(no subject)
Well, I am in Ireland. These last 2 days have a whirlwind, and I am still trying to get my head on straight. I got through the plane ride and customs okay, and then managed to get the right bus to the city and get into my apartment no problem. My roommates moved in and my direct - Mara, I knew from school and she is great, and then my other roommate is Christine and she is from California, but goes to Vassar. My building is mostly the other BC kids which I like, because we are meeting other people, but out group is still good. We are getting really close and they are all really nice people. The Irish students come next week.
My walk to school is rather long, about 25 minutes along a busy highway (called "the main road", so weird because its actual name is Bishop O'Donnell road) and then cut through the parking lots of a hospital and end up at a castle. It is weird here like that - tradition and modernity. Walking around and then all of a sudden a ruin from the 10th century pops up - kind of fun. That is another thing, the word for fun here is craig (pronounced crack) and I still have to get past the initial part where I think everyone is talking about an illicit street drug.
We had orientation today and I feel a lot more squared away as to what is happening here and how to get involved etc., but there is still a lot to figure out. I need to go to the guarda (police)and resister as a foreign national, but there is a lot of paperwork that i must obtain first and I need to do that in the next 14 days or the police will come and arrest me. (yikes!) I also need to get banking figured out and there is just a lot that goes into that because I am not a citizen of the EU.
Other things like grocery shopping are just hard to navigate. The nearest store is 15 minutes from my house, but things here are done way differently. First of all, you have to rent a shopping cart - for 3 euro. Then if you want bags, you have to buy them - for .25 euro. So my roommate and I went shopping with our rolling suitcases,(we didn't want to have to walk all that stuff home) and you honestly feel like you are stealing packing the thing and then taking it up to the register. I laughed so hard at the sight of the 2 of us that I was crying. Just another part of the Adventure!
Tomorrow is more orientation and then Saturday is a day to get organized and sunday we are going to the Aran Islands with our adviser Margaret. Oh, i forgot to tell you about her - she is crazy - but in the most endearing way. For example, I was talking to her today and in mid sentence she handed me her glass of wine (the college had wine and food for us at orientation, the only way to make it through something that boring) and puts her hand up and yells PARKING! and leaves. No goodbye, no see you later, no stopping the conversation, she just gives me the hand and runs, leaving me holding her wine. I would have thought this strange, except she did it to us yesterday too, and we figured out that her time was up on her campus parking permit, and she needed to leave, but it none the less is shocking and so much fun!
That is all from me for now, but I have skype so you all should call (name is megegg87 - original I know!), and I am on aim too, so keep that in mind. My Irish cell is 353-087-315-6821 not that I expect any of you to call, but I am just saying!Keep in mind that we are 5 hours ahead here if you try skype. Love you and want to hear from you!
My walk to school is rather long, about 25 minutes along a busy highway (called "the main road", so weird because its actual name is Bishop O'Donnell road) and then cut through the parking lots of a hospital and end up at a castle. It is weird here like that - tradition and modernity. Walking around and then all of a sudden a ruin from the 10th century pops up - kind of fun. That is another thing, the word for fun here is craig (pronounced crack) and I still have to get past the initial part where I think everyone is talking about an illicit street drug.
We had orientation today and I feel a lot more squared away as to what is happening here and how to get involved etc., but there is still a lot to figure out. I need to go to the guarda (police)and resister as a foreign national, but there is a lot of paperwork that i must obtain first and I need to do that in the next 14 days or the police will come and arrest me. (yikes!) I also need to get banking figured out and there is just a lot that goes into that because I am not a citizen of the EU.
Other things like grocery shopping are just hard to navigate. The nearest store is 15 minutes from my house, but things here are done way differently. First of all, you have to rent a shopping cart - for 3 euro. Then if you want bags, you have to buy them - for .25 euro. So my roommate and I went shopping with our rolling suitcases,(we didn't want to have to walk all that stuff home) and you honestly feel like you are stealing packing the thing and then taking it up to the register. I laughed so hard at the sight of the 2 of us that I was crying. Just another part of the Adventure!
Tomorrow is more orientation and then Saturday is a day to get organized and sunday we are going to the Aran Islands with our adviser Margaret. Oh, i forgot to tell you about her - she is crazy - but in the most endearing way. For example, I was talking to her today and in mid sentence she handed me her glass of wine (the college had wine and food for us at orientation, the only way to make it through something that boring) and puts her hand up and yells PARKING! and leaves. No goodbye, no see you later, no stopping the conversation, she just gives me the hand and runs, leaving me holding her wine. I would have thought this strange, except she did it to us yesterday too, and we figured out that her time was up on her campus parking permit, and she needed to leave, but it none the less is shocking and so much fun!
That is all from me for now, but I have skype so you all should call (name is megegg87 - original I know!), and I am on aim too, so keep that in mind. My Irish cell is 353-087-315-6821 not that I expect any of you to call, but I am just saying!Keep in mind that we are 5 hours ahead here if you try skype. Love you and want to hear from you!