Quick Update: End of Day 1 into Day 2

Hey all!

Okay, there's a whole lot more stuff coming down the pipes. The issue is that a) uploading all of these pictures and videos that Teddie and I have taken is going to take a while and b) I want to do them justice.

Alright and if I'm being honest, c) Teddie and I had quite the long night out on the town last night, and between that, the recovery this morning, our busy afternoon, and our evening, I've had no time to jump online. Until now :-)


[Just a heads up to, well, anyone who knows me well... we had a pretty wild night, and it's something that I'm sure I'll be reflecting upon and praying about privately for a while. Read the following with an understanding that I am unsure of how to feel about some of the events. At the same time, I want this blog to be honest and give an account of my summer. I'm not making excuses, but rather saying if you're scratching your head after this, I'm not shocked, and I'm probably scratching my own head with you. I've still got some more growing to do.]

The run-down of the rest of Day 1:

Guinness and New Friends
In some of the videos
that we'll post later, you'll see two friends that Teddie and I met at the Guinness Storehouse. Guinness is an awesome beer. I'm not the biggest drinker, but I've always had a soft spot for Guinness, and there is a little truth to the rumor that Ireland Guinness just tastes better. (Side note, that was an awesome tour and there's a whole separate page dedicated to that and the James distillery you can check out later).

Sydney and Shelby are two college kids who leave Friday and have been here for three weeks with a class. Yeah, I know, both are girls, and go figure, we made friends with them. (Both have boy-friend-type-figures, just throwing that out there for the skeptics! ;-) ) One of my goals for this trip is to make great friends with at least a couple of awesome guys while over here. (Which, coincidentally, happened later...)

We ended up heading out to dinner with the girls before they spent the night in doing homework. That left Teddie and I to wander into the Temple Bar area...

The Temple Bar and Some More New Friends
Prior to heading out, Teddie and I decided that we would just be as touristy as possible that evening. Thus, the Temple Bar. This is a perpetual tourist spot in Dublin, with a party going every night of the week. Teddie and I headed there for some good Guinness, good music, and the possibility of good company. I'll post some of the videos later, you'll get the whole feel then.

We met this couple named Mark and Jonze. They were awesome. Mark's a 30-year-old Ireland native, and we had a few great conversations about a lot of things Ireland related. Plus, we started talking about how touristy this spot is, and started trying to guess the nationalities of all the people in the bar around us (which was packed). That game eventually led us to meeting Jean (french and Korean) and Ines (Algeria). In a story for another day, we ended up staying out far into the morning hours. Teddie and I split at some point, when I went for a very long walk with Ines. (When I say very long, I mean 3 hours long).

One thing I will share is how the crosses that I had brought out at some point during the night had Ines asking me about faith in God and Jesus. Ines is a 28 year old flight attendant, who grew up Muslim but not devout, and said she had issues with God. My prayer is that despite my sin and despite my imperfections, or perhaps through them?, God was able to stir something in her heart. We'll see. At any rate, we're going to hopefully keep in touch.

That night (early morning?) ended with me getting a cab back to the apartment of a friend where we were staying. I thank God for keeping us safe and making mostly good decisions for that evening. I know for certain that last night is the most amount of alcohol I'll be consuming on this trip. I remember everything about the night, to give you an idea of the level of intoxication. That's about all I'll go into for now. Rest assured, there will be some reflection posts about this some day this summer if not this trip.



Recap of that day... I'm excited to be here, and it has been really cool to spend time with Teddie in a foreign country, meeting new people, seeing cool and old things, and talking about life. Couldn't ask for better company.






With Peace and Love,

~ Seany-poo Muffin Face