Tuesday, January 11, 2011

First Steps (Or, Why I'm So Excited to Be Here But I Need to Learn to Like Beer!)

It's surreal. It's strange. I can't believe it's really happening.

I'm really in Dublin!

After an exhausting flight in which I attempted to sleep at a right angle and drank two cans of cran apple without getting up to pee, and after chatting with the very nice man from Immigration about how he's been to more states than I have, I piled into a cab with some of my apartment-mates and we headed to our new home, the Augustine Apartments right in the middle of the city. As I walked into the room it was hard to believe that this was mine for the next semester, and I pulled aside the curtain to take in the stunning view:

So I didn't get the best of luck with windows, but it doesn't matter. I'm here! Below is a little tour of the rest of the apartment:

Hannah's and my room, featuring Ian. The beds are a bit close together, but we plan on moving them. Or, we could push them closer together and it could be like a sleepover every night!
The closet space. We also have three drawers.
The bathroom, sans shower curtain. I felt quite exposed, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.
The living room. We also have a balcony, but we haven't figured out how to open the door yet.
The kitchen. All the stuff you see on the counter is stuff we raided from the head resident, who held on to a bunch of things people left behind from last semester. Know any recipes you can make with spaghetti, soup mix, and raspberry jam?
And finally, Henry, our vacuum cleaner. Isn't he cute?

After settling in, everyone just wanted to sleep, but we motivated ourselves and Claire, our head resident, led us around our neighborhood and showed us where the best places are to get groceries. Most people took a much-needed nap after that, and then we ventured out again for a look at Henry Street, a pedestrian shopping area a lot like Church Street in Burlington.

After being thrown off so dramatically from my usual routine, I was starving. At dinner time in Dublin it's lunch time in Boston, and we wandered about looking for a promising place to eat. We saw about 56482947559472 pubs around and chose one of the less sketchy-looking ones, The Boar's Head, and Patrick proceeded to tell the barkeep his entire life's story about how it's his first day in the country and he can't drink in America and so having a beer with dinner is new to him.

http://tinyurl.com/6kwxff8
Wanna hear something sad? I don't really like beer that much. Guinness is pretty much a religion here so I sort of felt compelled to order it with my beef stew. It wasn't bad, I mean I drank most of it (Hannah thoughtfully downed the rest as we were leaving so that we didn't get pummeled as we tried to walk out the door), but it's not what I would prefer to drink, which is anything pink and girly with a million cherries and a little paper umbrella. But don't tell anyone--I think I may get deported for saying that.

So I'm mostly all unpacked, and I've done enough exploring for today. Tomorrow will be full of buying books and things for the apartment and wandering around getting to know the city. Maybe if we go to the Guinness Brewery and I get a free pint I'll learn to love the stuff.

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