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...
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