The Adventure Begins

I arrived at Shannon Airport, Ireland in the wee morning hours of Thursday, October 7. Amazingly enough there are lots of people out and about at 6:30am. In fact the bus ride from the airport to Limerick City Center, which took about 45 minutes, found many an Irish lad and lassie walking about in every neighborhood we passed. It was refreshing to see so many walkers either with pets, out for exercise or seemingly on their way to work. It was a good start to a good day. I suppose it didn't hurt that the weather was so fine by any country’s standards. Of course for Ireland to have such a warm sunny day in October means that the wonderful Irish good luck had already begun to kick in for me and I am so very happy and grateful to receive the good fortune.

I spent the first three days after my arrival at the Patrick Punch Hotel in Limerick where I had the fortunate pleasure of playing in their swimming pool and Jacuzzi and taking time to acclimate to my new time zone. I slept, ate and swam and on Friday even took a fabulous long walk through the city center and back to the hotel via a lovely little park. Lots of friendly faces greeted me as I made my way outside the city center back to the hotel. The Irish are known for their friendly demeanor and welcoming attitudes and they surely have not disappointed thus far. I really enjoyed walking along the streets lined with old row houses and coming across a small town square with a large fountain in the middle. It's so easy to loose track of time but I made it back to the hotel in time to meet my sister, Jean Marie who met me in Limerick on Friday night for a nice two day visit before heading to Galway where I will reside while I take my English as a Second Language certificate course. I'm staying in a lovely apartment about a 15 minute walk from the school. I am looking forward to meeting my fellow classmates and diving headlong into my studies.