Dublin and Collecting My Thoughts

The obligatory picture of myself taken by me. The cliffs aren't a bad background, are they?

I've come to a few conclusions. Conclusion number one: European drivers are better than American drivers, but crazier. Conclusion number two: Irish cities have no idea how to label their streets and/or make them easy to navigate. Conclusion number three: After four nights in Ireland, I can honestly say that I will make it back here some day. There's just too much here to see in one week. It seems like yesterday I was in Glenstal Abbey with Father Christoper (tear) and just getting used to not being in America any longer. Speaking of which, I haven't really been hit with culture shock (yet) but I'm sure that it is mostly because I'm in an English speaking country. Of course, to say the Irish speak English is a misnomer of epic proportions.

Last night was an adventure in dialect and accent with Colm and Daniel. Add on to that fact that I was partially intoxicated for the end of it, and it made the entire event both incredibly entertaining, but also increasingly confusing. Some images and ideas you just can't extract from your head no matter how hard you try. According to Daniel, there is a fish dish in Norway (he's a travelling jazz artist so he has lived all over) that requires someone to pee on the fish and bury it underground for six months. Confused? So was I. Thus the phrase "I need to find a fish to pee on" entered my vocabulary.

So after getting back at four in the morning, I quickly fell asleep only to wake up four hours later completely alert. That's been a trend thus far. Maybe it's a manifestation of my excitement or maybe I just don't need that much sleep when I travel -- who knows. Hopefully that changes once I finally settle down in Settignano. Italy is finally here for me. I've been waiting for the opportunity to visit Italy since I was really young and I can hardly believe that I will be able to experience the culture I love so much. I may only be half Italian, but this opportunity means the world to me. O right, but back to my original point. Got up at eight and came down to eat breakfast. We then trekked out into the COLD COLD COLD Dublin air (I mean WTF?! It's warmer here than in KC but yet it's FREEZING here...) to attempt to go to mass at St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral. I say attempt because we got lost on the way there and had to go to the eleven o'clock mass instead of the ten o'clock we had intended. Once again, the roads in this town suck. I think the guys who mapped it out were probably drunk... o wait... that explains a lot. Anyway... This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The eleven o'clock was a Latin mass. Not a traditional Latin mass, but for all intents and purposes it was. We were welcomed to this amazing experience with a boys' choir. Now I know why these choirs were so coveted in past centuries. They were incredible. Mass was beautiful and it was a great way to start our day.

This was originally a British barracks, but now it houses one of the Dublin Museums.

Our next journey was to the Guinness Storage facility. In a word: Lost. Yep. We got lost. Again. So we walked another nine or ten kilometers west in Dublin and then abandoned our quest and instead stopped in at the Museum pictured above that was luckily out there. This was one of the nicest and spread out museums I have visited. It was nice to have just one town's history instead of random history from Europe.

I'm currently online talking with four people and have lost my train of thought. Not that it's absolutely necessary for you all to know this, but I find that I might wonder when I read this again in years to come why my train of thought crashes for no apparent reason.

So for all you keeping track at home, I'll be in Bologna, Italy, tomorrow. I leave Dublin at 3 or so (I don't want to find my itinerary at the moment), which is 9 o'clock back home. Keep us in your prayers as we fly. Father Meinrad and drinks await my safe arrival to Florence. So if for no other reason than my alcohol with my favorite monk, please pray :).

Here's to my last night in Ireland. I will have a Guinness just for you. Don't question my motives. It makes it easier to rationalize.

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind always be at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

God bless!

The West Cross in Kilfenora, Ireland.