For everyone who was concerned or never received confirmation, I have made it to Dublin safely! These last few days have been a little bit hectic running around and settling in, but already a ton of fun.
I arrived Tuesday morning around 5am, after getting a grand total of maybe 1.5 hours of sleep on the plane. Sean and Brian were on my flight and we were the first group to arrive on Tuesday. Joe, the program coordinator from the O’Connell house (Notre Dame’s home base in Dublin) picked us up and took us back to the O’Connell House, which is in the city centre. To keep from falling asleep while waiting for the others to arrive, we decided to give ourselves a little tour of the city. I was able to remember some things from the last time I was in Dublin, so we walked around and managed to find Trinity College, and also St. Stephen’s Green and Grafton St (which was about everything I remembered from my last time in Dublin). Later when everyone arrived we moved into UCD. Let me tell you, I have never felt like such a freshman until now. I’ve always been familiar with and known my way around Notre Dame, but coming to UCD for the first time to move in was the weirdest feeling.
For the semester I’ll be living in an apartment with six other people. I have one roommate who also goes to ND, Holly, and then 4 Irish roommates who are all freshmen (or first years, as they say; they gave me funny looks when I said freshmen). Everyone gets their own room and bathroom, and there is a common room/ kitchen to share. So far it’s working out great, and my roommates are awesome!
The Campanile at Trinity on the sunniest day Ireland has ever seen
On Wednesday we had our OCH orientation and Kevin Whelan, who is the OCH director and our professor for Intro to Ireland this semester, took us on a walking tour of the city. Kevin literally knows everything and everyone in Dublin. I need him to guide me around the city all the time. On Wednesday night, we (the large pack of Americans) explored campus and tried to find somewhere to eat at UCD, but instead went back to Glenomena and had a traditional Irish meal consisting of delivery pizza and cheap wine.
The most eventful thing that happened on Thursday was the UCD pub crawl around Temple Bar. After getting some free wine and irish dance lessons at the Global Lounge at UCD, we proceeded to Porterhouse, which was the only pub on our pub crawl. (I take that back, they gave us 15 whole minutes to go inside Fitzsimons, where there was live music and what looked like a really fun time).
Amanda, Kelley, and me at the first and only pub on our pub crawl, also titled “the picture Kiersten took”.
I don’t think our pub crawl leader really knew what she was doing, which might explain why we only went to 2 pubs, but somehow she guided us to Dicey’s, which is a club with an outdoor area, which also turned out to be tons of fun. I already love all the kids in our program, and I think it’s a good sign that we all had an awesome time on our first night out all together.
Tonight there was a soccer/football/futbol game between Ireland and Sweden that we had every intention of watching. We tried to find a pub to watch the game in, but the bus we took to the city was late, and we found a pub in time to watch the extra minutes (all three) of the game. We stayed in the basement of that pub (the International Bar) for a little to hear some live music: first a boy who sounded like Ed Sheeran, then a band of rockers that weren’t exactly about traditional Irish music. It was still a fun time. Before we got up to leave, Kathleen and I decided to use the bathroom. By the time we came out we realized everyone else from our group had left. Luckily, thanks to our sharp navigation skills and my international data plan (thanks, Dad) we were able to find our way to a bus stop and surprise our friends who had gotten on the bus earlier and make them feel bad for leaving us (not really, I think they were slightly concerned). All in all a good night.
So far Dublin has been amazing! The first couple days the weather was beautiful, like borderline hot. I may have gotten sunburned, but not too bad for one last hurrah in the sun. I love exploring the city and meeting new people from our program and from Dublin. Missing Notre Dame and football a little bit, especially with the Michigan game tomorrow, but I couldn’t be happier to be in Dublin for the semester. So excited for everything that is still to come!
Go Irish, Beat Wolverines!
Oh you fancy, huh
Return to the Motherland 