I’m sitting in the smallest “library” of all time (roughly the size of my childhood bedroom) while Kathryn gives a serious grad student presentation next door, so updating this guy seemed like a semi-responsible use of my free time.
I flew here on a Ryanair flight, which is the preferred method of student travel here because it’s absurdly cheap and highly inconvenient. Except only the fares are cheap. They send you threatening emails every day between your purchase date and your flight (literally) like this:
subj: YOU MUST CHECK IN FOR YOUR RYANAIR FLIGHT RIGHT NOW
Body: YOU HAVE TO CHECK IN FOR RYANAIR FLIGHT #3469 RIGHT NOW OR YOU WILL BE FINED 57 EUROS. IF YOU LOSE YOUR BOARDING PASS BETWEEN NOW AND YOUR FLIGHT, YOU WILL HAVE TO REPRINT IT FOR A FINE OF 340 EUROS. IF YOU REQUEST A NEW BOARDING PASS AT THE AIRPORT, YOU MUST PAY RYANAIR WITH ONE OF YOUR KIDNEYS.
PASSENGERS ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO BRING ONE PIECE OF LUGGAGE WITH THEM ON THE FLIGHT. THIS ITEM MAY WEIGH 7 OUNCES AND BE 23 CM X 1 CM X 7 CM. EXCESSIVELY FAT PASSENGERS MAY NOT BRING ANY LUGGAGE, AS THEIR FAT ROLLS COUNT AS LUGGAGE. YOU ARE FINED 9 EUROS PER OUNCE YOU OR YOUR LUGGAGE ARE OVERWEIGHT. THERE IS A 87 EURO FEE TO CHECK A BAG AT THE GATE.
RYANAIR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DRAIN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT AT ANY MOMENT DURING THE FLIGHT. THERE IS ALSO A 9 EURO SNEEZING FEE WHILE ON BOARD A RYANAIR FLIGHT. RYANAIR EMPLOYEES ARE ALSO FREE TO VERBALLY OR PHYSICALLY ABUSE YOU DURING THE FLIGHT, OR WHENEVER ELSE STRIKES THEIR FANCY.
Please disregard this email if you have already checked in online and printed your boarding pass. Thanks for choosing Ryanair!
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Well it turns out that Ryanair employees are actually very nice people. I managed to board and get to Ireland without giving them any more money. My flight was uneventful except for some truly epic turbulence somewhere over France. We dropped like 30 feet in the air! Then people applauded when we landed- always a bad sign.
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But now that I’m here, Galway is very beautiful and fun. People were out celebrating Halloween last night when I arrived, so I got to see some very stereotypical public drunkenness, plus costumes! I look forward to joining their ranks soon. It rained (surprise) today and I got rather soaked (surprise), but my spirits haven’t been dampened in the least. Everybody is so cheery and nice here that the rain just can’t get you down! Plus it makes the whole world verdant and beautiful… quite a change from paved-over Florence.
ps – I must have picked up a little Irish luck during my harrowing Ryanair flight. Last night I got an email informing me that I’ve been accepted into the History honors program! Yay!! It’s going to be so killer and so much work! I can’t wait!
