Traveling alone (at least for me) is one of the most zen things in the world. I arrived to the airport by train, realized I had no idea where Terminal One was, walked around aimlessly until I found the shuttle, got to Terminal One, found the line for RyanAir, met a Chinese girl and spoke to her in Spanish about going to Dublin (haha), gave my passport to the RyanAir man, had him smile at me and stamp it without even looking at my bag nor weighing it, went through security and another security checkpoint, flirted a bit with the cute guy checking my passport in Spanish (I love the phrase ¬ y eso? ¬ I cannot really explain why... it just feels like a way of automatically making friends with someone a few sentences into a first conversation.), went to Starbucks for a Caesar and waited for the flight. There is never any stress when I am traveling alone. Never any anxiety. Just calm excitement. :)
Upon landing in Dublin I found my way to the buses and was beyond excited to realize that
1) Public transportation buses are, in fact, double decker buses here!!!
2) The steering wheel is on the wrong side of the cars, and the cars drive on the wrong side of the road!!!
3) The accents are super subtle. Weird.
I rode the bus, looking out the window like an awestruck puppy. :) This sounds funny to say, but Ireland looks like how you would imagine it would. There are a bunch of pubs that look just like the knock-offs in America. There are big, beautiful churches and buildings. The streets are a little windy and there are cobblestone streets. So. Quaint!!
As I was walking in the general direction of my first CouchSurfing experience, I heard a guy my age on his phone talking in Spanish. For whatever reason, I had not realized that just because I was not going to America did not mean that I would not have that strange, disorienting feeling that comes with suddenly being able to understand every single word that is being spoken around you without trying. It is soooo strange after you have been living in another language for months!!! So hearing a few minutes of Spanish oddly calmed my mind and made me feel even happier than I already was!
I continued walking, taking in all of my new surroundings when the guy who had been speaking Spanish asked if I was lost. I was sorta looking at all the street signs and then looking at my map... ha. What was really confusing, though, was that he asked me in ENGLISH if I was lost. You would think that being an English teacher and all I would be used to speaking English with others, but being spoken to in my native language outside on the street totally caught me off guard. It was jarring and awesome at the same time!
The guy helped me find where I was going and it was really cute to have company on my walk. We took turns speaking in Spanish and English. :) Eventually we found the address I had written down and we parted ways.
It is a really strange feeling to arrive at a doorstep and ring a doorbell without really having much of a idea what type of person is going to answer, but know that you will be staying with them for five days. When Maite answered, I sorta awkwardly introduced myself. But after she introduced me to her two other roomies and we giggled a bit, I already felt totally welcome and at home!
Maite, Lucas and Mateus are Brazilian and that makes me totally happy! I love Brazilians. They are so chill and so nice. When arrived they were hard at work on salads for tomorrow´s Christmas Eve lunch we are having with 10 other friends. The coolest part was that the dishes they were making were totally Brazilian and dishes I KNEW from being in Brazil and with Brazilian! I started naming them all and talking about my favorite foods (and drinks) from Brazil and about being in a sitiu two years ago for New Year´s Eve and they started laughing.
I love being a traveler. You live in Madrid, travel to Dublin, stay with people from Brazil and bond over their culture, which you got to know from traveling there a few years ago. So. Awesome.
Even more adorable is that they only speak in English when I am in the room, but they switch back to Portuguese when I am in the other room. From experience I would like to say I know how tricky that is. For real. But it is so sweet of them!! It´s fun to hear them speaking Portuguese, too, though... since I can understand some of it! :)
As I write this it is 1 am and they are still cutting potatoes and carrots for the salads and I am on the couch writing my blog and playing Brazilian DJ. :) I was a little nervous about this whole CouchSurfing thing, but if tonight is any indication, I think I have finally found a community of strange people like myself who love traveling and languages as much as I do, but are still friendly, silly and chill. Could it be!?
XOXO
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