I banged on the wall and ran out to the hall to wake Sarah. I asked "Are we late for school?" in an exasperated manner, and she assured me it was only 4:32 and that my phone was correct. This is certainly one of those dreams one has before a big event such as a first day of school! Sarah and I went back to bed (she's a gem), then woke up a few hours later and departed with our friend Elise to find the building where we'd have our first class of our winter term. Until the end of January my American classmates and I will be taking a few seminars that will count as one course. These seminars include Intro to Irish History, Political and Economic Landscape of Ireland, Intro to Irish Culture and Society, and Peace and Conflict.
Getting to class takes us about 30 minutes, and Sarah, Elise and I did a very good job finding our way without any help! Dublin Business School is located in a few spots in the city, and I really need to get my bearings before having to find those buildings all by myself! Luckily we found the building with enough time to stop by a cafe and grab bite to eat. My croissant was light and buttery and everything I could have ever asked for in a breakfast pastry. After eating we scampered back to class and took our seats as our professor announced we'd be doing an "ice breaker" activity. At this announcement Sarah and I rolled our eyes because we've been over ice broken at Elon and were ready to sit back and relax from hyperactivity. Luckily this ice breaker was simply a short pre-quiz on Irish history, and didn't even require us to move. Perfection.
 |
| Fresh flowers on the street make me happy. |
Our lecture was fascinating and I learned so much about Irish heritage and the different eras that have shaped the republic. We learned about Vikings and St. Patrick and the Celts and heaps of great early Irish things! We took a short break part way through this class at which time I needed to chug a Diet Coke, and fast. Post-break I was wide awake and ready to scribble away in my spanking new Moleskin notebook. To my disappointment I haven't had a history class since junior year of high school, and this lecture surpassed my expectations. I'm looking forward to learning history that will help me appreciate the places I visit and the people I meet in Ireland. What's even better was that it was only two hours (but felt like so much less), and I was completely finished with class by 11 a.m.! Brilliant.
After class several of us walked through St. Stephen's Square, a lovely park, then went to Trinity College (a historic and prestigous sister school of Oxford and Cambridge) to buy student rail travel passes. Some of my friends decided to make a family dinner again tonight, so we bought the provisions we'd need for one of the best meals known to man: grilled cheese and tomato soup. With groceries in hand (my favorite buy was the American style peanut butter I splurged on) we trekked the rest of the way back to our homes. I ate lunch, finished unpacking and looked at my potential classes that I'll be registering for next week.
 |
| Trinity College |
 |
| My cozy little room in our apartment. |
In no time at all our friends came over and we began making the best grilled cheese and tomato soup I've had in awhile (besides the Friday special at Elon's Acorn Coffee Shop, of course.) For dessert, we bought "Penguins," which are little chocolate "biscuits" that reminded us of a Twix bar. One of my friends always brought them back from Scotland when we were younger, so when I saw them in Tesco I knew it would be a way to satisfy our cravings for chocolate and exposure to cultural foods!
 |
| Peter and Elise loving life with grilled cheese/tomato soup bliss. |
 |
| Their first Penguin experience! So UK of us. |
Our friends Paddy from Ireland and Connor from England came over to invite us to go to out neighborhood pub after we ate. Going out for a drink on a Monday? Is this real life? Hardly. I can now check off one of my Ireland bucket list items: have an Irishman buy me a pint! Success! In this country it is customary for one person to buy everyone a round, and then each person then will cover one of the following rounds. Of course the girls and I, wanting to be the polite American ladies that we are, bought the boys a drink later on and practiced our newly acquired etiquette.
Going to Glimmerman's with our Irish and British friends is one of the best ways to learn about each others' countries--this is international relations at its finest. For example, today I learned "Soccer is a gentleman's sport played by barbarians, and rugby is a barbarian sport played by gentlemen." Paddy and Connor are lovely and charming and so helpful to us, the Americans. They and their roommates have been exceptionally welcoming to everyone and are excellent ambassadors to this fine city. Connor makes me think of Sarah C. back at Elon for several reasons. 1.) She's from Boston, where he has visited and loves 2.) He's from London, where she is about to spend a semester and will love 3.) They're both actors. 4.) They're incredibly sarcastic and witty. In honor of Sarah, we took the following photo. Here's to you, little Sarah. You can meet Connor in person when you visit me!
 |
| Sarah, meet Connor. He is from London (you're going there), he acts and he loves Boston. Perfect. |
When I got back my lovely hallmates from my dorm at Elon Skyped me. It started out with just two of them, and then several others came and chatted! Seeing so many of my favorite "first year" students was a wonderful way to end this carefree day. Looking back on what I've done...I only had one class, a trip to the grocery, down time, then dinner and the pub. I can't remember the last time my schedule has been that easy. It felt like a weekend :) I'm going to be a big fan of this.
No comments:
Post a Comment