I've Never Been to Texas or New Jersey Before

Arguably, I still haven't. Unless you count airports. I think airports should half count. I mean, isn't “well-- kind of” a more intriguing answer to “Have you ever been to ____?” But let me start at the beginning.

January 2^nd, 2011. Griff got a zipcar and came back to get me and my stuff from Salem. (Shannon's travel tip #1: Pack lightly but completely if going abroad. You don't know what will and won't be available or how much you will be asked to pay, so cover the basics and the things you need to make yourself comfortable.) We were having bag weight issues so he and Cat worked on re-packing my two big bags while I looked at my backpack. (Tip #2: Have spatially oriented people help you pack, they're better at it than you are) Cat even used her bag scale thingy-ma-bobber to help get them close to the 50 pound limit. Once we had all finished, Griff and I packed up the car, stopped by the school to drop off some late library books, hit Quizno's to get dinner and drove to Portland. Once there he dropped me, my stuff and the rest of his stuff off at his apartment. He took the car back while I talked to Sarah. Griff and I sat in his room and talked and hugged for a little while before setting out for the train station.

At the train station we found out it'd be half an hour before the train we needed would be there. So we set off walking down to the line we actually needed. We were four blocks away when the train we needed pulled out. Once we got to the station we found out it'd be 40 minutes before the next one came. Some creepy guys were wandering around and they kept stopping and asking us for money. Griff reserved a zipcar and he was going to run and get it, but I wouldn't let him leave me at the train station. We walked back towards the car a little ways until we found a hotel. I sat down in the lobby and he took off to get the car. While I was waiting, these random people walked past. The man said that he liked my hat (I was wearing my panda hat) and asked if I'd named it yet. I said no. He asked if there were any interesting possibilities. I said something that starts with a 'p'. From farther into the lobby the lady said, “Pamela!” I don't think I'll name my hat Pamela. It reminds me too much of Pamela Anderson and I've never liked her much.

Griff came with the car and we loaded up. We drove to the airport, he parked and we went in. It was 10:20 pm. I had an hour and a half. Less than ideal, but better than the train. I got my boarding pass without too much trouble. I had to pay $50 for my second checked bag, but since I'd looked up how many bags were allowed, I expected that. I'm just glad they didn't count it as a domestic flight or it would've been $35 for the first bag and $45 for the second one (Continental is a rip off I think). I took them over to the scanner guys and we walked to security. I didn't know if I'd need to go through extra security so I made sure to have my license, passport and boarding passes all ready. I hugged and kissed Griff goodbye and tried not to cry.



My first boarding pass



My gate, D1

The line for security was almost non-existent. I got my boarding pass checked and starting taking things off to walk through the scanner. I fully expected to get patted down because I was wearing a loose skirt again (my green/brown one that I got patted down in when we flew to Arizona for Thanksgiving). They didn't even do that. They were entirely uninterested in me. After I walked through the scanner, I gathered my things and walked to gate D1. It was the first one down the hall to the left. I sat down and called dad. We talked for a bit and then I talked to Griff and texted Charlotte. I watched the people around me. There were a lot of army guys waiting in the same area. They started boarding after 11:10 or so. They didn't pull me aside this time, like they did when I went to Japan, because I have a common, boring name. It all went remarkably smoothly. On the plane one of the army guys told me he liked my hat. I sat down in the aisle seat next to an elderly woman. There was another elderly woman on her other side (possibly a sister?). We took off after a little while. There were screens that came down from the ceiling at intervals down the plane. They played Guardians of Ga'hoole first. Apparently I fell asleep waiting for us to take off though so I missed it when the woman next to me put up the armrest which is where the headphone jack was. I watched some of the movie, but since I haven't read the books, it didn't make any sense what-so-ever. I fell asleep again after a little while, but I woke back up once they turned the screens back on (I think they were off for a while after the movie ended) to play some TV shows. The shows weren't remotely interesting without any sound (and since they were reality TV, likely not with it either). I couldn't fall back asleep because the light from the screens was really annoying and because the woman's hand had fallen between our seats, against my leg and it was twitching while she slept. It was only a three hour flight into Houston (Bush has an airport... scary o_O) but it felt like it took forever.

Good ol' Shrubby's very special airport.

We landed, I waited my turn to get off the plane and then set off for my next gate. I only had a two hour layover so I wanted to find where I was supposed to be before stopping to do anything. I found my gate and called dad. At this point it was 6 or so in the morning in Houston and about 4 am in Oregon. I got hungry and bored so I went to get food. I was going to go to Starbucks but the line was super long. I ended up going to The Little Creamery instead. I got an iced mocha and a croissant with cheese, ham and egg on it. It was $9.47 (ridiculous prices!) and it tasted pretty okay. I went back to my gate to eat it so I could set my bags down. (Travel tip #3: Don't travel alone if you can help it. Either that or don't pack anything to carry on. It's a pain in the butt to have to carry all your stuff around all the time.) I got out my computer after I finished eating and set about trying to see if I could pick up any wi-fi. Houston doesn't have free wi-fi. They have Boingo. Boingo will give you 45 free minutes. I started writing my Scealta Luch post, but it was waiting to upload pictures that really ate my time. In the end I didn't even get to publish the post.

We boarded the plane a little late. It was late getting in and then they had to clean it. All they'd tell us was that it was an international flight from Buenos Aires and that it was taking extra time to clean. This made me wonder, “Are people from Buenos Aires extra dirty or what...?” It turns out that the plane was just really big. The first one I'd been on that day had three seats on each side of an aisle. This one had two seats, an aisle, four seats, another aisle, and two more seats. I was in one of the two seat sets. The woman I was supposed to sit next to just kind of looked at me when I walked up and said hello. It literally took her a minute to move so I could put my bag in the overhead compartment. I ended up having to switch them out any ways because there was a plastic piece blocking my backpack. It was so huge I couldn't get it down there. After everyone had finished boarding we looked around and more than half the seats were empty. The lady decided to move up a row so I got two seats to myself. It was a much more comfortable flight. There were screen on the back of every seat where people could watch movies or TV shows, listen to music or play games. I tried watching something (it was NCIS: Las Vegas, but I didn't recognize it at the time), but I got bored really fast. I played Black Jack for a while and I wasn't doing too bad, but I got bored of that really quickly too. I slept some. As we were coming into New Jersey I was looking out the window. I expected to see lots of snow but mostly there was ice on the water and little patches of snow scattered about. Everything was really brown. I know it's winter and all, but it seemed extra brown compared to Oregon. As we got over Newark I saw tall skinny townhouse type things. We don't really have those in Bend or Salem, but that was the most interesting thing I could see.

We landed without incident and I went to the gate indicated on my ticket. I tried to check that it was still on time and that I was in the right place, but it was noon and my flight left at 7:40 pm so it wasn't even on the boards yet. I spent some time at the gate just staring into space and trying to decide what to do next. It was kind of nice not to think or worry for a while. I just drifted. Eventually I went in search of food. As I looked I decided I wanted Chinese food. I couldn't find Chinese food, so I decided I wasn't hungry after all. I got a Coke instead. It was expensive, $2.00 and some. I went back to the gate and slept. It was such a long time that it's kind of blurred out. I read some at some point. I texted a bit. I found a bigger board that had only one flight to Shannon, Ireland listed for that day. But it was supposed to be leaving at 7:25 from a completely different gate and there were three airlines listed with it. My flight number was listed too, but since I had hours to go, I decided to wait and see. Around 4 it came up on the board nearer me with the same, other, gate listed. I gathered up my stuff and went to find the other gate. Once I did, I had to sit on the floor because a bunch of people were there for a 5:45 flight to San Francisco. The space was shared with the gate next door and they were waiting for a 5:00 flight to Orange County. 5 pm came and went... they still hadn't boarded. I don't remember when either flight boarded exactly, but both were late. I wandered off to get food before either left. Griff made me want a hamburger, but of course, I couldn't find one. I got terriyaki chicken, rice and steamed vegetables from Sarku Japan instead. There was an irritating foreign woman and man (they had Russian-ish accents, I think) that cut the line waiting for their food and took off with it before anybody else got theirs. I ended up sitting next to them in the eating area. They were quite loud. I had a vague idea of getting a Jamba Juice before getting on the plane, but I forgot.



Looking back towards where I ate


After eating I went back to waiting area which was a lot more empty now. I took a couple pictures and started writing this post. Professor Petersen found me after I was a couple sentences in. She sat down and we talked for a little while. It was nice to know that someone else from Willamette was on my flight. Made me feel a little safer somehow. As we got closer to when we should've been boarding, she went back to check on her family. I made my last calls to dad and Griff and texted Charlotte. The battery of my phone was dying and I couldn't remember if I'd grabbed my charger or where I'd packed it. I put my laptop away and grabbed my stuff again. I looked in an outer pocket of my laptop case and, what do you know, there was my phone charger. I grabbed it and plugged my phone in for two minutes or so before I was called to board. We were supposed to take off at 7:25, but we didn't leave until almost 8pm. I was sitting two rows from the back of the plane. Professor Petersen was in the row behind me. I'd been hoping to have space like I did earlier, but this plane wasn't as big and they said it was supposed to be a full flight. I sat by the window because I wanted to be able to take pictures of my glimpses or Ireland. An elderly man, who I think was probably Irish, was put in the aisle seat of my row (he seemed to have an accent. He had to be put in the seat because he'd sat in the wrong place twice already). Every person that came down the aisle, I expected to sit between us. No one did. We got exceptionally lucky. I let the elderly man put his carry on under the empty seat, but I put my coats and hat and scarf on the seat. By this point my hair and skin felt disgusting. I really wanted a shower, but I knew it'd be hours before I got one. We were taking so long to start moving that I plugged into my screen and started looking at what we could watch. We had individual screens again and they were much nicer than the ones on the flight to Newark. No remotes and a lot clearer. I found NCIS, but I'd seen all the episodes they were offering. I started watching NCIS: Las Vegas. For a spin off, it's actually pretty good. I'm pleased. Every time someone got on the intercom to make an announcement though, it would literally blast my ears through the headphones. It actually hurt. Finally we took off.

Pandahar!

It was a 6 hour flight. I had orange juice when the lady first came around. I watched all three NCIS episodes and fell asleep before they came round again. They were offering dinner that time, but I declined. I wasn't hungry and airplane food is icky. I'd eaten my animal crackers earlier in the day so I ate some Oreos while I was watching my shows. When I got hungry I'd just eat one of them. I slept on and off for most of the flight. I didn't have breakfast on the plane either. As we got closer, I woke up and looked out the window. It was pitch black because we were still over the ocean. Then we dropped into some clouds and everything was gray for a couple minutes. Underneath the clouds there still wasn't much to see. There were scattered lights, but no huge lit up areas like even the smallest US cities. There was what looked like streamers of tulle coming off the plane wings. It reminded me of Sharon and how this post is to be dedicated to her. It was still very dark out when we landed and it was a bumpier landing than it had been.

On the ground, I put my wool coat, my hat and my scarf all back on. It took a while to get off the plane. The airport was absolutely empty when we got into it. We had to go down at least four escalators to get to customs. We were about 15 minutes late, I think. There was a long line, or queue as it would be called here, in front of the two elderly men who were there to let us into the country. They had everyone who wasn't a student go through first. There were at least 70 (maybe more, maybe less, I'm awful at estimating numbers of people) of us left. Professor Petersen and her family waited a little longer, but after 45 minutes of so they decided to skip up the line. Professor Petersen stopped to tell me that she'd try to keep the cab driver from leaving. I don't know what took so long but I waited over two hours in line to get through customs. All I could see was that the men were looking at papers and taking pictures and typing on their computers. At first I amused myself looking at the ads on the walls and the Pacman-like shapes that ate the letters on the sign that told the EU passengers where to go. I got bored of that prett quickly so I started eavesdropping on the group in from of me.  Apparently they were all from the same school. None of them seemed very bright. They were talking about how t-shirts were an American thing and planning a trip to Paris and going out to the pubs and clubs every night. I was not impressed by them. One girl had forgotten to put her acceptance letter from NUIG in her carry on. Since we aren't required to have visas, you have to have a letter from the school proving that you have a reason to be in the country for so long. If she'd done any real research at all or if her school told her anything it should've been that. And she was an engineering student! They're not supposed to be that dumb. If they are I guess that explains why dad doesn't like them much. Finally, there were 15 or so people in front of me. Another flight had just landed and the line behind us had gotten really long. One of the men let everyone from the EU go through. All the other people had to wait behind us though and I wasn't last in line. Some decision seemed to be made because all of a sudden, the line started moving a lot faster. I got up to the window and I gave the man my letter and my passport. He asked if I had proof of insurance and of finance. I gave him my insurance card and told him I was going to open an Irish bank account. In a monotone voice he told me I had to have proof of finance 30 days from right then. I said okay and he gestured me through. I scrambled to get all my stuff and get out of the way. I went to get my checked bags and walked through customs. A bored looking man gestured me through a green gateway (meaning I didn't have anything to declare).  

I came out and looked around frantically for my cab driver hoping and praying he wasn't gone yet. I didn't see him in front of me and as I turned to my left a man leaning against a counter was saying, “Unless this is her. Are you looking for me?” I started to say maybe and he waved a paper at me that said my name on it. I said yes. He took me out to his cab and helped me put my bags in the back. I almost walked around to the wrong side to get in the front seat, but remembered at the last minute that the driver sits on the other side. We started driving and he was telling me how he didn't expect it to take so long and that he had been working all night and had been about to leave when I came out. I don't think he meant to make me feel bad, I think he was just talking because he was so amazed. I apologized and explained what I could see. We listened to a CD by, I think he said her name was Kylie Minogue (or something like that) for part of the way. I recognized one of the songs. Apparently she's Australian. His CD was well-loved because it kept skipping. We were quiet for long stretches while I just enjoyed looking out the window. It was gray outside so nothing got a particularly flattering light, but it was still fun to look at. The houses were cute. I noticed that his name was John Conroy. Partially because I felt bad for making him wait, because the silence was awkward and because I was genuinely curious I came up with questions to ask him. I asked him about the signs on the side of the road, the weather and the we talked about bikes. I also told him a little about what Oregon is like in comparison to Galway. He was nice about it all and seemed glad to talk to me whenever I came up with a question or a comment. His name was John Conroy. It made me smile in a wry sort of way every time we passed a business I'd see at home. I saw McDonald's, Texaco, Subway, a Best Western (or some big hotel chain like that. It might not've been that one in particular) and a movie theater with all American movies in it. Mr Conroy took me all the way to Gort na Coiribe and even waited while I ran into the office to see if I was in the right place/if I could get a key to my apartment, which was more than he needed to do, particularly since I was two hours later than I was supposed to be (we got there at 10:45 am). The reception people were nice and helpful. They gave me a key and showed me where my apartment was. Mr Conroy helped me get my bags to the door before driving off. I dragged everything inside and went to my room. I was the first person there and my room is a double so I picked the bed and the desk by the window. I started unpacking just enough to take a shower, which was what I wanted most in the world at that point.

Not bad for my first time flying alone, eh? I made it all the way to Galway, even if it was only through pure luck at the end.

P.S. I don't have any pictures of the Shannon airport or the drive to Galway because I was too tired to think straight. Sorry...

Under the Stars

It's almost 5 am and I'm sitting on the couch in my apartment writing by candlelight. I should be asleep. I should be working on my essay. I should be doing my readings for school. Instead, I just finished rebuilding my impromptu playlist from earlier tonight.

I didn't picture starting this way. I hoped to have some bubbly, happy, exciting tale to tell. I've been dying to write here though and since the last two weeks have not been bubbly and happy, I decided to start up again any ways. Don't worry though, it's not all doom and gloom. 

I don't have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, just work. So, when I got back to my apartment after my shift, I put on my pajamas, crawled into bed and picked up my book again. I've been reading The Hunger Games trilogy because me and a couple of my friends are going to see Suzanne Collins on Sunday. I finished the first two awhile ago. I was waiting until I finished re-reading Angels and Demons before I started Mockingjay. I started it yesterday and it was kind of slow at the beginning so it wasn't that hard to put it down. But, my boyfriend, whose book it actually is, has been waiting patiently for me to just start it already because I'm a much faster reader than he is. I felt guilty about taking so long getting to it, so I made myself pick it up in my spare moments, even if it was only for a page or two. Pretty quickly it sucked me in. I took it to work with me today to read on my lunch break. Since I'm basically a secretary, I spend a fair amount of time sitting at my desk. After my lunch break I was reluctant to stop reading. I did my job like I'm supposed to and only read when I was in between tasks. (there usually isn't that much for me to do so I go around and beg for something to do. When they don't have anything for me, I'm allowed to entertain myself with my homework or a book.) I promised myself that if I was good and did my job instead of spending my whole shift reading, I could come back to the apartment, finish the book and then take a nap (I slept four about four hours the night before).

That's exactly what I did. I curled up on my bed and commenced to read. I was maybe a quarter of the way into the book, probably less. I was guessing/hoping it would take me until around 7pm, at which point I could decide what to do next. I spent the next couple hours reading, only pausing to take bathroom breaks. I'll admit I did cry at the end of the book (If you're wondering why, read The Hunger Games for yourself.) and when I put it down I felt that weird combo of emotion that often accompanies finishing a book series I've become attached to: I want to be left alone to relive favorite moments and grieve or rejoice with the characters and yet, I also want someone to talk to and hug me. This time the urge to curl up by myself was by far the strongest. I called my boyfriend and told him that I'd finished and if he wanted he could come get his birthday t-shirt and the book from after midnight (when the zipcars get cheaper). I was still sniffling a bit and I think he knew something was up, but he had the grace not to push, for which I am grateful. I was exhausted so I decided to take a nap. I tried to fall asleep, but no such luck. The compulsion to get up and look up pictures of some of the plants from the book was really strong. But my computer is dying and it takes forever to start up and if I had gotten up to do that I knew I probably wouldn't get a nap at all. Stubbornly I stayed in my bed, resisting doing anything useful. I hit upon the idea of listening to music to help me sleep. I always fall asleep to music, the same CD my brother got me for Christmas more than five years ago, when I'm at home. But, here at college I don't have a CD player, so music soft enough that isn't accompanied by bright lights is kind of hard to accomplish. I also don't do so well trying to sleep with headphones on because I have the on-the-ears style rather than earbuds. I used the headphones anyways, assuming that when I was relaxed enough I'd take them off and fall asleep. Hayley Westenra seemed like a good choice because she has a beautiful voice and that is exactly what I was looking for (to know exactly why a beautiful voice singing soothing folk type songs was what I wanted you'd have to read the books). It worked better than expected. I fell asleep on my back with my headphones on, something that is usually impossible for me. I woke up 45 minutes later, took off the headphones and rolled over.

When I woke up next it was 11:40pm and I was still tired. I decided to get up regardless and finish Griff's birthday shirt (it's an idea stolen from my friend Sarah, who made her boyfriend pin a sign to his shirt on his birthday that said, "It's my birthday!", except Griff's is actually written on his shirt). I finished outlining the letters on the shirt while watching Lie To Me (which is a good show). I did actually look up the stuff from Mockingjay I'd been thinking about earlier. Eventually Griff did come. We just sat on the couch for half an hour, cuddling. It helped. He was reluctant to leave though and we kept extending his car reservation. After a while he said he was hungry and wanted McDonald's. I grabbed my iPod and my keys and we left.

We got food and gas. I was looking out the window and enjoying the feeling of riding around in a car. I don't like driving that much, and when I'm at school I don't have a car so I use my bike a lot. Don't get me wrong, I love my bike and walking everywhere makes me feel good, but it is really nice to just sit and look at the scenery flying by. Being driven around late at night by Griff is one of the few places I really feel relaxed and safe. The empty streets, my music coming out of speakers I can sing along to, seeing parts of Salem I don't get to see on my bike-- it's a treat. I told him as much and he kept driving. I have a good and kind boyfriend. : )

Originally we were going to just go over the bridge and drive through West Salem since I never get over there. But the bridge splits and you can either continue into West Salem or head towards the beach. Griff gave me the choice and I opted for the beach. I knew we wouldn't go all the way to the beach, but heading out that way is the fastest way we've found to escape the city lights.

Before Griff and I were dating we used to sit on top of his truck wrapped in a blanket and look at the stars. There's a pretty good view between his house and mine at home. Since we're in different cities and neither of us actually has car, we can't really do this anymore. A couple of times we've done it anyways. Like tonight. He drove for a while and I kept picking songs and feeding him french fries. We hit some fog right after we decided to stop and look at the stars which meant we had to go out further. Finally we got to a clear patch of road, pulled off and got out. The view was wonderful. There were tons of stars, way more than you can see in the cities both of us live in. The beach was still about an hour's drive away, but the air already had a touch of salt in it.

Just sitting on top of the car (a Scion, which is a piece of crap, by the way) looking up and breathing, it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I hadn't forgotten how late it was, or how much I had left to do or anything, but just being away from the constant lights and the air you don't even realize isn't that clear was so nice. It's not the first time I've noticed that getting away from the city is good for me. Griff and I were both feeling heartsick one night, which is what started the hunt for a place to see the stars. We weren't very successful that night, but we did still manage to get out for a little while. The next time we wanted to get away from the city we had more success.

There was a Tualatin ceili that night and afterwards I was supposed to go to Portland with Griff. But I'd forgotten dress shoes, which I needed because we were going to the opera on Sunday. Griff drove me back to Salem to get them and we headed back towards Portland. We were talking about wanting to go see the stars so I said something to the tune of, "We should head towards the beach to get away from the lights." That made me want to go to the beach itself and I said as much. Griff sighed and then said, "Why not?" We stopped at a Safeway to get a snack, but it was at least 1:30am by that point and they were closed. We kept going. At some point we realized we needed gas so we stopped at a gas station with a convenience store attached. I talked Griff into buying me a map of Seaside as proof that we'd actually done this. When we got to Seaside, I had him pull over in downtown so I could take a couple of pictures of the lamps (see inserted picture). I thought, and still do, that the sea stars are a cute addition. We got back in the car and continued towards the beach. 

We parked as close as we could, got out and walked to the sand. I took off my shoes and we walked out towards the water. It was a cold night because spring hadn't really kicked in yet. The sand was freezing. I have this weird thing though where whenever I'm on the beach, I need to go in the water before we can leave. It's not super important, but I'm much happier and more balanced feeling if I do. The tide was out and maybe still going out at that point so even though the water didn't look that far away, it was. We saw some creepers on the beach a ways away, gathered around a fire. They were screeching and hollering at odd intervals. We pretended not to notice them. We got out to the water and I put my feet in. It was, unsurprisingly, colder than the sand. My feet were so numb that I paused to write "I <3 Griff" in the sand. Unfortunately this level of movement made some feeling come back to my feet and they started to burn and ache. We ended up jogging most of the way back to the sidewalk. Once we got to the car, we climbed in and sat, slowly thawing before starting back to Portland. On the way out of town I had Griff stop again so I could take a picture of this sign in front of an inn (see inset picture). They even had a really big carved Sasquatch next to the sign.

I made Griff stop again near this bridge as the sun was coming up. I'd been watching it out my windows and it was turning the sky a really brilliant blue. I don't see that color sky very often because I'm rarely up for the sunrise. My camera didn't like the amount of light and blues are not it's favorite color (though they are mine) which is why this is a bit blurry. You get the idea though. To get back to the bridge where you could actually see this view, we had to wind along the road a ways from the shoulder where we had pulled over. A couple of cars whipped past while I was trying to take pictures and the bridge shook each time. It was kind of scary. There were a couple of other places I would've liked to stop and take pictures, but there weren't any good places to stop for a lot of the trip back. We stopped at a McDonald's in a tiny town around 6am for some food. There were mostly farmer looking guys and they kept looking at us funny. The food tasted good though and it gave Griff the energy to get us back safely. We finally made it back to Portland around 7am. At that point the sun was almost all the way up and it looked like it was 11am, bright and sunny and a pleasant temperature. Once we got to his apartment we fell into bed in his way-too-bright-for-my-tastes room and conked out. It was one of the best nights I've had since I've been in college. 

Sitting on the crappy Scion (we had a nicer car that other night), looking at the stars, scenes from last spring kept popping in my head. I wish we could have gone all the way to the beach. Both me and Griff actually have class later today, believe it or not, so we had to come back. He had to go back to Portland pretty soon after getting me to Salem which leaves me where I started, sitting on my couch alone, writing by candlelight. It's kind of lonely, but I know I'll see Griff again later today at another Tualatin ceili. And even though I know I'll be exhausted later, I don't regret our small adventure. It was worth it to me for the brief lifting of that ever present weight that settles across my shoulders while I'm in the city. And I hope it was worth it for Griff. It's definitely an interesting way to start your birthday. Happy 21st Griff, I love you.