Better Day...

I met people today! Yes, that's right. I made an ass of myself on the bus this morning by blurting out, "Are you American?" to two lovely ladies who seemed to not have an accent. I was 50% right. One of them was, indeed, American. But the other was Irish, and she kind of looked at me funny. But I was able to bond with the American girl, Holly, for a while over living in Blackrock campus and having to take the bus to the main Belfield campus every day.
When we got to main campus, she met up with a couple of her friends she had met in the days prior, and I tagged along with them for most of the rest of the day. We all were Study Abroad students, so we went to a couple of orientation sessions together, which were very helpful. Beginning with this orientation session, everything started to fit together and make sense, little by little. I'm learning more about how to use the bus system and get a bus pass. I know where to go to buy a cell phone that will work here. I found an adorable coffee shop that I think I will begin frequenting because there's a cute guy that works there who makes me yummy tea. Things are settling a bit, and I know that will continue to happen as I begin my classes next week. And though I'm still finalizing my schedule, it looks like I'm going to have Mondays off, which will be AWESOME for traveling :).
Later on in the day, we all met back up to watch ONCE. They were showing it in the Global Lounge (yup, a lounge just for international students. Whatup!), so we all decided to reconnect for it. It was my first time seeing it, and I was sort of impressed. I didn't much care for the filming style, and the ending upset me a bit, but the music was just incredible. I would totally buy that soundtrack.
I also made my first trip to the grocery store today. It's adorable! Everything seems so fresh and local. The only problem is I can't tell what's a bad price for anything. I ended up spending around 75 Euros, but I did get quite a bit, including several packages of meat and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc (since I'm legal and all). I also had to pay for bags... which sucked. I guess I'll just have to find some reusable bags to invest in so I'm not wasting my precious 75 cents.
Wow, that was a jammed blog post. BUT! It's not over yet! As I promised, here are some pictures from my first couple of days around.

This was all hanging from the ceiling in the Chicago O'Hare airport in the wing where all of the international flights come and go from. I thought it was pretty neat, so I let big-time-tourist-Olivia come out for a few minutes to take some pictures.

Leaving the Dublin Airport...

The above are pictures of the Blackrock campus, where I live. I'll post some pictures of my dorm room at a later date.

For my dad ;D

Anglican church just up the road. I'll probably never go there, but it's very pretty!

These Cul de Sac signs are everywhere. I just thought it was kind of funny that they post it like that.

I think this is a monument to something important... but I don't know what.

These are all just random pictures from walking up and down the suburban streets of Dublin. 

My first Irish meal! A ham and cheese panini with salad, cole slaw, and nachos, and an orangeade to drink. All from a cute little department store cafe!

All the buildings above are part of the Blackrock village. They're the bigger shopping centers, almost like two smaller malls.

These are from the UCD main campus. Not where I live, but where I do pretty much everything else.

These are the busses I take every day. Pretty comfy, and the upper level is cool :)

Because it's my last name, that's why.

More pretty sights at my end of town.

The birds here are really pretty. I don't know if we have birds like this in the states, but they're big, and they kind of look like black and white ravens. Much less harsh and much more majestic, though.

More to come on the weekend, folks. Until then!