One good thing is I have gotten a lot of exercise since coming here. My dorm's (oh,I HAVE to take a picture of the "bathroom" for you to see!) on the 3rd floor and has the only elevator that usually doesn't like to work. It's like having a free stairmaster! :) I hope the new year is finding everyone well. Oooh ooh! I have put some pictures up on the irishjenny website: http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/IrishJenny/lst . I'll make sure to add more as I take more.