Here I am Ireland!!

So the day has come and it is time to head to Ireland! I have all my bags packed (3 of them - expensive FYI) and the butterflies are starting up in my stomach! My mom is driving me to the airport but it still hasn't really sunk in what is going on just yet.

We get to the airport and meet my dad there. Well my bags were over the weight limit (although we measured it at home) and there is me in the middle of the airport floor tearing clothes out of my bag trying to get them down to the right weight (50 lbs.). Fortunately there were not a lot of people in that particular terminal. So we finally get that settled and we are waiting a little while longer to say goodbyes. That was so hard! I am really close with my parents and if I see them cry I will start to cry. So my mom starts and then I start and then she sees me crying which makes her cry even more.... oh man the tears were just flowing out! We calmed down and walked over to security. We said one more goodbye and I turned around walked in.... that was it - I was now officially starting my journey. And that is when it really hit me, I turned around to wave one last time to my parents and the tears came out full force! I got completely overwhelmed in that moment seeing them for the last time in person for at least 7 months.

Long story short - I calmed down and made it through security just fine. I got to my terminal and waited for my plane. I read my book to keep my mind off of crying again - tears of sadness for leaving my family, but joy for the experience. After about an hour and a half of waiting the plane was ready!

Ok here I go! I'm stepping on the plane - oh man I am really doing this - I keep walking - yep there is no turning back! AHHHHH! I sit in my seat and it fully sets in what I am doing and where I am going to be for the next 7 months..... in Ireland, away from familiarity, by myself..... Wow.

About 9 hours later - HERE I AM IRELAND!! Holy crap, I am actually here! I can't believe it!
I'm walking through the Dublin airport at around 6 am local time and I probably look crazy because I just keep smiling and smiling and smiling....  I feel like one of those tourists everyone makes fun of because I probably look completely lost and don't know where to go to find my bus. Well, after 1 bus ride and 1 tram ride I am finally at Dublin Heuston station awaiting my train to take me to Claremorris! So I sit and people watch - probably one of the most fun things to do! :)

It's now time to get on the train and again I feel like a dumb tourist, but anyways I get on the train and make it to my seat. It is going to be a 4 hour train ride and I really didn't sleep much on the planes, so I try to get some sleep. I start out on the train ride with no one around me - you are in groups of 4 seats with a table in the middle - but then at one point I wake up and there is a guy sitting next to me, a young woman sitting across from me and her 1.5 year standing on the table... yeah that really woke me up.

4 hours later and I have arrived in Claremorris!! Holy crap I am here - I am about to meet my host family for the first time! Although right now I'm more worried about how I'm going to get all my bags off the trains (ahh a nice Irishman helped me!).... I put the first bag off the train and the man helps me with the next... I am trying to get myself situated when I hear my name..... and I hear it again... I turn around to see if I am really hearing that right and there is Judi and Jack (9 yr. old) waving at me!! Ahh there they are!

Now I have officially arrived in Ireland and am ready to go!