Monday, May 30, 2011
Day 1
I just came in from my first irish rainfall, it was wonderful, it smelled much more like a real rainfall then the ones back at home. Today/tonight was the first night here in Dublin and I couldn't have asked for a better one. A small group of us took the bus to the center of Dublin and went into a couple of the bars and ordered pints of different types of beer. I wasn't ready for a Guinness yet so I stuck with a beer I know :) Tomorrow though, a Guinness is in my future.
The plane ride in wasn't too bad, a little rocky at some points but that was just because of the storm, longest plane ride ever though, definitely knocking myself out for the plane ride home haha. Arrival into the Dublin Airport or "Da" wasn't as bad as I thought it would be either, the line to get through customs was really long, but the officer only asked me how long I would be staying and she gave me the stamp of approval. My very first stamp belongs to Ireland and I couldn't be happier. Also, I have never seen so many kilts before. Men walking around in kilts in Ireland like men walking around in dress pants in the U.S. These men wore them with confidence, and very high socks I might add. One guy in the group compared the men's kilt to the women's yoga pant: an easy go to outfit that is always comfortable :)
The city is truly breathtaking, almost like taking a time machine back a hundred years or so, the buildings are old beautiful and the men are drinking beers at 3:00 in the afternoon, which was fine with us. The doors to each house though were a different color, I had heard someone say that was so each husband could get back from the bar without going into the wrong house, he just had to look for his colored door. I'll look into that and see if it's true or not. The biggest obstacle that we are tackling this month is remembering to look right then left, not left then right. The cars don't care if your in the street, they will run you over and the buses, for those of you who have ridden in a cab in New York City take that and times the fear by 100. Seriously, taking left turns was scary business and we can about 2 feet close to every single thing in the street. I think the bus drivers forget they are driving double-decker buses and not a tiny volkswagen.
First day of classes tomorrow and I am exhausted, it's only 5:00 at home but I feel like it's 2 AM. However, I'm going to stay up a while longer so that my body gets more acclimated to the time change. I started taking pictures today, slowly but surely I'll become an avid picture taker and get things up onto facebook.
Love from Ireland!
The plane ride in wasn't too bad, a little rocky at some points but that was just because of the storm, longest plane ride ever though, definitely knocking myself out for the plane ride home haha. Arrival into the Dublin Airport or "Da" wasn't as bad as I thought it would be either, the line to get through customs was really long, but the officer only asked me how long I would be staying and she gave me the stamp of approval. My very first stamp belongs to Ireland and I couldn't be happier. Also, I have never seen so many kilts before. Men walking around in kilts in Ireland like men walking around in dress pants in the U.S. These men wore them with confidence, and very high socks I might add. One guy in the group compared the men's kilt to the women's yoga pant: an easy go to outfit that is always comfortable :)
The city is truly breathtaking, almost like taking a time machine back a hundred years or so, the buildings are old beautiful and the men are drinking beers at 3:00 in the afternoon, which was fine with us. The doors to each house though were a different color, I had heard someone say that was so each husband could get back from the bar without going into the wrong house, he just had to look for his colored door. I'll look into that and see if it's true or not. The biggest obstacle that we are tackling this month is remembering to look right then left, not left then right. The cars don't care if your in the street, they will run you over and the buses, for those of you who have ridden in a cab in New York City take that and times the fear by 100. Seriously, taking left turns was scary business and we can about 2 feet close to every single thing in the street. I think the bus drivers forget they are driving double-decker buses and not a tiny volkswagen.
First day of classes tomorrow and I am exhausted, it's only 5:00 at home but I feel like it's 2 AM. However, I'm going to stay up a while longer so that my body gets more acclimated to the time change. I started taking pictures today, slowly but surely I'll become an avid picture taker and get things up onto facebook.
Love from Ireland!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Before
I am going to Ireland in about 2 weeks and I couldn't be more excited about it. I wanted to start this blog now so I would get used to writing on it a lot to keep everyone posted on what we're doing across "the pond" :). When I first started looking for places to go for Study Abroad I was really interested in London for a Shakespeare concentrated area of study. The trip sounded perfect, but in the end it wasn't for me, it was a bit longer than I wanted and towards the end of the summer when I wanted to go as soon as possible. Then I found the study abroad in Dublin, it was meant to be, absolutely perfect. I thought to myself, why wouldn't I go to a place where I have roots and where I have always wanted to go. London will come another time, and I couldn't be more excited to go to Ireland.
Now that it is finally here, I also have some trepidation, how easily will our group get along with one another? Will we become fast friends or will it be a little awkward to begin with, oh well, nothing a little Guinness can't fix :). No but really, I know that these people who I'm going on this trip with will be amazing and wanting to explore the same things that I want too. But I'm also nervous about not getting to everything that I want to get to, there is so much to see and I know that people tell me that I need to go and see Europe and I completely agree, but for these 4 short weeks I want to see all of Ireland that I can. Take in every sight, capture every moment, go on a few adventures and make memories that will last forever. I mean I only have one free weekend the whole time I'm there.
More to come on the before of the trip when it isn't 1:30 in the morning.
Now that it is finally here, I also have some trepidation, how easily will our group get along with one another? Will we become fast friends or will it be a little awkward to begin with, oh well, nothing a little Guinness can't fix :). No but really, I know that these people who I'm going on this trip with will be amazing and wanting to explore the same things that I want too. But I'm also nervous about not getting to everything that I want to get to, there is so much to see and I know that people tell me that I need to go and see Europe and I completely agree, but for these 4 short weeks I want to see all of Ireland that I can. Take in every sight, capture every moment, go on a few adventures and make memories that will last forever. I mean I only have one free weekend the whole time I'm there.
More to come on the before of the trip when it isn't 1:30 in the morning.
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