County Kerry & Dingletown (aka Gorgeous Sites and Getting Drenched)

Usual apologies to readers and myself for not posting in almost a week. Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you about some of the best times I've had in Ireland thus far!

Firstly, the play Frances and Francis on Thursday night was really crazy and silly, focusing on the life of this attention-seeking, somewhat insane, intensely flamboyant painter, Francis Bacon. The play was told through Francis and...his inner self, which was a dominatrix-looking bubbly girl, reminiscent of Magenta from Rocky Horror Picture Show. Very interesting and very silly and very sexually explicit, especially considering that both characters paraded around the stage in leopard-print lingerie for the entirety of the piece. There was also some, ahem, audience participation that involved Francis sitting in the lap of one of our program members. Hilarity. We also, of course, had the typical after-play pint with Mr. Roper but left somewhat early since we were getting up at 4am to go on our weekend trips the next morning.

4am Friday morning rolled around and we embarked for the Heuston train station that would take us to County Kerry. After two train trips equally about 3 hours, we arrived and loaded onto a bus which took us an additional 45 minutes to the Muckross Estate and Killarney National Park. The Muckross Estate was essentially a really nice looking and huge old house right next to the tourist center for the park, we didn't really learn much more about it than that. It was raining, but we embarked on a trek through a Jurassic-park looking forest towards the Torc waterfall. Along the way we saw some gorgeous misty-looking mountains and some absolutely massive trees. Stunning. The waterfall was also incredibly beautiful and we had a lot of fun hanging out there for awhile.

 Absolutely massive tree.

 Smoky mountains! Ireland is so damn pretty.

Who doesn't love a good waterfall? 

After waterfalling it was time to get into some very small boats to take a trip across Muckross Lake and Lough Lean towards Ross Castle. We were unaware that we were about to get completely soaked from head to toe by the choppy lake waves and freeze for a good hour as the water permeated our clothing. There were lovely sights to be seen, but we were all pretty miserable. Even the fact that there was a tiny dog in our boat, apparently as unphased by the weather as our grizzled boat driver, couldn't quite save the day. We eventually got off the boats and dripped our way towards the castle, which was huge and pretty cool. It was a restored 14th century defensive castle with four levels connected by a tiny spiral staircase. It also sounds like a pretty miserable place to have lived considering the cramped spaces, the lack of light and heat, and the poisonous pewter plates they were eating off of. Average life expectancy for someone living in a castle was around the 30s whereas living outside gave you an average of 50. People were also apparently tiny back then: lots of narrow hallways and short doorways.

 Outside of Ross Castle! Taken while drenched.

No pictures allowed inside, but this is a great model of what we toured. Tiny staircase!

After the castle we headed to Dingle town and checked into the Dingle Harbour Lodge which is where we were staying for the weekend. The hotel staff had been warned of our soaked approach and were incredibly sweet and accommodating, ready and waiting with hairdryers and extra towels. After some hot showers and dry clothing, we all felt much better and headed out for a group dinner at The Old Smokehouse in Dingle town. It was crazy delicious food. I had an Irish steak with potato wedges and onion rings, a cream cheese stuffed portobello mushroom with chorizo crumbles, and some amazing garlic herb butter and some kind of ridiculous steak sauce. That was all part of one meal. INSANE. Needless to say, we all stuffed ourselves. After dinner we headed out to some pubs, eventually finding one called Paudie's Bar that had some excellent live Irish music. Much fun had by all!

Saturday we were hoping for good weather, but it was, of course, still raining. That didn't stop us from touring some historic sites with out guide, a local charming Irishman named Bosco. We stopped at some Ogham stones (old grave-markers with a secret language on them), the Beehive huts (B.C. huts made without mortar, and some gorgeous cliffy sites. We had hoped to be able to take a tour of the Blasket Islands, a collection of isolated islands 2 miles off the coast that used to have all Irish speaking people and was eventually abandoned by order of the government. But the only way to get there was by boat and the weather was too rough, so we couldn't go. I was secretly a bit relieved because I was not eager to get on any more tiny boats. We did go to the Blasket Islands museum where we learned a lot about the culture and way of life that used to exist there. The islands produced an astonishing number of wonderful Irish writers for such a small population, and the museum had a lot of art that was produced by members of the old community.

 Ogham stone! Those markings on the side are the ancient form of writing.

 Me at the entrance of a Beehive Hut!

Model of the Blasket Islands.

After the museum we headed down to a beach on the Atlantic Ocean. You had to take a path down some very crazy steep cliffs but the beach was absolutely lovely and surprisingly warm! We had a fantastic time climbing the rocks, jumping in the waves, and eventually getting soaked by a surprise wave. It was so gorgeous and lovely that we didn't even care about being drenched yet again, we just continued to enjoy the water and absolutely stunning views.

 Gorgeous cliffs and beach from above.

Giant cliffs!

 Atlantic Ocean being all gorgeous.

After heading back to the hotel and changing clothes once again, me and a few friends from the group headed to a place called The Blue Zone for some fabulous pizza and intensely chocolatey cake. We then headed to a pub called Foxy Johns (aka The Hardware Store) where we met up with with rest of our group, bonded with many Irish people our age, drank many pints, and ended up in the middle of some hen and stag parties that involved many elaborate costumes including Snow White, Marge Simpson, and Sandy from Grease. Afterward, we headed to a pub called An Droichead Beag where we single-handedly started a dance party that spread to the entire bar. We then went next door to a club-type bar and danced the night away. Dingle town night life is fantastic.

Sunday morning we had a few hours of free time to wander around which several girls and I used to wander along the harbor and go shopping. We tried to find a beach walk where we might possibly spot Fungi, a dolphin who resides in the Dingle Bay Harbor, but were confused and mapless so only managed to get a picture with his statue in the middle of town. But we got to walk around a lot and explore the incredibly cute down of Dingle before heading to the trains and back to Dublin. It was an incredibly fantastic weekend.

 Dingle town, cutest ever!

 Dingle Harbor!

Statue of the elusive Fungi.

Being back in Dublin has been typical, pretty much just classes and all that jazz. Monday we had a reading by Dermot Bolger who was excellent and very personable, did some much needed grocery shopping, and had a dinner of tasty pasta in a cream sauce. Today (Tuesday) we had our literature and drama classes all day and then ordered pizza from Mizzouli's, the take-away Italian place that's practically next door.

We also recently got out final writing assignment from Mr. Roper, as it is our last week before ending our workshop with him and moving onto Ms. Morrissey's workshop. I'm sad that I won't be spending as much time with him, as I've really enjoyed his workshop and his presence. He is an incredibly brilliant professor who is so encouraging and challenging. I'm glad I'll still get to see him for plays, and I am excited to see what Ms. Morrissey's workshop will be like. I also have a private meeting with Mr. Roper tomorrow afternoon to talk about my writing and such, which I'm excited and nervous for. I'm not entirely sure what I want to ask him about...but I have a few hours to figure it out! That's about all for now, thanks for sticking with me for this long post!

I will reward you with a picture of a baby lamb. SO CUTE!

Good Food and Good Friends

I find myself going longer and longer between blog posts simply because I always have so much writing to do for class. And because I have so much to do in general. I am trying to keep up with things. Trying being the operative word.

So Sunday was a busy day! My roommates and I took a day trip to a nearby town called Malahide to check out the cute little town and its super sweet castle. We successfully navigated the Irish train system (called the DART) and made it there after a 20 minute train ride. The walk to the castle goes through a bit of a park and foresty area which is full of gorgeous trees and big green fields. And the castle itself was absolutely lovely, I want to live there. We couldn't take pictures inside, but I took plenty of the outside. We had a weird automated tour inside and only got to look at a few rooms, but it was still cool and we learned a lot about the castle's history. It used to be owned by the Talbot family, is full of lots of rare antique furniture, and is haunted by quite a few ghosts. SO COOL!

 The Malahide Castle!

 Portcullis! And a very friendly cat that was waiting for us outside. Ireland is chock full of cats.

Cemetery full of Talbots?

After wandering around the castle grounds for awhile, we headed into town to grab lunch at a pub and check out the nearby port. Malahide has some nicer beachy areas but we stuck around the boats to relax and watch the water. Very very pretty.

Too cold to go in but still picturesque.

We eventually took the train home and then immediately headed over near the Temple Bar district of Dublin where the Mayo Alive Music Festival was going on. Mayo is a county of Ireland that is apparently known for its music? It was a little rainy, but the festival was still really nice, and we arrived just in time to see a band called the Smyth family who were very Irish folksy and fun. A great ending to the day.

The Smyth family! Fiddles galore.

Monday we had workshop class as usual and were then treated to some fantastic readings by some "rockstar" Dublin writers. We listened to some excerpts and MUCH writing advice from Roddy Doyle, famous for his novel The Commitments. He was very charming and knowledgeable. We also listened to a reading by Paula Meehan, a poet who I think is absolutely fantastic. Her reading style was also very animated and fun to watch which is something I always feel very conscious of as a frequent reader of poetry. She was incredibly delightful and I had her sign my copies of some of her poems that we'd been given. She wrote: "To Anna in Dublin in 2011 in the rain." All true. It was a longer day than we usually have on Mondays so my roommates and I decided to treat ourselves to a take away dinner from the Nepalese restaurant called Monty's that is practically next door to our house. I don't know what exactly we ate but there was spicy chicken in sauce, cheese bits in sauce, lamb in sauce, and naan and it was all incredibly delicious. The lamb was especially good. We then found some visitors in our backyard and treated them to dinner as well.

Introducing Sir Wesley Windham Pryce and Lady Maude Plunkett. They were big fans of the lettuce.

Tuesday we had another very long day of Irish literature and drama classes. We also had our first play-going experience that evening, so my roommates, a few other classmates, and I decided to meet up beforehand to get dinner near the city center. We ended up at a pub called Gallaghers where I had some amazing chicken boxty (chicken in a potato pancake with sauce) and split some chocolate cake. Mighty delicious and fun. We then headed over to the Peacock theatre (essentially located in the basement of the famous Abbey theatre) to see a play called Perve which was very intense, funny, and thoughtful. It touched on many subjects including pedophilia, privacy rights, misinterpretations, and miscommunications. I liked it quite a lot despite its serious ending. The theatre was small but really nice and interesting since the main stage was essentially a big bowl while the back areas incorporated a lot of mirrors and angles. After the play, our class and Mr. Roper went for a pint despite the torrential rain and had lots of lovely chats.

Wednesday we had workshop class once again and Mr. Roper really liked one of my pieces! Our assignment had been to write a longer 6 page story about a time where we felt upset or anxious or troubled during our stay here. I wrote a slightly dramatized version of my first day in Dublin, which had a certain amount of trauma involved because of severe jet lag and culture shock. The class found it quite funny and true and Mr. Roper asked me to send it to him because he wants to include it in the materials for prospective program participants! I'm afraid it will terrify many of them, but thrilled that he wants to use my work. 

After class, my roommates and I headed home quickly because we had planned a dinner party for us and eight of our classmates who live nearby. We would have loved to invite everyone, but our house is only so big and we didn't want to get in trouble with our neighbors. We made a wonderful Irish stew with lamb, potatoes, onions, and carrots and some tasty Irish soda bread. We also made an awesome appetizer of baked brie with pineapple chutney. By we I mean my roommates who are all excellent cooks. I mostly did dishes and tidied up the place. But everyone showed up and brought wines and desserts and ate all the food and had a wonderful time. Eventually, we wandered down the road to Terenure which is the town that is just south of Rathgar. We stopped into a pub for pints and laughs and many pictures. Excellent night.

 Sooooooooooo delicious!

Today we had more workshop class, ate cake for a classmate's birthday, determined that we're clearly Mr. Roper's favorite class ever, and are now looking forward to seeing the play Frances and Francis, which is about the life of crazy artist Francis Bacon. It promises to be quite eventful. That's about all for now!

Bloomsday Celebrations and Many Other Things

Ello again! Much time has passed per usual and now I have much to catch up on in my blog. Since it's raining intermittently, this seems like a good time.

Wednesday morning I had class again and we started workshopping people's 2-page stories. It was lovely to hear everyone's writing, especially since Mr. Roper only allows us to say things we liked and observations. Takes a lot of the stress off. Was also pleased to note that we're pretty much all on the same level writing-wise: all clearly meant to be here, but no James Joyce's. Speaking of him, we've been discussing many of his stories in class as well. I find him a tad too depressing, but he certainly has beautiful writing.

After class we relaxed at home (and ate some burritos filled with our stuffed pepper filling) before heading to St. Stephen's Green to catch some pre-Bloomsday music. It was fairly classical and sounded lovely. Then we went to a bar called the International House which is supposed to have great comedy and music, but it was fairly dead when we got there. We left after a pint to meet up with some Iowa Writing friends for more pints at The Bleeding Horse which was lovely. Much less crowded than the first time we'd been there. After a Bulmers cider (soooo good, not as sweet as American hard ciders), I headed home early to work on homework. How responsible!

Thursday was Bloomsday! For those who don't know, Bloomsday commemorates the walk around Dublin that was taken by Leopold Bloom in James Joyce's Ulysses.  It began for me with more workshop class and the first workshop of one of my pieces! People seemed to like it much more than I expected which was pleasing. After class, many of us (including Mr. Roper) headed to Grafton St. to check out the Davy Byrnes, which is where Leopold Bloom had his famous lunch of gorgonzola cheese and burgandy. It was INCREDIBLY packed with people all dressed up and reciting Ulysses, so we didn't stay long.  Instead, we headed just down the street to The Duke which is a lovely old and quite large pub. We had pints and discussed the merits of writing and reading (because we're all such English nerds) with Mr. Roper and it was all very interesting and fun.

 The Davy Byrnes!

After that, a few of my roommates and I decided to more fully explore St. Stephen's Green. I have to say, it's one of the most beautiful parks I've ever been in. Simply stunning. Pictures capture it better than I ever could, but I will say this: the grass is like a carpet.

One of the pondy areas.

The entrance to the large green area, so many flowers and trees!

After a lovely dinner of homemade bruschetta (om nom nom), my roommates and I took a cab to the home of a few of our fellow writers where we proceeded to celebrate making it through our first week of classes. We eventually moved on to O'Connell's bar, which is mainly populated by locals, and had a fantastic rest of the evening.

Friday was not the best for me. I woke up with a horrible allergy cold and am still trying to get over it. I did manage to leave the house to go for a full Irish breakfast with my roommates at a cafe called Moda. While I had a somewhat smaller version, the full Irish breakfast consists of eggs, toast, sausage, rashers (Irish bacon), tomato, black pudding, white pudding, and beans. My plate lacked the puddings and the beans, but I'm determined to get the full course on a day where my head isn't so achey. The rest of the day was spent doing readings for class and drinking tea.

 Virginia Woolf, another local cat, kept me company.

Today, while still a little sickly, I managed to be much more productive! Went to downtown Dublin with a few of my roommates and wandered over to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells! The Book of Kells is an incredibly beautiful and ornate gospel book created by Celtic monks around 800AD. It's regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure. We weren't allowed to take pictures of it, but it was quite lovely. I couldn't believe how much detail went into even the smallest areas of the illustration. There was also a little pre-exhibit that talked about other old and famous books and even showed you the stones that the monks used to create various color pigments. Once you see the Book of Kells, the exhibit takes you upstairs to the Old Trinity Library which is almost MORE beautiful. I wish I could've taken pictures because there are simply thousands of old and rare books in a library that looks like it came straight out of Beauty and the Beast. There are also a bunch of glass cases with cool history stuff including Ireland's oldest harp and the skeleton of an "Irish giant" who I believe stood over 7 foot and weighed 30 stone. Very excellent.

 Pretty much the only thing you can take a picture of: the outside.

Afterwards, we wandered down Grafton St. and stopped at a large cafe called Bewley's where I had some pink lemonade and a chocolate eclaire. Very tasty, and the cafe was super cute. Later on, my roommates and I had a dinner of blue cheese burgers with potatoes and are now about to dig into a Bailey's cheesecake. I'm eager to try it, so I'm gonna get going! Laters!

Home of tasty eclairs and many other yummy things!

Aching Feet, Barstools, and Classroom Desks

Hello again! It's been a few days so I figured I should post! Also attempting to procrastinate on homework...because now we actually have some. Sadness.

So Saturday was the 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour which was absolutely lovely, though certainly a lot of walking. My roommates and I somehow managed to book it down to Trinity College within 50 minutes, which is quite a feat considering how far away we live. After that, the pace was much more relaxed and we got to learn about all the cool historic sites in Dublin where famous battles and skirmishes happened. I don't remember anything too specific, but I took lots of pictures!

 My personal favorite statue because the angel is hanging out with a dog.

A statue of Jim Larkin, Dublin's personal badass.

The River Liffey that divides north and south Dublin.

The only part of Dublin Castle that actually looks like a castle. The rest was burned down and renovated.

So yeah, more pictures on Facebook of course. After the walking tour, a few of us went to Penney's which is a HUGE department store with tons of cute and cheap things. Bought a few items and then wandered down to Grafton St. where we saw our best friend the Irish drumming guy who was super excited to see us again. There were all sorts of street performances going on per usual so we sorta moseyed around for a bit before heading home. My roommate Cristin and I experimented with taking the bus back from near the IES Center (our feet were tired from loads of walking) and successfully made it home! The bus drivers in Dublin are super helpful and will even announce your stop if you ask them to.

After lounging around for a bit, we went to meet a bunch of Iowa Writing Program people in downtown Dublin at a pub called Portobellos which had a lot of nice couches, great Guinness, and a music collection that ranged between late 90's-early 00's hits. Blast from the American past. A collection of us then attempted to go to the Bleeding Horse, found it too packed, and settled for Devitt's instead which is a quieter locals bar. I spoke to a few middle-aged friendly Irishmen and managed to finish another pint before the bar closed (many smaller Irish pubs close around 11:30, even on the weekends...but they do let you finish your drink!). We then wandered into Solas which is a more hip and happening place with more people our age. We spoke to many friendly guys who were great conversationalists, though many seemed baffled when we'd ask them what gave us away as being American. Apparently we simply have a vibe that gives us away. Some other answers included our hair, our optimism, and the fact that we wear socks more often. Sillyness.

Sunday was terribly rainy, though my roommates and I managed a HUGE grocery shopping trip at Aldi and got tons of food which we then carried all the way back. We've decided to try to make group dinners and share all our food. It makes it easier for five people to share one fridge. We had a fabulous dinner of penne carbonara, wine, bread, and little store-bought pain au chocolats. Tasty!

Monday was our first day of classes! Made it on time to Mr. Roper's writing workshop class, which I'll have Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday everyday for the next 4 weeks. After that point we switch to Mary Morrissey's writing workshop and I'm glad they've set it up so that we'll get two perspectives. Made it through class alright and ate my packed sandwich and banana with a few others in the little courtyard of the IES building. Very sunny and pleasant, one of the warmest days we've had so far. After class we had a guest speaker, a poet named Siobhan Campbell. She read us some of her work and discussed publishing with us; it was all very interesting. I liked a few of her poems but they were a bit political and dark for my taste.

After that, my roommates and I decided to take advantage of the sunshine with an afternoon snack of Bulmer's cider, cheese, and strawberries in our little house garden. We also read our first homework story assignment from James Joyce's Dubliners out loud and discussed it a bit. Very academic, I assure you. We then had a dinner of stuffed peppers (yummy but very spicy) and decided to celebrate surviving our first day of class with some bottles of wine, some silly Irish television, and then a trip to the Rathgar pub for a pint (only a block away!) Evening well spent.

 Libations for celebration!

Today (Tuesday) we had our first day of our literature and drama classes which are both taught by very nice and interesting teachers who didn't give us syllabuses and so I don't know their names yet. Our Irish lit teacher is an older, soft-spoken gentleman who had us read some poems by Paula Meehan, who will be our guest speaker next Monday. Much of her work deals with her relationships with her family members and I liked it quite a bit. Our drama teacher is younger, has a crazy beard and is very enthusiastic. We read "Riders to the Sea," a classic Irish play dealing with lots of death and depressing outlooks on life and then a very modern and simplistic play called "The Killers" which is simply a conversation between two Pulp Fiction-esque assassins. We've been assigned plenty to read from both classes for next Tuesday. It was a very long day and I sorta wish they hadn't scheduled both classes for one day a week...but oh well.

Pretty sure we're about to make dinner here (curry chicken?) so I'd best be off. There's a concert for Bloomsday tomorrow and other fun events (including Dublin Pride!) coming up so I'm sure I'll be posting again soon!

Oh Dublin, You're So Quirky!

Here is a list of things that are weird and/or interesting about Dublin. I'm sure there will be many more items added as time progresses:

-The money. As one who has never seen euros before, they are somewhat crazy to interact with. It's like someone decided to combine Monopoly money with a bunch of little girls in princess dresses and it resulted in huge bills with shiny rainbow stripes all over them. I can't believe it's actual currency. Also, coins are actually worth something here! There are 1 and 2 euro coins that are useful for all sorts of things including bus fare and the conveniently priced 2 euro stores that are pretty much the European version of the dollar store. All of this has resulted in me investing in a coin purse.

-Taking "going green" to the extreme. Ireland is all about environmental friendliness and pretty much forces you to get on board. Plastic bags at the grocery store cost extra and there are signs everywhere saying "Litter is disgusting, so are those who leave it" (not to get personal or anything). Heated water is always on a timer and requires some excellent timing shenanigans to get a hot shower. Ireland also doesn't really have dryers, everything gets air-dried. Dublin is known as the walking city so everyone here, including us, walks all over the place. Crazy foot traffic for such narrow sidewalks.

-Weird expressions. People in Ireland have all kinds of crazy phrases that make me smile at how ridiculous they sound. They like to say things like "What's the craic?" and "How was the craic last night?" Craic is pronounced like "crack" (which makes the above phrases much more interesting) and basically refers to enjoyable conversation or goings on. They also like to say "your man" when they don't know someone's name. Like if you spot someone across the street making giant bubbles you'd say: "Your man with the bubbles over there is really cool and awesome!" It gets changed to "your one" for ladies. I like it because it feels like you're calling a random stranger someone's manservant or boyfriend or something.

 Your man bubbles guy is real and ridiculous.

-The weather. Obviously, Ireland is fairly rainy, but I didn't quite realize how back and forth the weather can be. It can be bright and sunshiney one minute, cloudy and windy the next, and downpouring a second later. On our first day we experienced bright sunshine, rain, hail, and then sunshine again (which resulted in an amazing rainbow!) We pretty much have to bring a sweater, sunglasses, and an umbrella everywhere to be prepared for all weather.

-Food differences. Besides differences in cuisine, there are a few things that look normal but actually aren't. Ketchup is much more vinegar-ey than it is in the US and the coke is a bit more bubbly and sweeter because it uses natural sugars. Also, most pubs and restaurants have bowls on the tables with little tubes of sauce including ketchup, mayonnaise, and something called brown sauce which apparently tastes a bit like BBQ sauce. Taste tests will be done, no doubt.

-People know you're American. If taking a lot of pictures and milling around confusedly didn't do the trick, apparently people can tell you're American just from looking at how you walk. I don't really get it, but I guess it's something about our strides and posture. Also, it's interesting to note that most Irish people will walk on a different side of the sidewalk...matching the traffic oppositeness of the Irish roads.

-Street action. Graffiti seems to be much more accepted here and we've come across a lot of big examples of it. It's also much more beautiful and arty: pictures instead of scribbley names. Also there are a MILLION street performers everywhere. Musicians, people doing random tricks...everything. It's very entertaining. Additionally, the cross walk signals make lots of beeping sounds which makes you feel like you're constantly playing a game of Frogger.

Artsy alley way!

  Lady playing a harp very beautifully!

  

Anyway, that's all for now! I've also started posting more extensive photographs to my facebook (including some of our house which I might post on here later) so check em out! 

This is the scruffy cat that frequents our street. 

I have named him Sir Ian McKellan. He is a gentleman and a scholar.

Orientating in Dublin: The Saga Begins!

Huzzah huzzah, I am finally in Dublin! So far I am loving it more and more each day, and it's only day two! The flight in was fairly decent. The plane had individual tv screens with free movies (Finding Nemo!) and it was only six hours. I didn't really sleep but I did catch a gorgeous sunrise and some lovely sightings of the Ireland coastline!

Look! So pretty :]

We arrived around 7:30am Dublin time (1:30 US time..ugh), and after passing successfully through the border patrol, me and three of my four roommates caught a cab to our new home for the next six weeks. Our cab driver was very lovely and chatty, though his chatter combined with the Dublin city whizzing by was a little overwhelming for our sleep-deprived brains. Our house is absolutely fantastic! It's three stories, slightly older, and very cute and quaint. We have one electric shower and one other that takes a half hour to heat up (we've yet to use it successfully), a small patio, a great galley kitchen, a dining room table area, and a spacious living room. We also have four fireplaces, although we're not allowed to use any of them. It's kinda unbelievable that we get to live here, especially considering how tiny a lot of other peoples' apartments are. The tradeoff is that we are the farthest away from the IES Center (about a 25 minute walk) and a good 40 minute walk from the main bar and shopping areas in Dublin. However, there are lots of public transport options and the walks will only do us good. We're also very close to a few smaller areas where we can shop and grab a pint.

After meeting with our house RA, getting settled, grabbing some lunch (at a fabulous fish and chips place), and buying a few groceries, we were all pretty beat. The jet lag was incredibly tiring and made it difficult to really for me to really comprehend my surroundings. I was feeling pretty bewildered and a tad overwhelmed by a completely new place. However, I managed to grab a quick cat nap before it was time to meet up at the IES Center and that seemed to help immensely.  There we met Mr. Roper, one of our writing workshop teachers and the head of the program. He seems very pleasant, though definitely a little intimidating. He clearly has high expectations for us and I hope we can fill them. 

 The IES Center! Where we'll be taking all of our classes.

We then all headed over to the Barge, a bar and restaurant where we were scheduled to meet up with the entire IES program. There are about 70 students working there this summer: our group, a drama group, a general studies group, and an internship program. So we sat in the pub and had some food (I had a small salad) and...more importantly, my first Ireland Guinness! It was quite tasty and also quite strong. Everyone was also very nice and friendly...we pretty much dominated a corner of the HUGE bar with Americans. I chatted with people in our group and from the other groups till about 9pm and then headed home with some of my roommates where I promptly passed out.

 We had an early morning on Friday since we had to meet up at the IES Center again for an all day orientation meeting at 8:35am. We managed to get there on time and then had an incredibly long and tedious day of information being thrown at us in regards to everything from travel to safety to housing. We signed some contracts and sat around a lot, not very thrilling. Heard some horror stories about people who made stupid choices and were robbed or kicked out of the program. Ireland is mostly known for petty rather than violent crime, so as long as we're careful with our things, it doesn't sound like we'll have too many problems. A few others and myself grabbed lunch at a little Greek-esque place where I had a spicy chicken baguette covered in sauces and veggies. Very delicious. 

After a few more excruciating hours of orientation, we were finally free! We headed uptown towards the famous Grafton street which is very exciting and interesting and PACKED with people. I made friends with an older Irish gentleman who was sitting and drumming along to some recorded Irish music. He was very friendly and after noticing me taking pictures of him from afar invited me over, slapped a hat on my head, and handed me the drum to play along with him. Incredibly sweet man.

Jammin' with the locals.

We then wandered around Grafton Street for awhile before making our way towards St. Stephen's Green which was near where were having a big IES group dinner. We didn't explore the green too much since we were tired and looking to sit, but it seems absolutely lovely and I intend on seeing more of it. From what I saw it seems to be lots of people and ducks and pigeons all relaxing in a lush green space. We had dinner at the Dandelion (all 70+) of us and it was both well organized and delicious (and free of charge!) We had three courses and several options to choose from for each course, as well as a choice of red or white wine. I ended up having some very tasty bruschetta, a gigantic cheeseburger with fancy condiments that tasted more like a meatball (very soft and lots of flavor packed in), and a passion fruit creme brulee that was FANTASTIC! After dinner we began the long walk home, checked out some friends' apartments, and dragged them all the way back to our place to check out our home. After relaxing for a bit, our friends headed out and a few of my roommates and I decided to check out the nearby Rathgar Village, which is about a block away. It's a small group of businesses including a grocery store, some cafes and restaurants, and some pubs; much smaller than what we'd find on Rathmines street, but it's super close. We went into a pub called Coman's of Rathgar and had a pint of Guinness before heading back. Tomorrow we have the historic walking tour of Dublin which should be fun and then we get to be unscheduled for the rest of the weekend which will be a nice change of pace. That's all for now! I'll write more soon and I'll leave you with this:

St. Stephen's Green! To be explored fully soon...

Pubs Pubs Pubs!

Guinness galore!

 
So! Literally just got done watching a documentary about the historic pubs of Ireland and I couldn't be more excited to just get there already! I have officially moved out of my apartment in Iowa City, put things into storage for the summer, spoken to my bank, arranged my prescriptions, have almost bought everything I'll need, have said goodbye to almost everyone....all that's left is to pack and get on a plane! Ahhh! These six days need to fly.

I also made a list of all the historic bars that I am now determined to go to and have a drink within. They are as follows:

-The Brazen Head

-Mulligan's

-Kavanagh's

-The Palace Bar

-O'Neill's

-Doheny & Nesbitt's

-The Long Hall

-Kehoe's

-The Stag's Head

-Toner's

-McDaid's

-Neary's

-O'Donoghue's

Perhaps that will serve as a checklist that I can mark off one and by one, add to, and so on and so forth. So many beers, so little time!

 I will consume so many of you in the near future!

This post is wimpy, but that's because I'm too excited about sitting in pubs to focus on writing.