overcast days never turned me on…

I’m here! In Ireland. Oye. It was an adventure getting here and getting to the point where I could actually sit down and record something.

It’s 4:42 at the moment, dark, wet and grey outside. The window of my snug little room in my apartment with four other lovely american girls (we’re still crossing our fingers for hunky irish lads to move in the apartment across the hall) looks out to a little footpath and beautiful trees and grass.

I am just NOW getting internet in my room after several hours my first night here of wailing to myself, hoplessly gripping the useless instructions they gave us to connect to the UCD wireless. I wa so panicked about getting internet and a convertor to be able to plug my lap-top in, I think I have myself a premature heart condition, maybe asthma too.

The flight here was actually not bad, the only issue was the goo factor. Yes the goo. For one my nose was running constantly from the cold I just now killed (how it lingers…) and on top of that stunning display I was bleeding from my face.

Yep. From my face.

As a goodbye present, my lovely little shih tzu Oliver (Cujo?) decided to jump across my Dad’s bed at me when I sat down to talk with him AND BITE MY FACE. So 10 minutes before I was supposed to be leaving for the airport I was instead
1. Sobbing 2. Bleeding 3. Cursing/trying to refrain from engaging in acts of animal cruelty 4. Trying to choose a shampoo/conditioner combo since only one could be brought in my then still bulging and unzippable suitcase.

It was less than awesome.

So I said a very bloody and weepy goodbye to Sydney and my parentals at the airport and headed off to ireland, blotchy and looking a little like I just joined the new FFC (female’s fight club, first rule, can’t talk about it).

At the airport in Philly I watched a story on TV about accidental incest. A British couple met randomly, got married and were so for a year before they found out they were actually seperated siblings. Ack. I also ate much chocolate.

Flying into Dublin, it was like 8 am, but still dark, so when I opened my window shield to see the fields of green, I instead saw a silver blue sky and nothing else but murky black shapes of land. It was like being in a submarine. I met two really nice girls from Wisconsin who were on my program (we had been instructed to put green ribbons on our suitcases, it worked!) and we traveled together on a bus, then a train, then a taxi to our orientation in Limerick.

Butler is kind of a huge champ program. The three days of orientation in Limerick was nice in that it gave all of us on the program to bond A LOT, to get used to the weather and to get over our jet lag. It also let us explore another city besides Dublin a little. But it did feel a little random and I’m really mad they didn’t tell me to fly into Shannon initally (BEFORE I made my flight reservation) which is 10 minutes from where we stayed in Limerick as opposed to the expensive extra transportation I had to take from Dublin.

We went to a club in Limerick called Trinity. It was hilarious: the skanky girls in spilling tube top dresses, the amazingly well dressed boys (we’re talking Joel status girls, yet hetero), the love for bad techno and The Killers, the sheer man love, swaying, arms around each other beer bottles clinking. I had so much fun and broke it down to Britney for all of you (especially some of you…).

We also saw a castle in Bunratty in county Clare which was actually a seat castle of the McNamara family back in the day. Check out my pictures to your right… It was pretty sweet. The tour guide was hilarious and there was even a dungeon and a “ladies window” where the ladies could over look the manly manly mistakes (as the tour guide said) being made in the great hall.

On the bus ride back to Dublin it was pretty wet and grey, but the country side and buildings were really so lovely. I’ve seen a rainbow everyday.

Our first day at UCD was stressful, I actually considered just coming home. Our apartments are really nice but FREEZING, (seriously our “heat” is so weak, my current sleeping ensemble includes: two pairs of socks, leggings, sweat pants, two shirts, my poodle sweater and a wooly hat) and we have to pay for heat with these little 5 or 10 euro cards that don’t seem to last very long, but they gave us money checks to do so, it all seems very weird, unnecessay and confusing. It was pretty much soul crushing and heart breaking to walk into our apartment and find it without heat and electricty, something they neglected to warn us about. They also said we’d have TVs and we don’t. This doesn’t really bother me if I’m honest with myself, but I’ve been contanmenated by everyone else’s sheer outrage. I really really want a print out of every service they’re rendering me to prove the tution is worth it. I assume the stress of what they had to do plus what I have to do now would have literally killed me if I had to do it alone, so that’s pathetically comforting.

Yesterday, Latto (who is visiting me!) and I went on a prettay exciting adventure which I will write about later. We also went into Dublin today and I got my hair cut short because it became very clear after about 5 minutes shivering in a shower with just about zero heat or water pressure that this semester is not one for long winded beauty regimens.

My face is healing, but still a little scarred. I’m really embarassed by it, (it’s kind of like hick status to say, yeah, I was attacked by my own dog) and pissed of, but you know, Righteo! I’ll just kick him a good one when I get home.

Tonight we’re going on a live music pub crawl and I’m super excited. I’ll write again soon when I’ve got a little tea/beer buzz going and can be more entertaining.

Everybody send me your addresses so I can send you postcards!!

Love,

C