— This next post comprises two entries that I made in Chicago the night we left and my first day in Dublin, Ireland. We took an overnight flight from Chicago and landed in Dublin in the early hours, as I can recall a little after 6 in the morning. It was a great flight actually, surprisingly comfortable and hassle free, but I didn’t get much sleep so I was exhausted once we hit Ireland. So here it is accompanied by some photos I took. Peace and enjoy…
” 10-15/16-07 Long day today,began in Chicago, where we spent a couple of hours at the Art Institute and for the first time saw with my own eyes the works of Van Gogh, Degas, Kandinsky, and Picasso. It literally brought tears to my eyes to see the vividness of the colors presented by Van Gogh. The self portraits, the broad strokes, the blues and yellows. It is almost as if they did not exist until I saw them with my own eyes, that they were just illusions in books and on television. Everything so far has gone rather smoothly, it is surprising and scary at the same time. I can’t get past the interconnectedness of this trip thus far, seeing an old friend (I had ran into my friend Justin in St. Louis), running into the Irish couple on the streets of downtown Chicago, meeting the filmmaker on the plane whose husband is from Norman. This world is incredibly huge and yet it is so small at the same time. I’m not sure if I’ve done anything thus far that has ever felt like God was so present and active in.
As we get into Dublin, I am groggy and walking as if I am a zombie. I stagger through customs and we find a bus that takes us to the Temple Bar area. That is where our hostel is, and that is where I lay my head down first. I fall asleep in the commons area and I sleep for hours, and finally I wake up to people all around me. Most of them smile at me and nod at Charley who is snoring loudly. I wake him up and Chad comes in, we are hungry and we want to walk around to see Dublin.
Chad booked his room earlier than Charley and I do so we are actually separated. Two French girls walk into the room and we introduce ourselves, I can’t even pronounce their names but they ask us if we want to smoke, and even though neither of us do, we oblige and decide to get a beer with them. The film Lost in Translation instantly comes to my mind, for though these girls speak English, it is very broken at times and so we all stumble over what to say and how to say it. We talk about stereotypes, ours of the French, and what theirs are for Americans. We buy a round of beers and they return the favor, it is a very fun time, sitting back and interacting with these girls, drinking a beer with my friend Charley, and being in a different country. We laugh and live, and again I feel a sense of peace.
