Two Weeks

Yesterday, Wednesday, marked two weeks of being in Ireland.
I've only been here for two weeks.
It feels like I've been here for two months.
I'm finally starting to get used to UCD. I've figured out how to keep myself interested during lectures, where all the buildings and classrooms are, the places that have good food versus mediocre mystery meat... (But literally, yesterday I had some gray translucent meatballs, what is that...) 
I also joined some societies, or student organizations this week. I joined the ISS (International Students Society) and got a wristband for free entry to 10 parties throughout the semester. One of them was last night at a club near Grafton Street called Break for the Border. We didn't know where the party was for a while, so we ended up just sitting in a very empty bar for about an hour. But just as I was about to leave, I found some of our other friends, and they led us to the party! We stayed and danced until about 1:30am, and then I got a ride from a very nice, very chatty cab driver back home. It ended up being a really fun time, once we actually figured out where we were supposed to be :)
I also joined the Musical Society, who is having auditions for a musical called "Into the Woods" next week. I decided it would be really freaking cool to do a show in Ireland, and I mean, how great would that look on my résumé. I decided I'm going to sing a song from [title of show], but here's the problem... I haven't sung in a while, and I don't know if there will be somewhere for me to practice... I'm hoping I can find the peace of a practice room somewhere so I don't disturb everyone on my floor (or in my building) trying to practice my song. I am confident my audition will go well though.
The last society I joined is called dramsoc. It's the schools drama society, and apparently they do a LOT of plays and events every year. I thought it would be interesting to get into, and I'm pretty sure auditions for some freshers' thing is coming up soon. I'll definitely have to double check that...
Slowly and surely, I'm getting acclimated to life at a huge university, and I'm getting much better at budgeting my money and using my time productively. I suppose that's all I have to say for now, until next time!

One Step Closer to the Beer...

WHAT A WEEKEND. 

Allow me to start at the beginning. Last night, a group on campus called ESN (Erasmus Student Network) planned an event called the Pub Crawl. Basically, everyone went downtown and we went to four different pubs, with the final stop being a night club. I had the evening free, so I figured, why not! I'll totally go!

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from this event. So I guess I'll just have to tell you ALL ABOUT IT (as if I wasn't already going to anyway). We began at a pub called BadBob's, which was a pretty decently sized pub right in the middle of TempleBar district, a brick pedestrian street lined up and down with bars, restaurants, cafes, and night clubs. We spent a while at BadBob's, but I was okay with it since the guy doing the LIVE music was really good. He took several American pop songs and acoustic-ized them to work a chill bar atmosphere. This pub was where I had my first ever sip of the one and only Guinness beer. It was not good. But I'm not a beer drinker anyway.

Next stop was a place called Mezz. This was a dinky, hole-in-the-wall kind of bar, but we did end up finding a seat, and many of my friends got a good deal on tequila shots. I didn't have any money for the weekend, so unfortunately I could not buy my own drinks. But we all still agreed we probably would not go back to Mezz.

Our third pub was my favorite, called Turk's Head. The inside of the bar was gorgeous; there was a lot of mosaic tile work and modern metal structures, countered by the Frank Sinatra music that was playing as we walked in. Here, my dear friends all donated a Euro to my cause and bought me a 4 Euro pint of Bulmers, a hard cider. My first "pint" in a legitimate "pub!" And boy, was it delicious.

Our final stop before the night club was a bar called Porterhouse. It had a rustic kind of feel to it, as most of the detailing was wood. It reminded me of a cabin out in the Rocky Mountains somewhere. By this point in the evening, we were all pretty tired, so we did not spend much time at Porterhouse. We left after about ten minutes to go home, but I would go back there; it seemed rather cozy.

My friends and I agreed that the Pub Crawl was a total success, and we are so happy to have off-campus places to go hang out and grab a pint.

After a rather long night, I woke up this morning for another ESN-organized trip. Today, we were headed to Howth. I had just found out about the trip during the Pub Crawl, so I hadn't signed up prior. But luckily for me, there was room on the bus for me. Yay! 

This place... I can't even describe it in words. It was simply breathtaking. I was nearly moved to tears more than once just by the sheer beauty of nature in a way that I've never seen it before. I really cannot say anything more, so I will leave it to my pictures to do the talking.

I did so much hard walking on those hills today. I'm estimating a good 6 or 7 miles, including the 40-minute walk to the bus stop from Blackrock and back home. My feet kill, but that's actually where the title for this entry came from. 

I was complaining, of course, about how much uphill walking we were doing, and how tired I was. And one of the ESN guys said to me, "I know how you feel. But look at it this way: every step you take is one step closer to the beer. It's a good motto to live by!" 

And I agree. Your motivation can be anything, whether it's a good pint of beer, a smaller pant size, a splurge on a night out, or some ravioli and a nap. And every step you take, no matter how hard taking that next step might be, takes you closer to the beer.