14 September 2008: Belfast, Ireland

When I woke up and checked my watch it was 11:11. I can't think of a single better way to start the day.

You want to know the single best way to ruin the feeling of invincibility that only 11:11 can give you? Looking up at the bed and seeing Salim lying on his back and facing you with one arm under his head and one knee up in the air.

Lord was it weird.

I'm guessing he was actually sleeping, because he stayed that way for a while, but I knew immediately it was time to go. Unfortunately, Salim had said the previous night that he would make lunch and I felt like it was bound to be good, so I mustered up the resolve to stick around until then.

Unfortunately, though, it was a long time coming. He didn't get up until about an hour later, and when he did he just stood next to his bed and started running an afro-pick through his hair. I stood there for like five minutes before saying, as way of motivation, "I think it's time for some lunch," to which he replied "I know." That's all he said. He just kept going on with the afro-pick for another five minutes with me standing there.

Then, still not saying a single freaking word, he put his towel around his waist and went downstairs for a shower. Just walked right by where I had been standing and went down. My God, I could have killed him.

Finally he came back upstairs and got dressed, and then he made us lunch. And, well, it was certainly delicious. Just some rice with steak, onion, and spices, but it was the first hot food I'd had since Carlow. And it was good.

Afterwards I headed to the hostel to drop my stuff off for the day, and Salim came with me. We walked in nearly absolute silence, because this dude was practically mute and I had officially nothing left to say, and when we got to the turn-off for the hostel I asked him what he was going to do. He said "Following you for now."

Boy could he have used some better wording.

And at this I was done. The shower that morning, the walk back to his place the previous day, the fact that he didn't say a word the previous night and hardly ever smiled, the fact that he never offered any input on what to do but always went along with it. I could go on for ages. I had to get away.

So I told him I needed some time alone and that I would call him tomorrow.

I went to the hostel and Marissa, the girl who had been working every day, was there again. Each time I had come to drop off my stuff she was unbelievably nice and let me store my bags for free, and each time I had stayed longer and longer to talk with her. This time we talked even more, and as I was about to leave I asked her if I could use the internet quickly. She said sure, and thus saved me another couple pounds in addition to storing my bags.

I checked my email and then went to RyanAir to see about possible flights out of Dublin. I found one flight to a particular place that was only €25 with all taxes and fees included, which was perfect, but it was on the 24th. That meant that, if I was on that flight, I would have spent only 20 days in Ireland. I wasn't sure if that would be enough, so I talked about it with Marissa and an old dude who was in the room and together we decided that leaving on the 24th was the way to go.

So, inspired by my two conspirators, I booked the flight. Marissa was intrigued by where I was going and actually almost booked the same flight. But she was supposed to be meeting her American lover on the 22nd-- some guy from Alaska who had stayed at the hostel the previous week-- and wasn't sure he'd want to fly again so quickly. So she held off.

Similar to Joel, and completely opposite of Rochelle, I would have been more than happy to go to Budapest with Marissa. I don't know how long I would have been able to stick with a traveling buddy in a new place, but it would have been OK to go together. In fact, I might have even been a little more in favor of going with Marissa than with Joel. Not because I like her more than Joel, since Joel is still the best friend I've made in Ireland, but she is just as interested as I am in traveling alongside working rather than mostly working and traveling only whenever possible. I think we would be a good combination.

Either way, it's now a moot point. But still a point.

When I left the hostel with my bags stored as usual, I walked back to Colin's place because I realized I had left my camera there by accident. To be honest, I dislike taking pictures and don't like that I have to worry about whether or not I'm missing a photo op. But, still, it's a camera, and it had to be retrieved. Except he wasn't there. Oh well.

From Colin's I went downtown again, but to be honest once was enough. Like I said, there isn't really much at all to Belfast's City Centre. In fact, in a sense there's nothing to Belfast's City Centre. The only interesting thing was a dude who claimed to be the #1-ranked chess player in Jamaica and was playing people in speed chess. Guess how quickly it took him to beat me.

Seriously, guess.

27 seconds. I'm not making this up.

Hungry and defeated, and less than captivated by City Hall-- the only thing downtown-- I got a container of potato salad for 71 pence for dinner and then headed back to campus to find a couch for the night.

And just like that I was back in the couch-surfing mentality.

There was hardly anyone walking around campus, so I asked a couple kids where the students lived off-campus. The girl pointed me to the Holy Lands, the neighborhood right below the campus.

When I got to the Holy Lands I asked the first person I saw, a dude named Sean. He almost immediately said it was fine, and we walked to his apartment on Palestine Street-- one of a number of streets that give the neighborhood its name.

We went up to his place and were talking and hanging out for quite some time, and he said he was going to his girlfriend's place and I could come with him because "she has some friends."

You don't have to tell me twice, but my bags were still at the hostel and I needed to shower. I told him I would run and get my stuff and be back in a second, and he assured me he'd still be around. So I went to the hostel and Marissa and this girl Sonja were sitting around.

I got my stuff, from the main room, went into the kitchen to say hi to Marissa, and Sonja said "she's been telling me about you." Well, with an introduction like that, I couldn't possibly just leave. So I sat down with them for a while, and before I left told them that I'd come back that evening and we would go out together.

Then I headed back to Sean's place and knocked, and waited. And waited. And knocked again and waited. And then I gave up. The dude was gone.

I was a bit frustrated but not discouraged, and so I kept asking around. What I found out, though, is that not only had the term not started but most of the students hadn't even moved in yet. So I had no luck finding a couch, although I did pick up £15 along the way by virtue of my winning charm and easy-going smile. Finally I found a shower but not a couch, and figuring that was enough for the night I headed back to the hostel.

I asked Marissa if I could just leave my pack there for the night, since I was confident I'd find a place to sleep at the bar but I wouldn't be able to get into any with my stuff, and she again graciously said yes. I sat down and hung out, and Marissa told me she wouldn't be able to go out until she got off work at 11:00. Sonja backed out of the plan altogether, so I figured I'd just wait around.

It took longer than Marissa thought, though, and she didn't get off until nearly midnight. By this point we were both tired and there didn't seem to be much point in going out, so we just sat around for nearly two hours talking.

Marissa is from Australia and had come to Belfast to work, but she had been working in the hostel for three weeks and needed to leave. She was in a bind, though, because she was the only person working at the hostel besides the owner and she, understandably, didn't want to screw him over and just take off without anyone else to fill her spot.

We talked about traveling and about the poor life of the road, and how this thing that I'm doing and this thing that she's doing is a challenge as much as an adventure or anything else. I had a pretty easy time growing up with a doctor parent in Princeton, New Jersey, and then having most things paid for me at college. Now that I'm traveling, though, I literally have no idea what's going to happen when, but more importantly I don't know HOW I'm going to make it happen. And so, if I have to sleep outside once in a while or not eat for a while, hell, there are worse things in life. What I have now is what I have, and I'll go home before I ask my parents for money. This is just the crazy part.

Anyway, after our long talk Marissa went to bed and I went to sleep on the couch in the common room, which I think had been the unspoken plan all along.