Buses Give me Gas.

Do you every have those moments when you realize something so poignant and obvious about yourself, that you feel at first relieved and then immediately shocked that nobody else had pointed it out to you yet? What I am about to say will not be even remotely shocking to anybody who knows me, but let me tell you, it felt like an absolute epiphany when it alighted upon my very brain earlier this week: I hate not knowing the way from A to B.

It makes me irritable, angry, sad, disconsolate. You name it. That feeling when you get to a city, and you don't know exactly where to go or (even worse) how to get there. It drives me crazy.

This occurred to me when I first arrived in Dublin last week, and I had the overwhelmingly sad feeling like I just wanted to go home. Reading over some old notes from my travel journals I noticed that I always feel this way. For the first 24 hours I badly want to go home. I fall asleep, dream that I am home again, and wake up disappointed; I think "why did I even come here?" And then, as predictable as ever, within 24 hours it passes, and I relax into traveling. It's the craziest thing, and I've always just chalked it up to jet-lag.

However, on closer inspection, I see it's something more. My homing pigeon-like sense of direction is an extreme point of pride for me, and feeling that falter makes me...ill at ease. This makes me wish two things. First, I wish I could just relax my vice-like grip on control once in awhile. Second, it is good to know that this wave will always pass. Again, if you've ever been in a car or at a bus stop with me in a strange city, you have probably cursed my name loudly, and at present, you are probably shocked that I didn't realize this already.

But fear not, being more than one week into my adventure, I can assure you that I am currently beset with no such feelings! I am fully relaxed into Irish life, biking with European flair, riding public busses with the best of 'em, and I even drove a car on the left side of the road!

And cooked a whole fish (don't tell anyone, but it wasn't even difficult)!

<3