So Friday morning we started out with a breakfast sponsored by the school, which is really just Danish and some coffee. They told us about some of the courses we could take and they made some of them sound very very interesting. In Ireland a lot of the classes don’t have final exams, and some only make you write one paper that is worth your entire grade. If my schedule goes the way I want it too I shouldn’t have any exams (maybe 1) and one class that only has one 3000 word paper to determine my entire grade. Talk about all your eggs in one basket. ( Too bad Niles and Nate wont be staying up late to finish that with me)
After breakfast I tried to open a bank account but the bank was closed for some reason so Katie (a friend comparable to the looks of Natalie (Audia), the openness and willingness to meet people of Ashley forgione, and the desire to drink like Dani…not bad) anyway she and I went to check out the athletic complex here at the school which is actually pretty awesome. Having a big school really lets you stretch the limits. There is a giant rock wall, like enormous. Baptista would love this thing…could easily spend hours and hours in it. A large basketball gym (pretty bad lighting is the only complaint), racquetball, handball, tons of cardio stuff, indoor 100 yard track, wrestling mats, steam rooms, small pool, and lots of cool stuff.
Since the athletic complex is close to the liquor store and a small grocer, we decided we should just head over their and pick up some essentials while we were there. Theses stores are about a mile away from our apartment so I think that is one of the reasons I feel like I need to include it in this sort of thing. Don’t worry mom and dad im being safe!! Anyway even just talking to the grocer is awesome because ethey are all so nice and any question you ask is ok. They literally exemplify no such thing as a stupid question! He gave a us a deal on Brooklyn Lager (shout out to c1) because he says its hard to sell that in Ireland. Works for me. We carried that home (that wasn’t pleasant) because we wanted to have a little gathering to meet the people from our program later that night so just picked up enough to share. A great idea that everyone really enjoyed that night.
As Katie and I were rushing back, we were worried we might be lost and not make our tour of Dublin but luckily we made it their with plenty of time and were actually the first ones there. When we finally got there she said she hates being late for stuff. I told her our friendship might very often be strained. ha ha! The tour of Dublin by bus was overwhelming and awesome. Really really great and Im incredibly mad I didn’t have my camera (some other people took a ton of pics so you’ll see some soon) Basically they told us lots of cool places that sparked my interest that I will now want to go check out on my own. The prison tour is probably number one on my list because of all the history that it has with the irish uprisings and capitol punishments it gave out etc.
After our tour ended everyone was exhausted and pretty much went home and crashed for a couple hours. That night though we had a nice big party with all the study abroad students. I think there was something like 10 countries in the room at the same time so it was pretty cool. Everyone was sharing their hometown favorite drinks and talking about their journeys through rain and snow (the Europeans) and the jet lagged Americans. After an hour or so of everyone hanging out we literally all left out apartments at the same time to head over to a pub down the street that we saw earlier in the day. There was probably about 30 or 40 total, which cut in half when we got to the pub because some people wanted to go into the city. It is funny how when we walked into the pub we literally lit up the room and everyone at this very local, very classic irish pub took complete note of the Americans walking in. We made our way to a table and ordered our first round of drinks. After a little bit, Katie was no where to be found at our table so I took a walk around to see where she was at or what she was up to. That girl can literally go up to anyone and start a conversation. Its pretty awesome. Because of her we met some incredible incredible people. I started talking to one of the other guys next to he and soon enough we were cheering and acting like the best of friends. Really. These guys were great. Martin, Connor, JohnPaul, and a few others I cant remember. Literally all night long we sat with them and talked about everything from Christiano Ronaldo to Barack Obama to Whitey Bulger to the Red Sox to the history of the pub we were in.
I could literally go on for pages and pages about all the stuff we talked about but the highlight of the night was when one of the guys offered me a gift of his Celtic Football League hat. Literally you could see the look of surprise on his mates faces as he handed it to me and began explaining the significance of the Catholics and the history and pride and honor of the Gaelic Football League. He reiterated that wherever I walked with that hat on I would receive respect and a helping hand if needed. They continually put there hand on their heart and kept telling me how lucky I was and how proud I should be to wear it. There was also a friend of theirs named Ger at the pub as well. All the girls in our group really got along with her and she was really fun and super exuberant. Hopefully she will be back again next week.
That night was fun and after we left a couple people came over to my apartment (one girl who is a perfect cross between Katie Cornine and Alessandra….you would literally immediately think of those two if you saw her…and we had hung out and listened to music and just hung out for a little bit. A Great night . still no roommates though.
Random Thought I. I saw a robeks in downtown Dublin. Sick
Random Thought II. I sat next to some French girls on the bus tour of the city today. They made fun of me because I could not say their names.
Random Thought III. Stuff is really really really expensive here.
Random Thought IV. I got my heat to work yesterday. Like magic. ;)
Random Thought V. I really want to play some basketball.
Random Thought VI. Listening to Muse, Black Holes and Revelations
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