Arriving in Ireland

Good news, I have safely arrived in Dublin, Ireland! The plane ride here wasn't too bad but the time change through me off a bit. We jumped from about 11 PM to 6 AM really quick! I was greeted by rain and the wonderful IES people who gave me some information and pointed me in the direction to get a taxi. An extremely sweet elderly man was my taxi driver and made great conversation with me. I asked what I should do with my time here and he replied "DRINK!" without any contemplation. He went on to tell me that they are playing the Ukraine on Sunday in some sort of World Cup for soccer and that the pubs will be the place to be! About 20 minutes later we arrived at Bloomfield Park where Megan from IES was waiting to show me my apartment! I'm not sure what I was expecting but my apartment completely surpassed my expectations! There is two rooms with two beds per room, two bathrooms, a living room, a kitchen, AND a balcony! I won't try to describe it, I'll just post pictures for y'all to see for yourselves! I was the first of my roommates to arrive so I scoped out the bedrooms, closets, etc. and picked my room/bed! Then I began to unpack, luckily there was plenty of closet space and hangers! My first roommate arrived; her name is Elizabeth and we will be sharing a room!! A couple of hours later the other two roommates arrived, Claire and Allison! We all visited for a minute and Megan filled us in on some basics. Then, Elizabeth and I went to our room and passed out at about noon for a few hours. Jetlag is no fun. But now I am rested and watching Friends on TV! We are meeting our RA Eamonn tonight at the street bridge to "go for a drink at the pub" and then he will show us to the IES center. Hopefully some food too, I'm starving.

So, I just got back from the pub! Allison, Elizabeth, Claire, and I went downstairs to pick up 4 other boys that were meeting Eamon too and we all walked together, in the rain, to the bridge. After waiting a bit Eamon and about 10-15 other students with IES arrived and we all walked to the IES center, to see where our classes will be. Once we saw the center we went to a pub called The Barge! We pulled some tables together, squeezed everybody in and ordered our first round of Guiness! We all got to know each other a bit better and everybody was super friendly. Once we finished our Guiness and dinner, which was yummy, we headed home. I stuck to one Guiness since my face went numb about half way through. On the way back we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some things for breakfast tomorrow morning.

 Tomorrow will be an early morning with orientation from 9-5. Time to get some sleep! Love you all!

HP