First Impressions

     I've been in Dublin a bit over twelve hours, and I love the city.  It's very quaint--cobblestone streets, short brick buildings, a beautiful cathedral--and for some reason reminds me of Disneyworld.  I keep expecting carriages to come rolling around every corner, and the fantastic accent I hear everywhere just reinforces the feeling that this is all out of a movie.

    After arriving in Dublin at the ungodly hour of 7 am, we were promptly shuttled to our apartments to unpack.  I somehow managed to shove everything away, but after an overnight flight with no sleep on the plane, I was too exhausted to organize everything and just threw things where they would fit.  So now I have no idea where anything is in my room...I found some pens in my sock drawer, but other than that, I haven't got a clue.

     The apartment itself is nice.  It's right in the heart of Dublin, about ten minutes away from Trinity.  I have a single room; two other girls share the other room.

My bedroom

The kitchen is nicely stocked, and family room is cozy and even has a fireplace.

     The former inhabitants of the apartment were clearly interesting fellows.  We found some mementos they left behind, tucked away in various parts of the apartment--a bright red feather boa, fake handcuffs, and a half-empty bottle of tequila.  They also detached the toilet seat from the toilet, broke a light bulb, and apparently left the sheets so disgusting that the IFSA people threw them away.  However, they left us loads of frozen broccoli, which amounts to at least a partial redemption.

    

     Real Irish food is surprisingly hard to find.  After unpacking, I had hoped to get some Irish food for lunch.  Instead, we redeemed vouchers at a crepe place.  Then, when the IFSA people took us out to dinner, I thought they'd introduce us to Dublin with a proper Irish meal.  Instead, we ate Thai food.  When we asked the staff to recommend restaurants, they mentioned Mexican, Indian, Chinese, Korean, Italian restaurants--anything but Irish places.

     To make up for this, we went to an Irish pub after dinner.  There was live music (where they only sang American songs) and a nice nook where all the IFSA Study Abroad students got to chat for a bit.  It was great, but my favorite part was definitely the unusual candle-holders.

     

     And now, I must be off to bed.  36 hours of being awake is really doing a number on my brain.