Greetings from the Emerald Isle! After an eventful week in the countryside, returning to the bustling tourist city of Dublin took some adjusting. Luckily my first night back I was openly welcomed to the home of Chuck and Imelda who provided a delicious vegetarian feast/dinner, warm shower, laundry facilities, comfortable sleeping space, unlimited internet access, and endless nomadic advice and encouragement. I've only been gone for a few weeks but am already overwhelmed with the generosity and support of people. Let's face it, I voluntarily chose to take a backpack across the pond with limited belongings and funding. Yet people have been willing to assist any way they can so I can continue this crazy adventure. Thanks to all!

After a great reunion with two rugby friends, Jaime and Coley (who are completing their 2 month European Backpacking Extravaganza), we've spent the past two days exploring the city and having fun. Our best adventure was a short day trip to a small town just outside of Dublin called Skerries. We found a brochure advertising windmills from the hotel lobby and decided to check it out for the day. We had no clue what to expect but it's always the unexpected things that turn out the best, right? The town contained two windmills and a water mill of which we were personally given a lengthy, informative tour. I would have to compare the initial experience to the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine where you are forced to take a school field trip and spend the whole time laughing behind the teacher's back and fighting with the person behind you in line. However, with my acquisition of that piece of paper and my infinite wisdom, I (and we) very much enjoyed the tour. The mills were impressive in their simplistic methods requiring only water and wind for power and also impressive in their complex designs that efficiently used every ounce of power to refine grains. I'll never look at a piece of bread the same again. I probably learned more in one tour in a little town called Skerries than in a week of power presentations at an accredited university. After our windmill explorations, we walked on the beach along the harbor admitting how glad we were to have the opportunity to visit. Later we celebrated Coley's birthday with a nice Thai meal and......

So this morning I once again said goodbye to friends and will now be on my own for the rest of the trip. I have to admit, there's a certain period of the day between leaving the place you slept the night before and getting to the place you're going to sleep for that night that really reinforce the aim of this excursion and also instill stronger feelings of vagabondry. Then, once again generous people are put in your path and you can warmly reflect on these things at the home of Chuck and Imelda.

I'm off to my first WWOOFing adventure tomorrow in County Wicklow just south of Dublin!

Attack of the Wild Animal and More!

I've spent the past week at a retreat center in County Sligo and have been living the dream. After semi-successfully managing public transportation in Ireland I arrived late Wednesday evening. I've had my own little cottage right by a river fully equipped with food but no TV. I worked a few hours a day helping in the garden or cutting wood in exchange for room and board. In spare time (which has been plentiful), I've been out exploring, gone hiking and biking, read, watched movies, etc. Unfortunately "Taken" was one of those movies which was probably the worst decision I've made since being in Ireland The mountains and scenery are beautiful and despite what Skip says, Ireland does not look like WV.

I have not been walking alone in the woods at night yet, but have still managed a near life threatening incident. Whilst innocently and joyously embarking on an afternoon bicycle ride the other day, I slowed to admire the beautiful scenery on either side of the road. Just as I slowed, a large sheep burst out of a poorly constructed stone fence only feet ahead of me. The sheep gazed at me fiercely with sharp, piercing eyes of black but I gazed back with fiercer, even sharper, more piercing eyes of brown. The sheep obviously sensed fear from a person known for their disdain of all animals and began sprinting down the road in the opposite direction. After stopping to munch on a few blades of grass, the sheep entered the fence of a farm across the street and continued on with its business of sheep being. I have since been exercising greater caution when biking.

Wednesday afternoon I'll catch a bus back to Dublin and spend a few more days in the city, meeting up with 4 friends from school. Saturday I'm headed to Cork (home of the famous Blarney Stone) where I'll stay on my own for at least 3 weeks then go to Galway on the west coast for a week.

I've only been gone for two weeks and have to admit that I'm already tired of my clothes. It's also not much fun carrying all of your belongings on your back all day, thinking that it's too heavy and trying to figure out what to toss. It's even less fun when you realize that you've tossed all you can toss and really need everything that's left. Other than that, the trip is fun! Waking up everyday to do whatever and go wherever is a great feeling!

The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. -C. McCandless

The first few days...

Hello! So after three long flights I finally arrived in Dublin early Friday morning. I met up with two friends and after checking into our hotel, slept most of the day. We went to a few bars later that night and met a lot of very nice Irish people. I was a little surprised that everyone knows where West Virginia is, and they’ll then proceed to sing you “Country Roads.” People are also excited that Obama is our new president and so am I :-) Other than that, I’ve just been exploring the city! I took a tour of Dublin Castle, walked through St. Stephen’s Green, and went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The St. Patrick’s Day parade was huge and people were standing on ladders just to look. We didn’t see any great floats and after a while of pretending that watching the parade was fun, we had lunch and beers. It seemed like there were more tourists (mainly American) than actual Irish celebrating but it was a fun day!
I’m leaving Dublin today and taking a train to Sligo which is in the northwest region of Ireland. Hopefully the weather will still be great (still haven’t had rain!). Miss you and see you soon!

Departure and Trip Itinerary

Well I'm set to begin my vagabonding adventures this week!! Following a few months of working in the real world and weeks of travel to visit friends and family I'm anxious and ready to go. After 18 years of structured schooling, traveling seems ideal to further my education (and have fun) before hopefully attending graduate school in the fall. I'm flying out of Charleston Thursday morning and will land in Dublin early Friday. I'll meet up with two friends and spend some time celebrating St. Patrick's Day. After about a week I'm planning to travel around Ireland on my own and experience as much as possible! I have a backpack and a short list of things to do, no detailed plans and no return ticket. If you've read this far and think that I've still maintained some of my sanity and would like to keep it that way, skip to the next paragraph. While I'm in Ireland, I've set up a few places to work/visit/stay through a program called WWOOF. Google it if you get a chance. I'm drawn to the simplistic ideals of the program and chance to meet diverse people and see the country through a different perspective.

I won't have a phone while abroad but I'm hoping to gain access to a computer every so often. I hope that everyone will keep in touch through e-mail and keep me updated! Also, I'm not opposed to traveling throughout Europe so if you have any suggestions or places I could stay let me know :-)


“What is the feeling when you're driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? -it's the too huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” - Kerouac