The Little Things

Well, classes started this week. And I am having a hard time.
Today has been a rough day for me, and I would just like to talk about some details that have been bugging me since I got here. 

First of all, the money. I'm finally getting used to how the money works, with all their different coins. And I kind of like it. The bills come in 50, 20, 10, and 5, and get larger as the denomination gets larger. The coins come in 2, 1, .50, .20, .10, .05, .02, and .01. the 2 and 1 Euro coins have a gold outer ring with a silver center, and the 2 is larger than the 1. the .50, .20, and .10 are all gold, and the .05, .02, and .01 are all copper. All of the coins are different sizes, mostly based on denomination, and all of them have a different pattern on the outer rim. Using the money is not the problem, however. It's how often I have to use the money.
Now, you're probably thinking, well everything in the states costs money. Yes, that is very true. But not at my school. At my school, you could go to events for free. You could join clubs for free. The food was much less expensive. Here, I have to pay for all of those things. Food is expensive, even on campus, at an average of 7-9 Euro for a small meal. At a cafe. I'm sorry, but a sandwich and a cup of soup should be 4 Euro, all the time, anywhere.
Another thing that bothers me, the class set up. Let me start with some background. I am used to small classes, about 35 people max most of the time, closer to an average of 15 for my acting classes. BW has 3500 undergraduate students, 4500 total. The campus (only one campus), even though mixed with a suburb, is not large, and doesn't have too many academic buildings. In class, we don't do lectures; we do discussions. We ask questions, the teacher answers with another questions, and lively debates spark.
UCD is basically the opposite. I have lecture classes with at least 100 students while the professor stands up front under 3 huge screens, talking at us while we scribble furiously in notebooks. There are 3 different campuses, and living on the graduate campus, I have to take the bus every day to and from school, making it nearly impossible to stay anywhere past 11pm unless I want to pay for a cab back home (again with the money thing...). Then, once I get to campus, I can expect about a 15 minute walk to get to one of the nearest buildings to the bus stop. There are always people everywhere, and there is never any quiet time anywhere. The few restaurants on campus are always crowded and loud, and they don't serve much of a variety of food like BW always does.
My biggest peeve is my phone situation. I can't use the Internet unless I have WiFi, since when I got here, I decided not to pay for a data plan. But WiFi here isn't quite as common as it is in the states. Yes, the school has it, but it's not very strong and you can only get it in academic buildings. It's not in the bookstore, it's not outside at all, and it's very touch-and-go in the residence halls (at least mine). But if I'm downtown, and I need to check the bus schedule, too bad. I have to just go to the bus stop and wait until the next one comes around. I guess I don't really realize how much I rely on my 3G to get me through the day. But right now my first world problems have quite a hold on me.
Not to mention that on my first day at school, I took the time to go get an Irish phone to be able to stay in contact with my friends while I'm here. But as of right now, I'm the only one who actually has one. None of my other friends have gotten phones yet, making it very difficult to communicate with one another. Sure, we have Facebook  but again, we can only access each other when we have internet.

There are a few other peeves I'm having about being here. Like the fact that nothing is open past 7pm. Or that the only bus that goes from my residence to main campus doesn't run on Sundays and has a very limited schedule on Saturdays and evenings. Or that bathrooms aren't every few feet as you walk through a mall. Or that I have to share my kitchen and my stovetop doesn't work very well and we all have freezer space of about 2 square feet to share.
 But I suppose these are just things I will have to get used to as part of living here. Everything I encounter is part of my experience, and will shape my life in one way or another. Everyone has their likes and dislikes, and who knows. Maybe by the end of the semester, my dislikes will become my likes. These are all little things. Nothing is a crisis. Only an experience.

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!

Bad. Day.

Well, I'm here. My flights actually happened this time, and I'm here. Do I want to be here? Well...
It's hard to believe that everything I'm going to talk about right now happened in one day. It was one long-ass day.
We landed in Dublin around 8am (Ireland time) and went right to customs after getting off the plane. It had been a fairly rough ride, so I hadn't gotten much sleep at all. But I got myself through customs, grabbed my two large suitcases from the luggage belt, and headed out to find an ATM and a bagel. Well, unfortunately I found neither of those things before I found the University College Dublin booth, ready to get me to school and answer my questions. 
So I find an ATM, withdraw some quick cash, and head for the bus stop. I pay my 8 Euro and get on. I was amazed at how the driver knew where he was going. The roads around the airport seemed so confusing! No intersections, just yields and roundabouts and near-death experiences. Not to mention the fact that they drive on the other side of the road, which continues to boggle my mind and throw me off even after being surrounded by it all day. But, regardless, he dropped me off in Blackrock village.
This was where my day turned to shit. There I am, nineteen-year-old American, wandering around the main part of Blackrock with two huge suitcases, a duffel, and a backpack, just trying to find myself a cab to take me to the University. See, since I'm not staying on main campus, they made my life harder.
I end up wandering for about 15 minutes before a London tourist asks me if I need help. I'm wary to accept help from strangers, but at this point my arms are about to fall off. I let him wheel one of my bags for me, but don't think I didn't keep one eye on him the whole time. I think he was trying to flirt with me. 
He suggests we try the post office for advice for getting a cab, and I find that to be a pretty decent idea. They told me to just go to the street and wave one down. I mean, I didn't see any when I was out there, but I'm not a Dubliner (Dubliner?) so I decided to take her word for it. I left the London man at the airport and headed back out to the street. I didn't wait five minutes before I saw a cab. I threw my luggage in his trunk, and ask him to take me to Blackrock West Hall at UCD.
He doesn't know where that is.
.
I explain that I'm an American and this is my first day in the country, so I don't know either. I thought I saw the entrance to Blackrock College at some point on my bus ride, so I point him in that direction and decide to start there. Well that was totally wrong, but at least the guys who were there pointed us in the right direction. 
We finally find the UCD Blackrock campus, but it's pretty poorly signed, so I can't find where I'm supposed to go to check in. So he ends up dropping me off, and he didn't even discount my ride for his incompetence.
Idiot.
I pay him my ten Euro and set off, again, roaming with my huge bags, feeling like a total fool. Finally, when I'm close to tears, someone offers to let me leave my bags in an office and points me in the right direction of where I'm supposed to go.
I eventually make my way to the reception office, where I find out that I have another email account with vital pre-arrival information that I didn't know about. I thought I had everything done, but nope. The universe hates me.
But, eventually, after crying to my mother and sister, I got everything settled, got into my room (where I have no roommates :D), and just sort of took a moment to regroup.
The rest of the day did turn up from there. By this point, it was around 1 or 2pm, so I took a shower, unpacked enough to find something to wear, and then I ventured into the city. I walked back to the Blackrock village center to find something to eat, and I had a delicious ham and cheese panini for lunch (pictures to come). I then took a bus up to the main UCD campus, just to try to familiarize myself with it a bit before tomorrow. It's a pretty cool campus, reminding me a lot of the couple of state schools I visited when I was choosing a college. A lot of it is under construction, but with the help of a very kind Australian lady, I found what I was looking for. 
As the day went on, I was slowly realizing how tired I was, so I came back to my room and CRASHED. I slept a few hours, but I wanted to make sure I updated my readers on my crazy day. I did end up missing a reslife meet-and-greet for my dorm, but hey. Jet lag and all that. I'm still too tired to post all the AWESOME pictures I took, but no worries, I'll have them up for you tomorrow.
I won't lie, at this moment in time, I really miss BW and I want to go home. But it's only the first day, and I have to remember that the reason I want to go home is the exact reason I came here. To get thrown out of my comfort zone into a completely new situation to learn about the world and how I fit into it. I know things will look up, and I'm sure a good night's rest will help.

Today's the Day? Guess Not.

So, my dear blog readers, today was the day. I would finally get to embark on my life changing journey to Dublin, Ireland, to experience the schooling, the culture, the lifestyle, and so much more, to find myself and discover things about myself that not even I knew, to venture down the roads-less-traveled to find what many tourists do not, and to be touched emotionally and spiritually.
After a particularly confusing night of speaking with many Indian people about some incorrect flight information, I woke up this morning, got my two big suitcases, duffel, and backpack all together, packed the car, and headed to the airport, knowing that after sorting through last night's fiasco, with my fresh new flight information, everything would go smoothly, right?
"HAHAHAHAHA!" said the universe. "Everything go smoothly? Now why would I do that!? I've already given you this much trouble, let's see how much more you can handle!"
I got through security and everything just fine, no problems. When it was time to board my flight, I noticed that everything was delayed. Not long, about twenty minutes.
But that was just the beginning.
Next thing I knew, we were on the tiny plane, sitting and waiting obediently with our seat belts buckled, our seats in the full upright position, and our tray tables folded up and locked in place, but not going anywhere. Just waiting. We finally started moving after about a half hour of just sitting there, but the captain said something about not being able to take off right away. So we just stayed parked somewhere in the middle of everything, but away from the gate, so we had to stay on the plane. Well, we stayed there for about two hours, not moving, not knowing when we would take off, before they FINALLY decided to take us back to the terminal and let us get off the plane. They said we would re-board in about fifteen minutes. 
So I went to grab a snack and made sure I was back in ten. However, not long after my return, someone came on the speaker and said, "We'll have an update for anyone on the flight to JFK in about forty-five minutes."
What.
Okay, I said to myself, I have a really long layover in New York. I'll still have time.
Not ten minutes later, they came over the speaker again and said, "Flight to JFK has been canceled. We will do our best to get everyone re-booked, but there are no other flights going out to JFK today. Thank you for choosing American Airlines!" The nerve of them.
Now up to this point, I had done a pretty good job of keeping my cool. But now, I started to panic. I had no idea what to do! Per my mother's advice, I waited in line to talk to the flight attendants to try to get another flight. After all, I don't HAVE to be in Ireland until Thursday, so I had some time.
After waiting in line for another half hour at least, I got up to the desk and told the attendant I need to be in Dublin by Wednesday. I ended up having to stand there for another half hour while she tried to find me a new flight. I ended up getting one for tomorrow around 10:30, connecting in Chicago and getting to Dublin around 7am on Wednesday. I decided I was okay with this, even though I'll end up with a seven-ish hour layover in Chicago. If only I could leave the airport and go tour the city for a bit... Oh well. Hopefully I'll find something to do.
So there it is, that was my disappointing, frustrating, stagnant day. Maybe tomorrow my plane will actually leave the ground. 
Until then...

7.23.13 New Beginnings

Today, I begin logging my trip to Ireland.
I never wanted to be a blogger, but I have no doubt it will be beneficial in the long run to be able to recount my visit as if it had happened today. Plus it's a lot faster than writing in a journal, and will save me from many hand cramps.
So what better place to start than shopping. Today I bought some new staples that I'm thinking might possibly help while I'm there. But as I was shopping, I realized I know next to nothing about Ireland, and I had no idea what the hell I would need to bring with me. I know it's kinda cool and kinda rainy, and there's castles and stone circles and leprechauns. But what will really help me?
So I went to the library, where better, to find some books. Now, I love reading, but researching doesn't exactly sound like a fun evening at home to me. But tonight, I begin looking for some information. What to pack, how to pack it, how to go about my life while I'm there, all that jazz. 
I begin with Rick Steves' Ireland 2013 because I hear his travel information is very helpful. But here's the thing; I'm not just taking a trip... I'M LIVING THERE. FOR FOUR MONTHS. What on God's green Earth am I going to do. I must say, I'm freaking out just a titch. I'll be there completely by myself, at least until I make friends. ...If I make friends. 
Okay, so as I freak out, I remember how awful my first year of college was. I finished my freshman year at Baldwin Wallace University in May, and I hated it. I never knew I would have such a hard time adjusting to college life, but surprisingly I did. Not only could I not seem to make friends, but I just couldn't get motivated to do anything. So I'm excited to start over in another country. I think it will be good for me to just get away to somewhere where I literally don't know anyone. And as scary as that is, a new beginning is just what I need. I'll come back refreshed with a new perspective on life and a new readiness to take on the world.
I'll be recounting my experiences and adventures as I go, and I'll post SO MANY PICTURES. Enjoy my page. :)