Erin made her way from the train platforms to the bustling streets of Galway in just a few minutes. Looking up at the direction signs, she was surprised to find everything written in both English and Gaelic. The Gaelic, in spite of its completely foreign appearance, and the pronunciations she couldn't begin to unravel was very welcoming. There seemed to be far more letters than the English version and the nouns and vowels appeared quite jumbled. At that moment she determined to learn a bit more about the language so she could at least begin to figure out how on Earth these beautifully strange words were spoken aloud.
Glancing at her surroundings, Erin scoured the busy streets and searched for a taxi stand. She had to be cautious, she was completely unused to the flow of traffic-- just like in England, the cars drove on the left side of the road, the opposite of what she was used to. She made a mental note to look both ways before crossing any streets-- she did not want to end her dream as roadkill in Ireland.
Eventually, after observing the area, Erin located the taxi queue and made her way to the short line. She'd eventually figure out how to use the public transportation system but gave herself a break for now-- after such a long trip, she felt like she'd earned it. Upon reaching the front of the line, she was greeted by a fantastically jolly Irishman. He looked to be about 50 and came complete with a lovely smile and tartan newsboy cap. He happily placed her hulking suitcase into the trunk, or "boot" of the car as he called it. "Where to, miss?" he asked with a friendly lilt.
"I need to find the student accommodation for the university here, I'm moving here from the US for the next year," she replied somewhat shyly.
At that, the cabbie knew exactly where she needed to go and they were off. Erin couldn't stop looking out the windows at the lively town. Everything was so interesting to her, it was foreign and at once natural to her. She eyed the brightly colored shops and people of all ages milling about, meeting with friends and going about their day.
After about 10 minutes, the cab driver pulled up to a large concrete building, obviously some type of official-looking establishment and helped her unload her baggage. After just a few minutes of speaking with various officials, she was given her new address, her key, and as she stumbled to pull her suitcase behind her she ran straight into the warm, firm chest of the stunning gentleman behind her.
"Oh, no I'm so sorry," she fumbled the words as they escaped her mouth as she took in the gorgeous, dark-haired, blue-eyed young man who'd been standing behind her.
"Ehhrin?" the man asked in a purring, deep voice, with an incredibly sexy French accent.
"Olivier?" she said as she realized she recognized the man from her video chats online. He was one of her new flatmates and it was quite clear that Skype had not done this man justice. At that, they looked in each other's eyes and for just a few moments, the world went completely silent and everything happening around her completely disappeared.