Adventuras

I finally started school this week! It seemed like the rest of my friends had been in school forever before I even started (the Australians really have, I think it’s been over a month and a half since they all left). My classes seem like they’ll be interesting enough, and we (the engineers) collectively managed to scrape up a few text books from the library and the O’Connell House that will come in handy at some point this semester (but still all fo’ free!).

Well, since I haven’t blogged yet this week, we’ll rewind to last weekend. Saturday morning we got up [relatively] early and went to the market in the Temple Bar area and got some good snacks and produce. We did a little shopping on O’Connell Street at a pub that turns into a thrift shop every Saturday morning, and then goes back to being a pub for the rest of the week. Sneaky, but I like it. After spending most of the day in the city, we went back to UCD to rest up for the big game (ND vs Michigan). The game was a night game at home, which meant it started around 1am in Dublin, but we made it work. We had a small tailgate party in my apartment, that turned out to not be so small at all. Everyone brought food and we played country music as my Irish roommates watched their first tailgate in amazement. We had a few struggles trying to stream the game, but ended up getting it with great quality, and most of the viewers were happy- besides the fact that my apartment was hotter than a Lyons Hall clearout and that we lost the game.

Who’da thunk a bunch of college kids could pull off a tailgating spread like this?

Michigan Game watch, Circa 3am

This week I took a lot of time to get situated with my classes, so by the end of the week I was ready to do something more exciting. Taking advantage of having one class Thursday and Friday, Kathleen and I ventured out. On Thursday night we met up with Kathleen’s friend from home, Katie, and her friend, Sarah. We went to Nando’s, per suggestion of my Irish roomies, and it was great. Mostly because I had enough to bring home leftovers (food4days), but it also was delicious. We explored around Temple Bar, got ice cream, and ended up at O’Neill’s where they had live music and Irish dancing (!!!!). We even managed to make the last bus back to UCD to avoid paying for a cab (granted, we had to run, but running to catch buses is a common theme, as you will see).

Today Kathleen and I braved the day that is Friday the 13th, and went back into the city for some exploring. We got lunch with some ND kids at Pablo Picante, which is supposed to be a California Burrito place. It was super good, but there were no fries or tater tots or potatoes in my burrito, which makes me think it may not have been as authentic of a California Burrito place as it claimed. Still delicious. In an attempt to be tourists, we broke out Kathleen’s illustrated map of Dublin, and made our way to the Dublin Castle. It wasn’t really what I was expecting, because most of the medieval castle burned down in the 13th century, but it was still interesting. Now in the place of Dublin Castle is more of a palace that the government uses for fancy dinners (and probably other things more useful to the country, but I can’t remember).

Kathleen and me outside the Chester Beatty Library at Dublin Castle. If you squint a lot the picture gets clearer.

We took the scenic route back to find a bus, up Grafton Street and by St. Stephen’s Green, and my feet were relieved to not be stood on for a few minutes on the bus. Also, I should note that there were some people speaking Spanish on the bus, which inspired the title for this blog entry.

Tomorrow we leave bright and early for our trip to western Ireland, including Galway and Connemara! It’s supposed to rain all day everyday, but here’s to hoping my iPhone isn’t a good weatherman! Hasta luego!