I don't mind long flights, honestly, but this one wasn't fantastic. Virgin Atlantic is a very good airline, don't get me wrong, but I sat next to the most selfish woman on the planet. Oh yes, I met her. See the woman who was supposed to sit next to me switched seats so she could be with her children, leaving the seat next to me open. And since it was 4 across seating that was nice. Well there was an Indian couple that had the other 2 seats. As soon as the woman who moved got up the other woman planted her stuff on that seat. Then she spent the next 6 hrs stretched out across her husbands seat, her seat and the seat next to me. Normally this wouldn't irk me but she kept kicking me with her feet and hitting me with her head. Then she'd look at me like it was my fault! The nerve.... Anyway the rest of the flight was uneventful and the food was eh, ok.
When I got to Heathrow it was chaos. Or at least chaos around me, I wasn't really with it. You have to love jet lag. There were no gates open so they got us off the plane old school (using stairs) loaded us onto buses and took us in. Then I had to take another bus and go through security again. I'd like to point out that I did all of this without ever clearing customs or seeing my bag. It was only right before I boarded to Belfast that I actually spoke to a customs agent. And he was the nicest person I spoke to... that tells you something about the people in Heathrow.The hour between London and Belfast was great, I slept like a log.When I got to Belfast I had a very pleasant surprise. Gerard Keenan (a friend of Tom Gallagher's) had actually made it to the airport to pick me up. He was supposed to be in Antrim attending a class all day but they got out early. So we made it to the university, I checked in and we went to get dinner. Well, lets call it late afternoon lunch. It was like 430 here.
The weather is currently gorgeous so we ate outside near the river and then he gave me a driving tour of Falls Road. I saw the Sinn Fein HQ amongst other things. After he dropped me off I walked around the area a bit to get a feel for what goes on. I also stopped at the SPAR (our equivalent of a Wawa or Sheetz) to get some food and water for my room. I haven't really met anyone yet but there are a ton of people on campus and floating around. The only thing that's currently annoying me is that I have no idea how to hook my computer up to the network.... I'll deal with it later.All in all I like it here.... It feels like home.But I do need to get my wits about me. I'm sure I sounded like a complete moron talking to Gerard today. I'm blaming jet lag.
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