And So it begins

So I guess since I'm starting on such a momentous summer, I'll start a blog. That is obviously the best decision for me to make. I'm here writing this blog on a bus to Chicago but more on that later. Since this is the first post I'll give a little bit of a background in order for you to understand this trip.

Basically, my boys and I from the Lou aka the 314 aka St. Louis, MO love us some football aka soccer. Alright no more aka's don't worry. That was ridiculous. Anyways, we love soccer and we follow the European leagues for the most part but it's hard given the lackluster interest in soccer here in the States. So around two years ago in 2008ish, we started to throw around the idea of going to the 2010 World Cup since it would be in South Africa which is just plain awesome. We were pretty excited about the possibility until early 2009 when the flight/game packages came out for the World Cup and for merely a flight to South Africa and a couple tickets to games, the packages were starting out at like three grand. And that didn't really include hotels or anything like that. So it would be a huge chunk of cash to be in South Africa for a week or two and then leave empty handed. Bummer.

So instead we started looking at alternatives to this trip since obviously we didn't just want to call the whole thing off and walk home with our heads hung low. That would be a sad spot to end this tale. So we started looking into traveling to Europe for the summer and living in Europe. And what more obvious a place to live for us Americans than England, home of fish and chips. Once again we got super pumped but then we found out that for some stupid, terrible, awful, sissy reason, the Brits stopped giving out work visas for students. So we rioted and went to restaurants and ordered their finest fish and chips and thrown them on the ground, stomped on them, and ran out. True story. (Not really)

But alas, one last ray of hope was their dear neighbor, the Green Isle, Ireland! Hooray Ireland. This story really is going somewhere! So this was all happening summer of 2009 and we were planning it like crazy let me tell you what. But basically we found a program that was giving out Irish work visas for students and we jumped at the opportunity to actually get this whole thing finally going somewhere.

We started researching and emailing a bit and figuring costs and what not and it was grand. Many late nights were had talking and discussing what in tarnation we'd be doing in Ireland and how in the world we would pay for the cost of this whole trip. Also we decided that working three months was a terrible idea and taking the last month off and traveling around Europe willy nilly was clearly the best course of action. But long summer short, we figured it all out by wintertime basically. And with credit cards in hand, we all bought our tickets to Ireland at the very end of winter break and that was basically the first big jump which meant that this trip was really happening. Since then we applied for visas (and received them), got passports (Well I did), emailed the visa people a ton, and otherwise were just trying to figure out this whole trip while we still had time.

Needless to say we figured it out and here I am on a bus to Chicago to get on a plane to Washington DC... to take a plane to London, to take a plane to Dublin... to take a bus to Galway... to get to my house. Phew. That's a full 2 days of traveling. Brutal. And ya I kinda got beat there by my buddies because my college, SCAD, gets out way later than the rest of these hooligans and so I'm a little late to the party but that's alright because I'll be staying there for a bit longer. Suckas!! But right now Tyler J. Worlund, Patrick Thomas Kramer, and Michael Samuel Abrams III are already in Ireland in our sweet house we'll be living in for two months. They've been there for around two weeks and I'm arriving in 2 days on the 2^nd of June. Fantastic. Our buddy Joel Joseph Bennett is coming the 9^th and then Mike the Second, is coming the 15^th. Pretty exciting stuff I know. I'd be excited if I were me. Which is great! Because I am.

I guess I'll just leave you with a few photos of my travels to Ireland in transit and maybe if I get super bored within the next two days of travel I'll write another post. Especially during the 13 hour layover in London I have. Unbelievable. United Airlines... you suck. I guess you're alright but still. Not cool.

Well keep following the blog and keep sending us money, cash, cars, women, tacos, fruit baskets, and anything else you find necessary for our survival in the harsh unforgiving wilderness know as Ireland. It shakes me to the core just saying the name.

Goodnight Y'all.