Arrival

My trip was seamless and felt quick. The transatlantic leg of the flight had a good tailwind, which made it bumpy, but also resulted in us landing nearly an hour early.

Thus, I had ample time for a hearty breakfast in Dublin:

Irish coffee and prosciutto sammich

After breakfast, I took a spot to wait for my next flight. It was about 6.30 AM, locally, and everyone was quiet, with one exception. The silence was broken by the horrid sound of a baseball commentator and the din of a baseball stadium; some trashy American woman in her forties had decided to watch some baseball on her iPhone, sans headphones. So joyfully absorbed looking at her screen, she was entirely oblivious to all the Europeans who were just in complete disbelief at her audacity. I nearly said something, but contented myself with exchanging knowing looks with the folks surrounding me. It was too early in the morning to lose my temper.

On my flight to Rome, I shot this picture. It’s not great, but it was nifty flying alongside another plane for a while:

I loved going through customs in Rome. When I saw the line, I thought I was going to have a stroke. Luckily it was the line for non-EU folks, so I happily walked past everyone. I especially enjoyed walking past my trashy friend who had been watching her iPhone at the Dublin airport. I didn’t have to wait much for my bags, and then got into a cab. The driver didn’t really believe that I had the address right: some kid with a backpacking backpack was certainly not going to be living in that neighborhood, he suggested! 

Well he was wrong. This is where I’ll be living:

I still can’t believe I’m living here