I dedicate this post to the FedEx lady.

I would like to start this with a huge thank you to several people who were instrumental in actually getting me here, despite my being screwed over by passport services. For those of you who have not heard the story, the gist of it is that after numerous guarantees across several weeks from multiple different employees that my passport would arrive in plenty of time for my departure, Passport Services waited until the last possible day to print my passport, and then miscounted the days to ship it to me, resulting in the scheduled delivery of my passport being the day after my scheduled departure. This is also after I had sent them a check to pay for overnight mail. But no, they wanted to handle it themselves through FedEx. "But don't worry, we'll put it in one day delivery, you’ll have it in time." ...They seem to have forgotten that FedEx does not deliver on Saturdays unless specifically asked to...which Passport Services didn't do, and then refused to take any responsibility for or attempt to help fix. Anyway, the first thank you goes to my parents, who spent all day Friday on the phones with Passport Services, FedEx, and the International Education office at Bucknell while I was at work and unable to make the calls myself. They worked their way up the FedEx Trace Office in at the Memphis Headquarters. Which brings me to my next thank you, to a woman named Tina Tailor, who my parents talked to and who took it upon herself to find my package and go around FedEx policy/rules to upgrade me to a Saturday deliver, thus ensuring my getting it in time. I also have to thank Lisa over at the International Education Office who put the full resources of her staff behind me and had backup plans and flights lined up and ready for me if the passport hadn't come in.

So, after much drama and many long distance phone calls, I am here in Derry City. We had a solid day's worth of traveling, starting at 3pm Sunday with a three hour drive to the airport, where we had a two hour wait before boarding the plane for a six hour ride across the Atlantic. Finally, a two hour drive took us from Belfast International to Derry, arriving just after 11am Monday. True to form, it was raining when we landed, and has proceeded to rain at least five times a day for the past two days. What's funny is that you can tell this is normal, since the locals don't even seem to notice it until the wind has it going sideways. (We've been hailed on too, but the locals say that they're just as confused by that as we are). Upon arriving in Derry we moved into the flats. We each have a single room which shares a kitchen/common area and two bathrooms with four others. The flats are in a residential area of town, just outside the city center. We met as a group for dinner, where most of us, predictably, tried the Guinness. It is indeed different here than in the states, being stronger and even more bitter. I liked it, but I seem to be in the minority.

Today was our day of tours, starting with the University of Ulster Magee Campus, which is where we'll be having our lectures for the next three weeks, and then a walking tour of the city via the city walls. Between the two we met the Mayor of Derry and the Junior Mayor, who is a kid no older than 20 who leads a council of youths aged 16-21 who deal with issues affecting those of their age bracket. I was surprised that they gave such power to the youths of the city, but the Mayor explained that Derry is a very young city (by population, not its own age, being one of the oldest cities in Europe), such that the 16-21 year olds make up a significant percentage of the city populace. After the tour, we all dove right into work, as our first assignment is due tomorrow, at the beginning of our first lecture. They sure aren't wasting any time with this.

This evening I got my first taste of the Irish Pub culture. We started at the Ice Wharf, which was nice, but not all that interesting. After a drink or two there we moved on to a small pub called O’Donnell’s. This place was exactly as I had pictured an old Irish pub to be. It was packed to the gills with locals, all talking and yelling to each other. The whole place couldn't have been more than thirty yards (meters, I should say) long, and the bar took up half of the width. The best part was the trio of live musicians playing old Irish pub songs and ballads (and the occasional Pink Floyd). There was a guitar player and an accordion player who were both good, but by far the show stealer was the violin player. She was a girl in her early to mid twenties, and her fingers just flew across the fingerboard, while her foot enthusiastically stomped to the beat. You could tell she was loving every minute that she was playing. My only disappointment was that after years of her playing at that bar four or five nights a week, tonight was her last night there until September. Blast. Oh well, there's bound to be more fiddle players floating around this town somewhere.