Dublin Day

And what a lovely day today was! My friends, today was Dublin Day. The day I went and explored the City Centre; the day I let my tourist side come out swinging; the day I decided I chose the right place to be.

After registering for yet another class this morning, I decided to head into downtown Dublin. I knew I had a pretty large break in the day, and I needed to get a cell phone anyway. I had to get a couple of things before I could venture into this bustling unknown, however. First I waited in line to get my Student Travel Card, which I guess I can use to get discounts in some places, including on my bus pass. Then I had to actually get the pass. Both processes were pretty easy, and I must say, I like the way they look in my wallet.

So after all that nonsense was finished, I took my bus pass and rode the bus up to the city centre, around Grafton Street. It was just beautiful! I couldn't breathe for the first few minutes I was there. There were old stone buildings, modern new buildings, street performers, stylish people, old and young, Irish and foreign, big groups and small. It was like nothing I'd ever been a part of.

I must say, I'm particularly proud of this photo.

I ended up eating lunch at a cafe in the middle of Grafton St, and for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it. I got a burger and an iced tea. The burger was okay, a little disappointing. It came on a sort of ciabatta bun that was really floury, making it impossible to eat without getting white powder all over everything. It also came with lettuce, tomatoes, and onion (which were arranged in what I think was supposed to be a salad, but I put it on my burger instead), and french fries, which were extraordinary.

But let me just talk for a moment about the iced tea. It was... perfect. It was sweet, but in a way that hinted at the use of just a naturally sweet tea leaf, as opposed to the "sweet tea" we have in the states. It almost had a fruity taste to it that I couldn't quite place on my palate. However, it complimented my meal extraordinarily well, and it was only two Euros!

Another fun thing for me to find on Grafton Street was, of course, a Disney Store. Two floors of the merchandise from the "Happiest Place on Earth." Complete with a mini movie theatre and a princess room. What more could I have asked for? I know where I'll be shopping for my baby cousins.

I've never heard of this princess... Anybody?

And now, I just need to talk about IKEA. The college organized shuttles to IKEA for students to buy any housewares they needed for their dorms/apartments, especially international students, for obvious reasons. Anyway, I took one of those shuttles there this evening, my very first ever trip to an IKEA store. And really, there are only two words to describe it: first word HOLY second word CRAP. 

HOLY CRAP. Not only is the place GIGANTIC, as you can see from my pictures, it is also very well organized. I had a really long time to shop, so I started out by quickly strolling through their show rooms. They pretty much set it up like a self-guided tour. You go one way through different showrooms, categorized by part of the house, and there's a route already set up with arrows on the floor so you cannot get lost. Then, after all the showrooms, you end up in a "Self Serve" area of the store. This also has a set path for you to go by, to ensure you get to see EVERYTHING the store has to offer, but this is where you can actually pick out and buy your own items without having to go through a catalog and a sales rep. A lot of their merchandise was fairly cheap; I got a lot of basic items (dishes, small towels, a pillow, cookware, etc.) for under five Euros. It was a cool experience, but I'll be honest when I say I don't want to go there again any time soon. 

So that was today. With every day, I'm getting more and more comfortable and excited to see what else is in store for me. I'm meeting more and more people (p.s. there are very many attractive men in Ireland...) learning more and more new things. I can't wait to see what else lies ahead!

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...

Countdown: 6 Days

6 days.
Only 6 days.
I am leaving the country. In 6 days.
My list of things to do is huge at this point. My packing list is slowly but surely dwindling. And my emotional tether is shredding.
However, today was a nice breath of fresh air. I went to BW and visited some of my friends and professors. It was nice to see everyone after so long, and I actually was missing school for a little while. I felt like I was missing out on things by not being there for the first semester. Then I kicked myself in the ass and reminded myself that I am going to have an amazing experience, beginning in 6 days.
I have most of my clothing laid out, and all my suitcases together. Lots of sweaters, jeans, some dress clothes, the basics. I still have to find out how much of this stuff will actually fit in my suitcase. Granted, it's a huge bag. We call it Big Blue. But unfortunately, I tend to overpack... So who knows.
I suppose I don't have much else to say until I leave. So, until then, friends.

The Countdown: 15 Days (OMG)

I must apologize for my use of OMG in the title of this post, but seriously. 15 days until I get on a plane to live in another country for four months!? OH MY GOD. I haven't started anything! I almost finished my shopping, I just need to go to Target for some shirts. Because one can never have enough comfy v-necks. I got bored with Rick Steves' book, so I started a new one. I began making mental lists of things I need to pack. I have been taking care of my medical needs, including check-ups, teeth cleanings, medication refills, and physical fitness. So in all reality, I guess I have started some things. Just nothing... tangible. Because once I do that, I know it will be totally REAL.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a lovely going away party, and all of my favorite people came to say farewell. I received some very generous financial assistance, which I have already used... surprise, surprise... and I got some really lovely blessings. Like this Irish blessing from a church friend: 

"May God grant you always...

A sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you, a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you. Laughter to cheer you. Faithful friends near you. And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you."

I thought it was touching, and I'm gonna keep that card with me when I go. My sweet grandma also gave me a prayer card to reflect on, and the Deacon from my church prayed over me. I'm a pretty spiritual person, so these things meant a lot to me. I have faith that my travels will be safe and fun and, as nervous as I am, this will be a truly life changing experience. 

So back to the new book I started, I only got as far as the first page. BUT it seems so interesting! It is about a man, Robert Emmett Ginna, who made a journey from the most North to the most South point of Ireland, making a path straight down the center of the country. I cannot wait to read more. I think it'll really help inform my travels, especially when I'm able to get away from school and go sight seeing. A good family friend of mine told me that reading things like this will allow me to see sights that maybe not many see when they travel. I'll get insight from someone who has lived this, not just more and more tourist information. 

On another note, I have recently discovered that Wicked is going to be in Dublin until sometime in October! SO clearly I have to go. I mean, it's WICKED. In DUBLIN, IRELAND. How cool would that be? I wanted to see a show while I was there, anyway, and Wicked is such a good one. I saw it when it came through Cleveland's PlayhouseSquare a few years ago, and I would love to see it again. Especially with a group of new Irish friends that I'm sure I'll make as soon as I get there X)

Well, in the next fifteen days, I hope to make much more progress in my preliminary travel preparation. Until then!

8.6.2013 Countdown: 27 Days

I re-counted the number of days until I leave... and I got 27. TWENTY SEVEN DAYS. Hot damn. I have so much to do! 
I just closed a show at Near West Theatre, and now I have nothing to do with my life. So I really should start finding things to do. My standing To-Do list before I leave:
-PACK
-Figure out foreign banking
-Learn how to use Skype
-Figure out my list of top places to visit
-Understand how to get to the university from the airport
I don't even know where to start. Oh wait, yes I do, I'll HAVE A PARTY!!
So this Friday, I'm having a going away party. And the menu is going to be awesome. We're doing an "Around the World" buffet with club sandwiches and coleslaw from America, corn salsa and guacamole from Mexico, three different kinds of hummus for the Middle East, spring rolls for Asia, bruschetta for Italy, and, of course, corned beef and cabbage for Ireland (apparently that's a very traditional part of Irish cuisine. Seems nasty to me.) I love to cook, so I'm really looking forward to making all this yummy food for the party. AND a lot of it is vegan-happy so my herbivore friends can eat as well as the carnivores.
Unfortunately, I have no new Ireland trivia for you tonight, so I'll have to get back to you all on that. But, more to come soon, I promise! Peace out for now.