“I’m steppin’ out… I’m gonna see the world” - ELO (a song my dad listened to on his way to his DTS then played for me on the drive to O’Hare)
6:49 pm I’m typing this sitting at Gate K7 of the O’Hare International Airport - the flight is now scheduled to leave at 7:30pm instead of 7:20pm, but hopefully that’ll be the only hiccough in this trip.
Sitting in this crowded legion of chairs I can hear Irish and English accents along with the American - knowing that I’m going to be living in a situation where that sort of mixture is the norm is pretty exciting. Soon I’ll be living in very close quarters with people from England, Holland, India, Germany, Norway, France, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Korea, the US and Canada - 21 other students in all. I’ll see how many different accents I can pick up!
7:30 pm - Well, we’re now scheduled to take off at 7:45 instead of the original 7:20, and I’m hoping this won’t create any problems with my connection in Dublin… it’s supposed to leave at 11:00 am, only two and a half hours after this first flight was originally scheduled to land.
9:40 pm/3:40 am Dublin time - Finally, after over 2 hours of delays due to faulty smoke detectors, frozen water pipes, and a family that had to leave due to a death in the family, we take off.
10:55 am Dublin Time - We touched down at 9:45 and by the time we began to deplane it was around 10:00. By 10:10 I was out and running. Well, walking fast and jogging occasionally, anyway. I got to the passport check line and got a bit antsy as it took so long for the line to shrink - I asked an attendant the fastest route to the Aer Lingus desk and as soon as my passport was stamped I scampered to get my boarding pass.
That done, I hurried to follow the directions to the gate. Up the stairs, through security, down a few long halls, and I made it to the gate with almost 25 minutes to spare.
10:29 pm - in bed at Holmsted Manor - I got to Gatwick at 12:15 and Hanna, the school leader, picked me up. I was given a tour of the beautiful house, met some of the staff and students, ate a late lunch with Hanna, then had some time to myself to unpack a bit, call home, and take a couple hour’s nap.
During dinner I was able to acquaint myself a bit better with some of the other students. From 8:00 - 9:45 we played cards and had an impromptu worship time in “The Underground”, the hang out room in the basement.
I went up to bed at 10:00, did a bit of journaling, and was out like a light.
6:49 pm I’m typing this sitting at Gate K7 of the O’Hare International Airport - the flight is now scheduled to leave at 7:30pm instead of 7:20pm, but hopefully that’ll be the only hiccough in this trip.
Sitting in this crowded legion of chairs I can hear Irish and English accents along with the American - knowing that I’m going to be living in a situation where that sort of mixture is the norm is pretty exciting. Soon I’ll be living in very close quarters with people from England, Holland, India, Germany, Norway, France, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Korea, the US and Canada - 21 other students in all. I’ll see how many different accents I can pick up!
7:30 pm - Well, we’re now scheduled to take off at 7:45 instead of the original 7:20, and I’m hoping this won’t create any problems with my connection in Dublin… it’s supposed to leave at 11:00 am, only two and a half hours after this first flight was originally scheduled to land.
9:40 pm/3:40 am Dublin time - Finally, after over 2 hours of delays due to faulty smoke detectors, frozen water pipes, and a family that had to leave due to a death in the family, we take off.
10:55 am Dublin Time - We touched down at 9:45 and by the time we began to deplane it was around 10:00. By 10:10 I was out and running. Well, walking fast and jogging occasionally, anyway. I got to the passport check line and got a bit antsy as it took so long for the line to shrink - I asked an attendant the fastest route to the Aer Lingus desk and as soon as my passport was stamped I scampered to get my boarding pass.
That done, I hurried to follow the directions to the gate. Up the stairs, through security, down a few long halls, and I made it to the gate with almost 25 minutes to spare.
10:29 pm - in bed at Holmsted Manor - I got to Gatwick at 12:15 and Hanna, the school leader, picked me up. I was given a tour of the beautiful house, met some of the staff and students, ate a late lunch with Hanna, then had some time to myself to unpack a bit, call home, and take a couple hour’s nap.
During dinner I was able to acquaint myself a bit better with some of the other students. From 8:00 - 9:45 we played cards and had an impromptu worship time in “The Underground”, the hang out room in the basement.
I went up to bed at 10:00, did a bit of journaling, and was out like a light.
Photos: Friday, January 16
Day 1 - Saturday, January 17
I got up at 8:00, we had breakfast and wandered around the grounds a bit. At 10 we all got into a mini school bus and went on a shopping trip to Sainsbury’s, where I was happy to find mint Aero bars and Sainsbury’s soda, both of which brought back memories of Edinburgh (as my family will attest).
In the afternoon the plan was to play football (as the Europeans insist on calling it) in the field down the drive, but I and the girls from my room ended up sitting and talking in our room for a few hours. They’re all really interesting girls; I’ll be telling you about them later on…
We had a meeting in The Leather Room at 4:00 so everyone could introduce themselves as everyone had arrived. We got our schedules and learned more about the general layout of the school, then spent a couple of hours talking.
We ate pizza for dinner and I helped wash up afterwards, then we went to the coach house to play a few ice breaking games. After a bit we went back to The Underground, which is where I am now!
In the afternoon the plan was to play football (as the Europeans insist on calling it) in the field down the drive, but I and the girls from my room ended up sitting and talking in our room for a few hours. They’re all really interesting girls; I’ll be telling you about them later on…
We had a meeting in The Leather Room at 4:00 so everyone could introduce themselves as everyone had arrived. We got our schedules and learned more about the general layout of the school, then spent a couple of hours talking.
We ate pizza for dinner and I helped wash up afterwards, then we went to the coach house to play a few ice breaking games. After a bit we went back to The Underground, which is where I am now!
Photos: 1st Day - Saturday, January 17
Very cool
ReplyDeleteBrings back memories...
All my small group mtgs were in the leather room
"We are pizza"?!
I is broccoli !
Dad
Typo! :P
ReplyDelete'tis bound to happen. It's gone now, ya happy?
Let me know if you have trouble posting comments again - I'm not sure why that was happening, but I'll see if I can fix it.