Sunday, 3-10-96
7:45 PM Somewhere btw. Galway & Dublin, Ireland
1:45 PM E-Town
Well, I must be on a roll with this here journal writing thing, for after a little over 2 months abroad I am finished with the Mary Englebreit one that Erin Sadler so thoughtfully gave me for an X-mas/going away gift! And what a gift it was… it is so great to be able to look back on my experiences here & what I have thought and felt throughout my days overseas so far away from home.
I picked up this, my new journal, or VOL. II ☺︎, in a craftsy shop in Spitalfields (an area in East London) back when Mel, Ruth, & I went on “Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras)” for the “Pancake Races” there! There was a great assortment of groovy books… even one w/ elephants on it… but my eye kept returning to there 2 silly cute hippos! Mel was equally taken & bought one just like it!
Okay, now for the details… Lori & I are presently on a bus in Ireland heading back towards Dublin to catch a ferry that will take us & our bus to England. So I believe green is the ideal color to be writing with for this entry! ♣︎
Our pilgrimage to Ireland, though short, what for sure sweet… We left on Friday Night from London’s Victoria Coach Station at about 8 PM. I had spent the day working on school work & finally doing e-mail — for my account here got fixed! Before I go on to recount our time in Ireland, a quick mail update: I got a belated b-day card from Ruth & my piled up e-mail messages since Tuesday were from Sophia Portokalos, Meg, Kevin Mitchell, Jim Warren, Sue, Jacquie Bradford, Rita (from Canoe Club), Deborah, Mom, Colleen Finch, Kelly, Aida Guthrie, Ruth, Gwen, and Kerry Weston! It was such a delight to hear from all of them! Most were birthday wishes & more than a few had typed out the words to the “Happy Birthday to you” song! ☺︎ Sophia said she couldn’t let March 6th go by w/ out wishing me a happy birthday… that means a lot. Jacquie & I just realized we could e-mail each other, after months of handwritten letters! ☺︎ Colleen had gotten my e-mail address from Jim & was excited for her Spring Break trip to Mexico w/ Heather Spencer, Claire Reilly, Hillary Hunt, Erin Sadler, & Peggy Lyons! (they should be there as I write this, I believe… ☀︎) Deborah too was ready for her spring vacation to Disney World in Florida! ☺︎ Aida was an extra special surprise & it was awesome to have news of she, Ned & Elena! She said it would be great if Elena & I could spent some time together when I am in Spain?! I agree… and hope Ruth & I are able to make it our her way during our “Euro-rail” adventure! ☺︎ Kerry was writing to say that Lori & I could stay w/ her in Galway this weekend after all, which made my day, but I’ll save that for my recollection of this incredible weekend…
Alrighty, so Fri. night Lori & I boarded our bus full of a random group of travelers en route to Dublin! We road about 8 hrs. to the dock to take a ferry across the Irish Sea. Luckily the coach (bus) & ferry rides went pretty well for me — no puking — mostly I believe for I was able to sleep most of the way… Lori wasn’t so lucky, for she found the seats on the coach very uncomfortable & had trouble sleeping — but, no hurling for her either!
We had picked up some travel sickness pills at “Boots,” which I think worked in our favor as well… As I write, I am listening to a mix of Irish music called “Irish Echoes!” It is a great compilation of different types of Irish music that I found in a pub that we stopped at for a break from the coach ride from Galway to Dublin. It will make a great reminder of the lovely memories I have of this weekend here in Ireland… Well, we are almost to Dublin’s coach station & then will be off for our ferry back across the Irish Sea to the UK! So I will pick up the story of my past few days in the land of St. Patrick & Molly Malone later… CHEERS! ☺︎
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Note from Present Day Kathy: It’s been almost 7 weeks since the last time I shared a London Semester Journal entry. Not unlike the journaling I’ve done throughout my life (besides my time abroad, when I was determined to chronicle it all), my consistency in writing here ebbs and flows. There are times when I feel compelled to write and share, as well as find comfort in doing so. Likewise, especially lately, I feel like I am too busy and there are other things I *should* be doing, even when taking a break from my to do list for some me time.
I have a lot of hobbies and can’t imagine ever getting truly bored, so when I do take time for me, I find myself needing to prioritize which activities to do, as not to get too far off track from my duties around the house, still primarily being a stay at home mom. I enjoy amateur photography as much as I do writing, so after we go on family adventures or I have other fun/interesting experiences that involve me taking pictures, I often want to share highlights via social media. I’ve taken to posting photos with captions on Facebook and Instagram in an almost blog-like way, so in that sense my storytelling has continued in recent weeks on other platforms.
That said, I’ve missed revisiting these entries and am excited to return to them. This entry being the start of the second of my two journals that I wrote in while abroad, also marks roughly the halfway point of my journey across the pond in 1996. I continue to find it fascinating to see the mindset of 21 year old me vs. that of the 44 year old version I am today.
I am amazed as the number of people I kept in touch with at 21, long before there were things like social media. In addition to journaling consistently for over 4 months straight, I was also exchanging lots of letters and emails with my family and friends from back home in the States. Though email was very different back then, still in its infancy. As I’ve shared in previous entries, I could only email at a computer lab on campus, where I went to school in London, which was a 30 minute trip, via the tube ride, from the flat I lived in. I can only imagine how different the experiences of students studying abroad are, especially with the advancements in technology and communication.
I found it interesting being reminded of the adventures that some of my college friends were having on their spring breaks, while I was abroad, from Mexico to Disney World in Orlando. Most of our family vacations growing up were to visit my paternal grandparents in and near Columbus, Ohio and my maternal grandparents on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Other than my semester abroad, I did very little traveling during my high school and college years, that weren’t to see and spend time with family. The spring break trips that I did take were usually to Hilton Head, sometimes bringing a friend. I do love Hilton Head. It is one of my favorite/happiest places on this Earth and my family is excited to return there this summer. That said, because we had built in vacation destinations to visit our family that didn’t live close by, I didn’t go to places like Mexico or Disney with friends, as some do.
(Not here real name) Aida is an old and dear family friend and I appreciated getting to recall our correspondence, as well as as how much she wanted her daughter (who was studying and living in Madrid at the time) and I to be able to connect and spend time together. It is also bittersweet as (not his real name) Ned, Aida’s husband and (not her real name) Elena’s dad, died awhile ago. I Googled his obituary, as I wanted to confirm exactly how far back, and found it’s been almost 8 years. Reading the Obit got me choked up, as Aida and Ned’s younger daughter/Elena’s younger sister was my friend when I was close to the age our Abby is now. She got sick and died when we were 10. I don’t recall if I wrote about her in future journal entries, but I decided to give the alias Jacinda, just in case. I often think about (not her real name) Jacinda being the first person I knew and cared about who died. Her death, much too young, actually caused our families to become closer and I learned so much about how to honor the life and death of a child from Aida and their family, not knowing back then I would become a bereaved mother myself one day (though of a baby girl and not a school age daughter).
Getting back to the journal entry and my description of our taking a ferry boat across the Irish Sea… It’s funny how selective memory works, as based on some of my experiences with nausea over the years, including my propensity for morning sickness during pregnancy and my one (and likely only) trip on a cruise ship in 2016, when I felt dizzy much of the time, I’d have guessed I got sick and was somewhat surprised to recall my roommate (not her real name) Lori and I survived the ride mostly unscathed. I also found it amusing the various synonyms I used in this entry for throwing up.
In some ways I think it’s cute and fun that I wrote this entry in green with one of my favorite pens back then and to this day. I am glad they still make them, so I can continue to buy and use them.
In other ways, that choice, combined with my references to Ireland being “the land of St. Patrick and Molly Malone,” shows how common cultural appropriation is. Cultural appropriation is a concept I’ve only recently become more aware and tried to be mindful of. Granted, I do have Irish roots/ancestors. So one could argue I have a bit more latitude, when it comes to my own culture. However, I wasn’t born or raised in Ireland and thus don’t have a lot of direct connections to that part of my heritage. I also recognize that when we use some icons and symbols to represent certain cultures, even our own, it can detract from knowing and promoting more about what really makes that country or people awesome and unique, as opposed to caricatures.
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Reminder: Unless I’ve been given permission to use people’s actual names, in most cases I’ve removed or replaced the names of the real people who were part of my journey/experience there, in effort to protect and respect their identities/privacy in my London Semester Journal entries. I will also not share details that I think and feel are too personal for anyone I interacted with, my loved ones, and me.
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Here’s the back story of My London Semester Journals from 1996, including what prompted me to revisit and decide to share them here in 2018. And here’s a list a list of the entries, which I will update as I share them.
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