Hi all,
I'm going to give a quick recap of my first week (the second week's update will be posted soon):
Upon (barely) arriving in Dublin, I was picked up at the airport by this professor/program liason type guy. To give you a little idea about Coleman: he looks like an Irish Hagrid with red hair. He was actually hilarious and told us about how he was sort of stalking some girl that works at the mall, but not really because he didn't know his address. Right.
So, Coleman got us settled in our rooms, I live in a dorm right next to the business building, which is fabulous. Our dorms are suite style, and organized as 6 apartments to a "house".
I have three roommates, all study abroad students too. One is named Shelley, who is very adorable and an animal science major (so she gets to take ridiculous classes, like dairy production). Shelly is from Indiana and attends Purdue. Katherine is from Oregon, and goes to American University. This is Katherine's third semester abroad (past terms were in Morroco and Spain), so she's a seasoned pro at living overseas. My third roommate is Ariel. Coincidentally, Ariel and I went to high school together in Toronto. I still cannot get over the fact that we are living in adjacent rooms...in IRELAND.
So anyhow, the Irish haven't yet mastered the art of insulation, so our apartment is typically freezing. In order to have electricity, we need to constantly feed this machine in our apartment with cards that we need to purchase. I literally watch the money disappear on electricity, but it has made me even more of a conservationist. We essentially leave our apartment freezing cold and dark because we have become so obsessed with saving electricity.
I have been meeting a lot of people, although most of them have been fellow study abroad students. I am working on making some more Irish friends, but it is tough when you live with all American students. The campus is filled with International students (there are approximately 500 of us).
My classes, so far, have been fairly easy (with the exception of advanced macroeconomics); however, when I decided to study abroad, it had kind of escaped me that I would need to actually study and spend time in the library.
The weather here has been dreary, at best. However, it has been unseasonably mild (like I walked around in a cardigan all day). We have had a few brief sessions of sunshine, which has been lovely.
On my first weekend in Ireland, I went on an informative bus tour of Dublin, and stopped off in the Guinness Storehouse with 10 or so other American girls. I learned about the process of making Guinness and learned how to "pull a perfect pint". The panoramic views from the Gravity Bar atop the Storehouse were incredible (see my flickr account).
Over the past few weeks, I have become an expert on the city, and really feel as though I know my way around quite well. I love how Dublin is both so old and historically-rich, and young and vibrant (demographically) at the same time.
Last Wednesday, I accidentally went to an Irish dance, called a Celli, with a few of my new friends at the on-campus bar. We had to do the equivalent of step-dancing (sans cowboy hats) with Irish boys. I actually had much more fun than I anticipated. The tame PG13 dancing gave way to a less tame dance that was a cross between "Freeze" and "the Waltz". I was warned in advance about this dance, and opted to sit it out and chat with some new Irish friends. So, everyone danced in a big circle, but once the music stopped, each pair had to freeze in position, and if they failed to do so, they were eliminated. One pose was girl jumps up on boy and they touch noses, I will leave the raunchier poses up to your imagination...
For pictures, please check out my photo site at www.flickr.com/erinkbaum
Another post will be posted shortly.
Love, Erin
