One Week In

Good morning!

I've officially been here a week, can't decide if that week went super fast or super slow...

Anyway, had a nice weekend exploring the city a bit. On Saturday we went to O'Connell Street, which is a main road in town, and did some window shopping. The rain was ridiculous though, so we stopped in a pub for some traditional food and a soccer (excuse me, football) game. I had Irish Stew which was fantastic and really filling, I didn't need to eat for the rest of the day! By the time we got back to school my jeans and shoes were so 

soaked, they're still drying out. Someone told me about some cheap water-proof boots in town, so I need to pick some of those up. 

Then yesterday we walked down Grafton St, which is a pedestrian mall type street with lots of european shops and great architecture.

 Someone had a book that listed the top 10 pubs in Dublin so we decided to check them out. I was worried they were going to be really touristy and full of Americans with the same guidebook, but the two we went to were really small and cozy with a lot of locals. They had names that reminded me of Harry Potter, such as the "Stags Head". One of the pubs had been built in the late 18th century and still had the original bar. The ceiling looked like tin but was actually paper mache...awesome.

We came back last night to find that all of the Irish students had finally come back to the University. Needless to say its very different than my school back home. As I turned the corner into my dorm's quad I heard a group of people chanting "CHUG CHUG CHUG" then a lot of screaming. I located the source when a window flew open and then contents of the chugging flew out the window. I stopped and thought "ah....so THIS is college". Something tells me they don't hold "hall teas" here. 

Classes begin today. I woke up at 7:30 for my 9 am class (lets not get started on how I am NOT looking forward to a 9 am class on Mondays) to discover that it was still pitch black outside and the wind was so strong I was afraid my window was going to break. So I went back to bed....I woke up at 8:30 realizing that yes, I did have to go to class today and no, unlike back at home my buildings are not right outside my window so I should factor in some travel time. By travel time i mean 5-10 minutes....but still, not used to factoring that in. 

Pretty Irish Building

Dublin is home to the elite Foot Locker School of English