Day 1 (August 15th)

So every day that goes by means that I have more and more to tell, which makes it harder and harder to find the time to sit and write it all down! But finally I'm writing, so hopefully I'll get caught up to current times!

Our flight to Holland was very, um, interesting. Our flight was delayed 2 hours and 20 minutes from New York because of storms in the area. We arrived in Dublin just minutes before our connecting flight was leaving for Amsterdam, but instead of Aer Lingus telling us to just forget it and wait for the next flight, the flight attendant told us to "run run run" to try to catch it. After going through immigration, running all the way across the airport, going through security, and running all the way back across the airport (all with our four extremely heavily packed carryon bags), we arrived at the gate just in time to watch the plane pulling way from window. In any case, we waited for the the next flight, and arrived something like 4 hours later than we were supposed to.

In front of the front door to our apartment

After hauling all of the our bags up the ladders, I mean stairs, to our third floor apartment, we settled in and then went out for a ride around town on our bicycles! I have a wonderful new second-hand 7-speed bicycle that Rene's father bought for me, with a big chain lock covered in red fabric (it helps me identify which of the crazy number of bicycles is mine!). It also has strange things like a lock on the wheel that stops it from turning and a light on the front that is powered by the turning of the front wheel . . . all very strange things to this American girl.

My new bicycle on the bridge over the canal that runs in front of our apartment

Anyways, Rene showed me around the city for a bit and then we found a pub that was still serving food, and then we called it a night!

It was a pretty emotional day, all in all. Coming into our apartment for the first time was very strange and overwhelming, knowing that this is my new home in my new country with a new language and a new husband. The feeling of being overwhelmed and homesick didn’t end as I tried to figure out new traffic rules for bicycles, a new town, and a new menu with words that I don’t understand. It’s a pretty frustrating feeling to realize that you can’t do anything without your husband to help you- I can’t even answer the phone! But things are already getting a little better, so I’ll move onto Day 2.