September 5th, 2013 | Uncategorized
This past Wednesday the Dart and I got into our first altercation. The Dart is equivalent to the T in Boston, basically a train around Dublin that Shelby and I have been taking to Kubs and I’ve been taking to Meteor’s training. Until Wednesday, it had been smooth sailing.
We had returned from working in schools (got to and from via the Dart) a few hours before and Shelby and I had used the time to go grocery shopping, make an amazing stir-fry dinner, and just enjoy our precious time off. As I got to the station, I went into autopilot and got on the same train as I had that morning. MISTAKE #1. My training is in the opposite direction. I realized about 3 stops later, jumped off that train and onto one on the other side of the tracks. MISTAKE #2. The chairs looked unfamiliar and my gut told me to abandon ship (or train), but like on a test where you convince yourself one of the distractors is correct, I ignored that gut feeling. As soon as the doors closed, I realized my mistake because we took off in the SAME direction. This was a commuter train, and it makes far fewer stops and I have no idea where it ends up. As we zoomed through the next station without stopping, I worried for a moment I was going to end up in France (please note that yes, Ireland is an island). I got off at the next stop, hoping one quick switch would be all it took to get to where one of my teammates was waiting. But no, the sign overhead informed me the next train in the opposite direction was in 24 minutes!! At this point I knew I was going to have to admit my mistake to my coach as there was no way I was going to make it to training on time. Jade, my teammate who was picking me up texted me she was going to be late, so I reassured her that no matter how much traffic there was, I would be later. She responded, “You’re grand,” and instilled in me the confidence to overcome my foreignness and figure out how to get back.
I hopped on that commuter train back to Connolly where I could switch to the Dart and get to my stop. But the next Dart was in another 20 MINUTES! At this point, it was already 20 minutes into our two-hour training session. Shoot. But I toughed out the wait, so glad I got an iPad mini for this trip for these long train rides. Luckily I have a very supportive coach and teammates, who were highly amused by my adventure.
Sorry to ramble, but this was too good not to share. Please read Shelby’s blog for a recap of what happened the next night with our new, furry friend. Needless to say, they do not have screens on the windows in this country.
We need to have our own sitcom, the Shelby and Katie Show. #whenindublin
