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Published: January 7th 2006
Well, getting here was maybe the most tiring experience of my life, but after 12 hours on 3 different airplanes with 6 and a half total hours of layover, losing 6 hours in the process, three hours of sleep, four hours on a bus sitting next to a wasted Polish guy, dragging 70lbs of luggage two blocks to get a taxi and then up a staircase, i FINALLY made it, fairly unharmed from the process.
When I touched down in Dublin airport, it was beautifully sunny. It was really incredible and really green. Like neon, practically. The grass here is very bright and it partially makes up for the cloudy skies. I am rooming with a girl from Beloit who I met up with at the airport, (we didn't know we were rooming together) and I would have rather had a single, but I think it will work out fine, she's a nice girl. The bus ride to Galway was pretty entertaining, what with the redheaded Austrailian working as a butler in a castle near Galway (yeah, apparently if you've got the money you can have your own castle and butler, too) and the three Polish guys, one of which, as I already mentioned, was hammered. They all three spoke almost solely in Polish, and i really wished Lukasz was there to translate. The drunky kept standing up and trying to talk to people, and by the end of the trip he almost got punched and was annoying everyone, but the bus driver tried to make the best of it and came close (but didn't) to kicking him off. The first time I noticed he was drunk, Alex and I had both been sleeping, and i guess he dropped his wallet on her, so she gave it back and he kept saying, "thank you! thank you!" and leaning down close to her. When i noticed, it looked like he was going to try and kiss her, so i pushed his forehead back and said, nooooooo. I actually spent the last half hour telling him to stay sitting down and stop leaning towards us, because the Australian who had been keeping him in check had gotten off, his friends weren't helping at all, and I dont know why i took up the job of babysitting, but i did. stupid. When we finally got off the bus, he tried to get my luggage off for me so i had to yell some, and he went away. End of that.
One of the first things I noticed about Ireland that i wasn't expecting was the palm trees. Sweet-ass palm trees, mostly in yards so i'm sure they're planted, but whatever. You could throw a rock on the ground and it'd grow moss in a few days, no joke.
My accomodations are less than stellar, but they're decent enough. Think dorm room quality a little nicer than Peet but much cleaner and a lot of storage space. The kitchen is tiny, which sucks considering it's for five people, there's no freezer, and the fridge is about as Lia's. go figure. But it is stocked with a good amount of appliances and utensils. There are two bathrooms, and the flushers are on the wall and they're gigantic, so it looks really silly, and the sinks have separate faucets for hot and cold, so when you wash your face you have to alternately stick your hands under both-also ridiculous.
Only one of our roommates has arrived so far, the other two are Irish (our apartment thing has one double, ours, and three singles) and he's a 24-year old Scot here to study Irish Gaelic, because at home he studies Scottish Gaelic. His name is Ruairidh, and you say it like a mix between Rudy and Roddy, kinda. I think i've got it down now, anyway. He is hilarious and a lot of fun, very nice, a good cook, and i think he'll be a good roommate as well. He's also from the Western Isles of Scotland, has the thickest accent, and he is schooling me on real whiskey (i know, guys, like i didn't like it enough already!). Two more girls from Beloit live below us, and we met another girl from New York who also lives below us. Last night we all went to a karaoke thing they were having for international students at the student bar, and it was pretty fun. Started out kinda bad b/c we didn't know it was a bar and needed our ids, so me and one of the other girls, Erin, had to walk all the way back to our rooms to get them. That's an hour of walking with both trips. Plus, they told us we were going to get free food there, and it ended up being these little sausages and french fries that we only got one basket of at each table! Eating here, up until today when we got groceries, has really been a struggle. I've walked around a TON and eaten an average of one and a half meals for the past three days. But it's great now. Anyway, the karaoke was awful, the international students are almost entirely Americans which is so obnoxious to me-i didn't come here to meet more freaking Americans! But the Irish students will be here on Monday, thank goodness.
I had my first Guinness last night. Everyone said that Irish Guinness is different and better than American Guinness, but actually, it's phenomenal. It tastes kinda like coffee, which sounds strange, but it's nowhere NEAR heavy or thick like American Guinness, and not bitter at all, although the foam is very thick and bitter and sits on top the entire time, but you get past that. Also, you don't really notice the carbonation like you do in regular beer. It's really magical, I'll have to send ya'll some. On my second pint, i didn't really want the end inch of it, but when the guy was going around to collect empty glasses, he looked at mine and said, "Finish your beer, woman!" in the most Irish way, and it was hilarious and I loved it. The Irish are everything I hoped they would be so far-really everything I've always thought of them as. I feel so ridiculously American sometimes, but ya know, I can't help it, and I hear the Irish guys love American girls, hehehe. I think that's all I've got for now-I've got so much to tell but I've written so much already, I don't want anyone to get bored reading it! I'll talk about the classes and academic stuff next time.
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Emily
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I LOVE YOU!