day one. dublin.

such a lovely city, this capital of ireland is. today, we had orientation, a full city tour, and a reception. here's what i learned:
-jonathon swift is actually buried in saint patrick's cathedral. which is funny, since he disdained religion of all sorts.
-james joyce is a national hero.
-oscar wilde was born in dublin, lived in london, and is buried in paris.
-classes start on monday.
-we're going to the mountains tomorrow. wicklow. home of wicklow gaol. where i went once with ptp. ooohhh sweet irony.
-most of the castles in ireland are believed to be haunted.
-reverting back to a tiny nokia is one of the funniest experiences of my life.
-everything in dublin is more expensive than i would like it to be.
-starbucks has free wi-fi. which is just the price i'd like it to be (so, scratch my previous comment.)
-i love everyone on this trip, with the exception of some super obnoxious soriety girls from michigan. they're giving me a bad name just by being from the same school as me. gross.
-ice cream from the ice cream man is way better here than in america.
-the last two irish presidents have been female, but they're merely figureheads. and the prime minister is male.
-most irish boys are really cute. REALLY cute. and some irish girls make me want to take creepy pictures of them, just to admire their outfits.
-georgian architecture is super.
-not having wi-fi in my room is inconvenient...and weird.
-i probably should have brought my backpack, instead of a silly shoulder bag.
-i'm still exhausted, but i'm going to have my first pint TONIGHT.

so, that's that. my life is good. great. i have three clustermates whom i adore, two bathrooms which is a beautiful thing, and i have been making lots of friends. orientation was great, not only because of the cute boy who works in the accommodations office, but because i got a lot of information about classes, dublin life, and our group schedule for the next few weeks. the bus tour brought a distinct feeling of nostalgia...riding around on a coach listening to some accented lady speak over a microphone sound familiar to anyone else? but we got to run around saint patrick's and phoenix park, which was superb. we were dropped off at the national gallery, where we were served wine (not guinness...to my disappointment) and hor d'oeuvres and got to mill about and chat with other group members and faculty. kinda fun, but we were all exhausted.

my feet hurt. i should be able to post pictures on sunday, after spending the day in wicklow tomorrow. off to grab a pint!
xxx