Settling In

Tues was a lot of random errands. We had an orientation in the morning and then we set out to get out bass passes and phones. This is because it costs 2.15 euros to ride the bus and it has to be exact change, which is really annoying. Anyways, in order to get the bus pass with the student discount, we had to get the student card (and thought that we had to get this other card in order to get the student card). Well, after a bit of a wild goose chase, we found out we didn’t need the other extra card, ended up buying extra passport photos for cards that didn’t need them (I was a bit bummed about this but we thought we needed them) and finally got the student card and the bus passes. They have a really awesome bus system here. I have no clue exactly how many buses run in Dublin because the numbers are in groups from 17-19 to 35-40 to 144-149 and some are As and Bs and some are just the straight number. The bus pass is 30 days (non-consecutive) and can use it as much as you like each day you use it. There are also designated bus lanes so that the buses can keep on schedule and go around the traffic (pretty smart). The best part is that they are double decker buses, which are I’ve always thought are really cool. We also got phones so we could text and call each other. There happened to be this really great deal with Vodaphone that if you put a 25 euro credit on your pay-as-you-go- phone, you got the first 2 months free text and calls to any other vodaphone user (which is almost everyone in my group) or other Irish phones. The phones themselves are not that user friendly (i.e. to adjust the volume, it’s under ‘profiles’ – I would never think to look there to adjust the sound) and they don’t have T-9 word, so it’s back to the really REALLY old fashioned texting. But it’s not that bad for a cheap phone I’m only going to use for two months.

            Things I’ve noticed about the Irish: they smoke WAY too much, short shorts with leggings is a fashion trend, as are track suits, all black, boots, colored hair (not everyone, but quite a few people have oddly dyed hair), they say ‘cheers’ instead of ‘your welcome’, they really are very friendly, and probably other things that I’m not remembering right now. The first day we arrived, the weather was absolutely gorgeous (and apparently somewhat of an anomaly), the other days it’s been overcast and drizzles once or twice at some point. Also, only packing one hoodie was a very bad idea – I think I will have to buy a jacket at some point because the wind goes straight through things.

Wednesday, I went grocery shopping. We went the wrong way down the street for 10 minutes until we finally asked someone for help and figured out we were going the wrong way. But this wasn’t unfruitful because I found an Irish flag that had been on a car and must have flown off. So now I have a cute little Irish flag. (Lots of people have flags flying from their cars and there are these cool slips for your side mirrors that are Irish flags). Food is quite expensive here so I will have to be very creative with my meals – we’ll see how that turns out. That night EUSA scheduled an awesome welcome dinner with really good food and live traditional Irish music. I got fish and chips = massive cut of fish and fries that are really quarters of potatoes (I guess the Vikings would have considered our French fries to be wimpy fries, haha). The music was absolutely wonderful! One guy played the traditional Irish bouzouki (a guitar adapted from the greek bouzouki) and the bordham (traditional Irish drum), a girl who not only played the violin, but also the harp and did some Riverdance, another guy who played the Irish side pipes and then a guy who played the button accordion. The drum is the oldest indigenous instrument to Ireland, the harp is native to Ireland and is it’s national symbol. Queen Elizabeth I had actually banned it, but fortunately Queen Elizabeth II loves it, so they can play it freely now. The side pipes are similar to the bagpipes, but are played with the bag under the arm and are a bit smaller.

Victor, Julia, & Raleigh

Meryl, Maddie, & Elizabeth

Me & Kelsey

Fish and Chips! (and some random cole slaw)