So, remember that phone tree I told you about in an earlier installment? Well, when we got set up in that first hotel outside of Shannon I took a minute to call my wife who was the first branch of the tree, and she sent it on to the next person, and so forth and so on. However, unbeknownst to me there was a breakdown in the process after the fourth person was called. Of course what that meant was that all of the parents on the bottom part of the tree didn’t get the word that we were there safely. And they were incensed, but I knew nothing about it until that next day while we were on the bus heading to Limerick and Killarney. One of the students had gotten in contact with her mother who was lower on the phone tree, and she had gotten an earful about not letting anyone know she was safely there; then I got on the phone with her and received another earful.
And I could understand what she was saying. I too was frustrated by what happened on the tree, and I promised her something like that wouldn’t happen again. The only way I thought I could do it was to call her as the start of a second tree, effectively ending the first tree with the person who hadn’t called along. It was a pain, but I knew the most important thing was to make sure parents were informed or I would get another earful. It was the burden of being a leader. Like Spider-Man said, “With great power comes great responsibility,” or something like that. I was learning as I went. As our bus pulled away from Killarney in the wee hours of the morning on the third day, headed to Dublin, I was deep into planning our “free day” in the capital city, a place that had been one of my favorites during my honeymoon.
We were also starting to gel as a group, forming some inside jokes and being more relaxed with each other. Intermittently our tour guide would give us some information on some obscure facts and historical notes. He would also lead us in some rounds of songs. About halfway to Dublin we stopped at some ruins that were beyond amazing. It was a series of buildings in massive disrepair, but they were obviously old, and we took a bunch of pictures there. And get this: it hadn’t rained at all during the first three days of our Irish journey. It made me think of the old Enya album, A Day Without Rain, which was ironic because it rains nearly every day in Ireland, so yes, it was strange, but we were enjoying it immensely, being able to sightsee without that over our heads. Our tour guide told us we had only an hour in the ruins, so we took off in separate groups to explore. I went with one of my other chaperones and eight students to the ruins farther off and we took some amazing photos there. It was easily one of the highlights.
Then we finally pulled into our new lodgings just outside of Dublin, and boy were they interesting! The building was a former apartment building that they were going to change over into condos in the near future, but until then they were basically renting out the apartments as hotel rooms to tourists and we happened to fit into the schedule there. The building was also centrally located in the middle of a few eateries and a cyber-cafe. It was really quite an idyllic setting, except that we were on the 23rd floor, and heights freak me out. I guess there were bigger things to worry about, and one of them was that it was the first place we stayed on the trip where we were spread out. I made sure to do the rounds when we first got settled, and everyone was dog tired. They were all planning on staying in and watching something on TV, even though it was only 6 o’clock at night.
You know me, though, I rounded up two chaperones and six students and we decided to head into Dublin for some fun that night. It became some free time for us, and I knew I had left the rest of my students in good hands with the other chaperones. I was just dying to get into Dublin, and it didn’t disappoint. We got into the city as the sun was setting, which was a beautiful sight to see, and the crew wanted to get something to eat at a club, so I dropped them off there while I went for a small walk by myself through the Temple Bar District, which brought back memories. My wife and I had strolled through that very district five years before while we did a pub crawl on a Friday night and visited this place that was intimate and a small band played music. When I went back there by myself it still had the same atmosphere, and this guy was in there singing Coldplay. I got a Guinness and just sat there for about 20 minutes before, soaking it all in before heading back to meet my group for after-dinner drinks and more exploration of the city.
It was probably the best night of the trip for me because we weren’t in a hurry for a change, because it wasn’t the larger group so it was closer-knit, and because it was in my second-favorite city in the entire world. As we got on the tram to head back to our lodgings I kept looking behind me at the lights of the city and thinking about how amazing it would be to head back there the following day. Someone would get lost that day too, but I’m getting ahead of myself again. Wait until I tell you about the inside of that apartment! No, seriously, wait. I’ll tell you next time.
Sam
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