The Saga Begins

Oh lordy. A lot has happened in the past week or so! August 22 I flew to Portland to stay with my friend Bridget (who is also studying at Trinity) for five days. I got explore Portland a little more in-depth, see South East, walk along the Willamette, shop at Powell’s, and go to the zoo. And I got to meet Bridget’s awesome friends and spend time with her super cool family.

Episode I- The Transatlantic Menace/ Episode IV- A New City

August 27, it began. Bridget and I left bright and early from Portland and spent all day flying to Philadelphia. After a long layover we boarded the plane to Dublin! Ugh. What a flight. It was about six hours, and I slept for less than an hour of it. At least I got to watch a couple of movies. So we landed, tired, cranky, and smelly, in Dublin around 8am Dublin time. Bridget and I caught the bus to City Centre, and then decided to haul our bags through Grafton Street (a pedestrian street and one of the main shopping centres), past St. Stephen’s Green (more on that later) and to the Luas Station. The Luas is the tram, or above-ground rail system. We took Luas to a stop which a nice expat American Trinity student had told us to get off at, and realized we were in the burbs. We had to ask for directions several times, were thoroughly lost, very tired, and we were lugging all our worldly possessions with us, but we finally found Trinity Hall, our residence.

We were greeted by a very nice receptionist and shown to our apartment, in which we were the first to arrive. And what an odd apartment it is. You walk through the locked door using your hotel-type key card, and into a hallway with three bedrooms on either side. You then use your key card again to get into the room. They are small singles, but the furniture is great. It provides lots of different types of storage. And there’s an ensuite bathroom. It’s a tiny little room with a sink, toilet, and shower. The shower is this funny little thing in the corner of the room. I ended up flooding half the bathroom when I showered because the curtain is too close to me when it’s closed, so I prefer to keep it half open. And you can’t open the door for ventilation or else the bedroom will be flooded! Moving on, if you go to the end of the hall there’s another door (this one doesn’t lock) which opens into the kitchen and living space. It is pretty nice. A good sized table, a couch and chairs, a fully functioning kitchen with plenty of cabinet space for everyone. Actually, fully functioning is a bit of a lie. The fridge wasn’t properly defrosted when we arrived, so most of the time when you walk into the room you step directly into a giant, unpleasant puddle soaking into the carpet. Currently the maintenance staff has placed a second refrigerator in the middle of our kitchen. Hmm.

On Saturday I met another girl, Rachel, who lives in a different apartment. She had a day’s worth of experience on me, so she, Bridget, and I walked to the closest shopping area together. Down Rathmines road, you can find all sorts of shops and restaurants, internet cafes, grocery stores, off licence stores, and a small shopping center. I have been down there SO MANY times since I’ve been here. Later that evening a group of eleven of us, all doing the SSP, congregated and went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant. It turned out to be a hangout for the blue-haired set, but what can you do. So we all had a great dinner and got to know each other and celebrated (most of ours) first nights in Dublin by having a pint of Guinness. It took two waitresses to bring all of our drinks to the table! Afterwards, I finally went to bed to have my first proper sleep in about 30 hours!

Episode II- Attack of the Pubs/ Episode V- The Jetlag Strikes Back

Sunday, we had a hall meeting and were all introduced in a round robin way. Later Bridget, me, and two of our flatmates, Annie and Elisabeth, decided to go to City Centre before our SSP introductory meeting. We took the Luas to St. Stephen’s Green and promenaded about. It was BEAUTIFUL! It’s what I imagine Central Park to look like only smaller, cleaner, and less sketchy. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, and everyone was hanging out in the park. We also saw a bit of a military brass band performing. After that we walked down Grafton Street, which is spectacularly crowded. And full of street performers. I got a free hug from one. Then we walked around Trinity campus for a while, and even had a campus police officer kick us off of a grassy field area.

Then it was time for the meeting. They served us pizza and wine (what a combination) and we all meeted and greeted. It was great getting to talk to so many people (who are almost all entirely from the Atlantic Seaboard, by the by). After that most of us invaded a pub across the street called Doyle’s. You know how in America, the Irish pubs all have very Irish names, and it seems very gimmicky? Well in Ireland I’ve yet to see a Red Lion pub, or an Eastside Tavern or anything of the sort. They’re all O’Connell’s, Mother Reilly’s, Doyle’s, etc. Very Irish is just how they name their pubs. So we went and caught up with Maura, the third GU student studying at Trinity. On her advice we ordered Bulmer’s Cider. It was amazing! It wasn’t too sweet (not as apple-y as I would have liked, though) and not too carbonated. Bridget, Maura, (another) Kate, and I then all got free tickets to the comedy show upstairs, and went. We were instantly spotted by the emcee as Americans, and we got made fun of a bit. I happened to be sitting near a man from Atlanta, who had been travelling through Dublin and Scandinavia, teaching improv. Very cool. After half the show we realized we needed to get up in the morning and left. I took the bus for the first time, which involves much less walking than the Luas. There are stops all around city centre, and the end of the line is about a block from Trinity Hall. (which, by the way, is 2 miles from main campus!)

Episode III- Revenge of the Cold/ Episode VI- Return of the Campus Tours

Monday, at the crack of 9:30, we met to have our SSP orientation meeting. There is still so much official work to be done! But we got information and schedules, and took tours of the campus and the libraries. We got registered and received student IDs, which means we can avoid some of the madness of fresher’s week. I also discovered that bus passes are quite overpriced. Anyway, by the time I got home around 6pm, I was absolutely exhausted. I must have caught a cold from the plane, and it got progressively worse as the day wore on. By 6pm I was tired, sleepy, sick, stuffy, hungry, and angry. During the library tour, my last event for the day, I was mentally checking out and wanting to go home, when I realized I had been giving the tour guide and awful stink eye! Clearly I’m doing well when I can’t keep my facial expressions in check. (Side note, I have done SO MUCH walking here. Not necessarily a bad thing.)

So I got back to Trinity Hall and found Bridget again. We were placed into separate groups for orientation stuff, and that day was literally the longest amount of time we had been away from each other in a week. Anyway, Bridget, me, Kate and Rachel went down Rathmines, I finally got a clock (though I still need a cell phone) and visited the off licence store. Being able to order alcohol or march into a store and buy a bottle is such a new experience for me. Anyway, we got some refreshment for later and went home. Bridget and I cooked our first dinner in our new home. Delicious. Afterwards I stayed up way too late trying to connect to the internet and such, and now I’ve stayed up far too late righting this post. The Sudafed I took seems to have dried me up, but it’s beginning to actually make me less tired. Shoot. (Side note- I’m posting this on Saturday, but I wrote it last Monday night)

Well, gentle reader, if you made it to the end of this post I hope I haven’t bored you too badly, so here’s a fun link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0C4Ps3ObRk