Katt vs the City: First Time Using Transportation By Herself

Anyone who knows me knows I have a horrible sense of direction, and that I am most certainly NOT equipped to ride public transportation by myself. That being said, I am an adult - it's about time I learn and Dublin is most certainly the place to do it. I have taken a train maybe 3 times in the past 6 years, and had never taken a city bus until I arrived in Dublin.

I had an interview for an internship today! Here's how my journey went:
-I Took the Dublin bus past the spire and to the College Green Stop.
-Walked from College Green to Grafton Street
-Walked up Grafton Street to the luas (Dublin train)
-Took the luas through several stops
-Got off at the second to last stop and took a taxi to my interview.

The morning journey took around an hour and fifteen minutes. I got off at the second to last stop on the luas and was told to walk to my internship from there (it's only a 10 to 15 minute walk). However, I had no idea where I was going and felt insecure and unsafe, so I ran back and took a taxi.

Good news: The interview was quick. I really liked the company, and they ended up offering me the internship!

Bad news: Getting back to campus was an absolute struggle. I took the luas back to Dublin city center, and from there, I had NO idea what bus to take back. I had anticipated this and called my professor while on the Luas, but despite his instructions to take bus 11 back, I still struggled. I ran to a bus stop, missed bus 11 by a couple minutes, and it didn't say when they next one would be, so I kept walking onward, looking for bus 4, 9, or 13. After stopping three different buses to ask them if they traveled to DCU, I finally realized I was on the wrong side of the road, and crossed the road to get a different bus. I did not really know where my stop was (it's always difficult to tell), so I had to sit by the driver and basically interrogate him after every couple stops, asking if my stop was coming up soon.

So all in all, it was a very frustrating day, yet thrilling day. Here's a picture of the luas! It's very hi-tech and you have to swipe a card before you get on the luas and after you get off.

Running in Ireland

I went for my first run in a nearby park! I may have gotten a little lost...but it's okay because I was forced to do another loop of the park before finding my way back.

"Let the Right One In" - a 24 hour movie marathon?

Horror movies are most certainly NOT my cup of tea...so when I found out that one of the the films for my European Cinema course, Let the Right One In, was a Swedish romantic horror film, I anxiously delayed the viewing of the movie. The film focuses on an outcast who befriends a vampire. The vampire must feed off human blood frequently, and there were countless moments in which the vampire killed, and I would shudder. I started watching the movie last night, then realized, "oh, it's a horror film, I'll wait until morning." Then I woke up in the morning and decided I did not want to watch the film in an empty suite, so I went to the sports center cafe to view it. I ate lunch, got grossed out eating while watching some very bloody scenes, and returned to my suite. I resumed watching the movie at 7:30pm, when my suitemate, Laura, came back, and I finished it probably a half an hour ago. So, all in all, it took me over 24 hours to finish a 2 hour movie...

Exploring City Centre

If you ever visit Dublin, go to Queen of Tarts on Dame Street! I went to City Centre with my friends Ashlee and Laura and we had a grand time. I ate a chocolate chip cheesecake and it was the most delicious chocolate chip cheesecake I've ever had.

Also, Butlers is a must! I will drink Butlers' hot chocolate every day until the day I leave Dublin (maybe...) because the hot chocolate is basically a meal. I had to wait until 8pm to eat dinner because I was so full from our 4pm Butlers run. If you're looking for recommendations, I would say get either the white hot chocolate or cookie hot chocolate. The best part...regardless of what drink you order, you get a complimentary chocolate truffle!

I promise I did not spend the entire day eating food. We visited the National Museum of Archaeology and History and I feel smarter with my acquired knowledge of Ireland's old artifacts. The part of me that had aspired to be an archaeologist/paleontologist after learning about dinosaurs in second grade, enjoyed this museum immensely. Here is a picture of the Cross of Cong, probably one of the oldest artifacts in the museum:

Camps K&E Reunion

Once upon a time, I attended a sleep-away camp, Camps K&E in NH. I was a camper there for four years, and a counselor for one year. Today, I met a guy, Tomas, (he goes by "Mossy") who was a counselor at my camp this past year! My mom, who has been a nurse at my camp for eight years (I think), had told me to contact Mossy because he lives in Dublin, so when I went on Facebook to look for him today, and realized we are attending the same University in Dublin, I instantly contacted him! I was surprised at how quick he responded, and we ended up meeting for coffee today, sharing camp stories, and getting to know each other. It was comforting, because I have really been trying to break away from the people from my school that I came here with. Hopefully I'll see him again soon!

Jameson Dublin International Film Festival

Last night, we went to the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival to see "We Are the Best," a Swedish drama about teenage girls who defy social norms to form a punk band. Along the way, the two lead girls befriend a third social outcast, who is talented on the guitar, and they ask her to join their band. I enjoyed the film, but I strongly disliked the two lead characters: They asked this girl, Hedvig, to join their band, and then they insisted she cut off her hair to be more punk like them. It made me so angry that they basically said, "we want you in our punk band, but you have to cut your hair."

Three of my suitemates are going home for the weekend, and I have to study for a midterm already (my professor that came with us from home is teaching us an accelerated course, and it is week three of six already. Time flies). Basically, I will be confined to my prison-walled room all weekend, but I'll try to enjoy the bit of "nice weather" (41 degrees and sunny!) we have right now by going for a run.

Hanging With the Suitemates

I REALLY REALLY like my suitemates! They are the nicest people and I wish three of them did not go home on weekends. Honestly, every Friday, I WILL cry when they leave. Yesterday, I entered the common room to make dinner, and my suitemate, Paul, was sitting with two of his friends. They saw me making a cup of noodles and one of them said, "wait...is that your dinner?" They were stunned and invited me to order Chinese food with them, so I did, and must say, Dublin has quality chicken balls. OH MY GOD they were amazing and I ate so much food!! When we were hanging out, I noticed that Paul's friend Lauren had a minion phone case (yay Despicable Me!), and I have one too, so we bonded over Despicable Me and the minions for a little while! We were talking about going out on Thursday night, so I definitely want to stick to that plan in order to branch out from my USA group.

We all had a ton of fun last night, and some suite drinks of course. In the night shenanigans, I managed to drop my tesco phone, and then drop my water bottle on top of my tesco phone...so the screen shattered, and I had to buy a new phone at the Omni Plex Mall today. Easy, as the sim card was transferred to my new phone, but I was bummed that I had to pay for a new one. Later, I went back to the Omni Plex with a girl named Liz (who is not from my school), and we ate dinner there. Now I'm about to watch The World's End for my film class tomorrow, so I have a night full of movie watching/analyzing in store.

Oh one last thing...when I walked back from the Omni Plex, after Liz and I parted ways, I ran into my professor from my home college who is teaching us a course at DCU. He checked up on me, made sure everything was going great, etc. It makes me so happy that he's concerned about how I'm getting along in this new environment, and I'm glad I'm on a program with a faculty member from my school.

Guinness Storehouse

I went to the Guinness Storehouse today! Honestly, I am not a fan of Guinness - it has a really strong taste, but we were given free pints at the end of our tour, so...I drank maybe a fifth of my free pint. It was an informative day, learning all about how Guinness is made.












After the Guinness Storehouse tour, we went out to Bobo's Burgers for dinner. Probably the most filling meal of chicken goujons (chicken fingers) I have eaten since I've been in Dublin (I've mostly been frying eggs, making pasta, and microwavable dinners).

I am beginning to stress about traveling. I want to travel, but do not feel close to anyone in my group, so I either need to make friends from other schools now, or travel alone. Campus is dead on the weekends, as all the students that live in Ireland go home, and I definitely need to leave campus and explore, as this may be the only time in my life I ever do this. Back to my stress- there are thirteen students from my school on this Dublin program, and everyone came in with 1 or 2 friends. I came in with acquaintances, mostly people who I do not see myself hanging out with. On the bright side, I really really like my suitemates! Maybe one of them will take me home on one weekend.

As I stressed about traveling, I skyped with one of my good friends from home, Cat, who studied abroad in Dublin last year. She went through the same thing as me, going to Dublin without any close friends, so she gave me advice, and comforted me, and telling me about some of the places in Dublin I need to visit and how to get around myself. Cat, if you're reading this, thanks so much!

Cork and Blarney

Whoever said "you can't buy happiness," is WRONG, because I bought myself a pair of wool socks and am lying in my bed happily blogging!

Okay...the real recap of my day:

Me and five of my friends went on a day long bus tour to Cork and Blarney! The tour began at 6:50am, so we woke up at 5am (which I do not mind at all. HELLO, aspiring radio personality here!), met outside at 5:45, and navigated the public transportation system, arriving just on time for our tour. We boarded a coach bus full of lots of locals, tourists...etc, and set off first to Cork! We spent probably an hour and a half shopping around, awaiting the real attraction of the day, Blarney Castle!

When we arrived at Blarney, we were given 3 hours to explore, so my friends and I went for lunch first (yay kid's menu chicken fingers!). I must say that exploring Blarney Castle has been the highlight of my abroad experience so far!! We climbed some steep steps to get to the top, and kissed the Blarney Stone! I honestly did not see what the big deal was, but one of my friends said it was on her bucket list and they were all dying to do it, so I said "what the heck" and let some random man hold onto me and slide me (almost to my death) up to the stone to "kiss" it. Not too sanitary, but it's all in the experience! (Don't worry, I scrubbed my mouth afterwards). I'm really glad I did it! I would have definitely regretted it, had I not.

I gotta go watch two films for my European Cinema class on Monday, so I'm pretty much confined to my room for the night. Tomorrow, I'm going to the Guinness Factory, and cannot wait to share that experience!

Coppers

It is currently 2:20am, and I have returned from Coppers, a night club in center city. That was my first time EVER at a night club, (the ones at my school at home are dirty, from what I've heard, and I don't ever plan on setting foot in them) and I must say I had a fantastic time!

To backtrack, before going to Coppers, we walked around the city looking for a bar, and once we found one (after about 30 minutes of walking in the cold), we settled in, ordered some drinks, and talked to some very nice, [and intoxicated] Irish men. They told us how they had been to the US before, and one of the guys kept talking to me exclusively, asking me where me and my friends were going, and if I wanted to come to a certain club with him. Despite his attractiveness, I declined his gestures (in fear of getting separated from my friends...obviously) and after he left I was kind of like "awww...maybe I'll see him again??" What are the odds?

Some of my friends and I are going on a tour of the Guinness Factory tomorrow, so maybe I'll finally have an excuse to post more pictures! In the meantime, I should DEFINITELY head off to bed.

Castles, Classes and More

Yesterday, me and some friends explored the city of Dublin! Our original plan was to visit one of the castles, near Trinity College, but we were told after we arrived that there were no tours until Sunday. Oh well. We explored a nearby park, and the city itself of course, and OH MY GOSH we went into some chocolate shop called Butlers...BEST. HOT CHOCOLATE. EVER. The one I purchased was a cookie crumble hot chocolate, and it had bits of cookie (maybe oreo...not sure) in it that enhanced the flavor of the drink. I KNOW I will be going to Butler's a lot this semester.

Anyways, we returned from exploring the city around 5:00ish, and as our professor had only recently uploaded the two films that were due for class today, we had about 3 hours and 20 minutes of film watching, in addition to three chapters of reading. As a result, it was a long night for me. The films were uploaded, and then taken down and reuploaded, so we could not start watching them until about 9:00ish. I finished my assignments around 1am, partially because one of my suitemates was partying in the common room, and the walls are definitely not soundproof. I had class at 9am today, so going to sleep at 1 and waking up at 7:45 was not the best idea, but oh well! I did hang out with my suitemate for a little last night and he told me that the two of us and our three other roommates are all gonna go out together on Monday night, so I hope these plans are a definite go! I'm totally up for it!

9am Class: 
It was my first "Media Art" class today, and I will say the professor seemed really chill. There's probably around 40-50 of us in the class, which is the biggest class I have EVER been in, and she had us all go around the room and introduce ourselves, state our fields of study, and why we are in the class. This class is only once a week, and my assignment for next week is to ask someone older than me about their aspirations when they were younger, so I think I'm gonna like this class! The only downside to the class was that the classroom, to me, felt fairly warm, but other students were complaining that the temperature was too high... so as a result the professor lowered the temperature, and I sat there FREEZING for the rest of the class.

Food: 
Okay...tonight, I am going to cook myself a real meal (of pasta). Since I've been here, I've only eaten pre-made pasta, rice, fried eggs, and meals that me and my group have gone off campus for, so I have not cooked a legit meal myself. I am making pasta tonight, and I DO consider myself a decent pasta cook, so we'll see how it goes! I find cooking to be very difficult (also, I am a very picky eater), but I am thankful for this experience as I will have a kitchen in my suite next year, and want to cook good meals for me and my future roommates.

First Class

First European Cinema class today. We talked about the film "Michael Collins", and to make class more exciting, we ventured over to his grave (only a 5-10 minute taxi ride away from our school). Nothing much else to talk about...I'm still feeling kind of sick, but I DID visit the gym facilities today and figured out my gym membership. Once I feel better, I will most likely start working out / using the track!

Day of Relaxation

No orientation activities on our schedule today! Free Sunday, and most of the students are supposed to move in tonight, so I will probably meet my other two suite-mates soon.

I have not had a decent night of sleep since I've been here. I've been going to bed early, but do not fall asleep until after 12am because the bed just is not comfortable! I went to the mall with this girl from another school, Liz, and two people from my school, Rickey and Hannah, and we all bought pillows (needed a sturdier one), food, and other necessities. I desperately needed a hair dryer, and was able to find a very inexpensive one!

We've been going to the mall a fair amount of times. It's about a 10-15 minute walk away from school, but is definitely a struggle when we walk back carrying bags. Rickey bought a lot of stuff today, so we split a taxi cab back, which I am not the biggest fan of, because splitting the cost of a taxi is always difficult, but it all worked out in the end.

My third roommate moved in! Her name is Laura and she is from some part of Ireland. I am still waiting to meet the fourth roomie.

I still am not feeling well. I think it is because the food preservatives are different here, and my body clock is still messed up, but I'm hoping that the new pillow will help me get a better night of sleep. Wish me luck on my first day of class tomorrow!

It's Not Easy Being Sick

Third day of our orientation, and I woke up at 6:30am with a clogged throat. I think two or three other people in my group had it too, so either there is something going around, or we are all sleep deprived/still jet-lagged. Regardless of my sore throat and low body temperature, I joined my group and the other international students on the day trip to Causey Farm. I hate to be negative, but going there was a mistake. I did not feel well at all, and when it came to activities such as learning Irish dancing, I felt dizzy. In addition to dancing, we learned how to play a type of drum (my Irish musical debut!), saw the different farm animals, and made Irish soda bread! THAT was delicious! I'm currently eating some as I type this blog post.

Around 7:30pm, I began to watch the film Michael Collins, which needs to be watched prior to my European Cinema course on Monday. I had to take frequent breaks because I still did not feel well, and it is taking me a lot longer to get through this movie than it should. One of my suite-mates, Brendan, who I met yesterday, knocked on my door to ask me if I was feeling better. Seriously, that was really sweet of him! I'm still waiting to meet the other two suite-mates, and I suspect they will be here tomorrow, but I am really content with the suite-mates I have already.

Orientation Day 2

I got four hours of sleep last night. FOUR. HOURS. As I lay in bed playing Flappy Bird and pondering why I was still awake, I began to suspect the Kinder Eggs and Egg 'N' Spoons as the perpetrators.

Finally, I drifted off into a dream (probably filled with birds and 2 dimensional pipes, as per my Flappy Bird obsession), and when I woke up at 7:30am, I immediately came to a realization: the reason behind my lack of sleep was the tea my suite-mate gave me last night! It was good, BUT it most definitely contained caffeine, and I did not even think to ask him as I drank that tea at 8pm last night. I was a wreck at 7:30am...but thank goodness we did not have to be at our orientation bus tour until 2pm, so I had time to revitalize myself. I spent the morning listening to one of my favorite radio stations, 100.7 WLEV, which felt great because normally I cannot catch their morning show at 5am, but now that I am five hours ahead, I can!

The bus tour took us all around Dublin, and the historian inside me found all of the random facts about the city very interesting. Afterwards, a group of 6 of us went to the supermarket inside the mall, and bought plenty of food to start cooking. Pasta and sauce was my meal for the night! And for dessert, MALTESERS!! My friend Cat who went on my program last year told me all about these, and they DEFINITELY lived up to my expectations! They are aerated chocolates shaped like Whoppers, and they are DELICIOUS!!

UPDATE: I met another one of my suitemates! His name is Brendan and he's from Ireland. I wanted to go to bed at 9:30, but I spent the last 3 hours bonding with Antoine and Brendan, so now I am exhausted and finally about to head off to bed.

Orientation

Yesterday's jet lag continued through today. I could have slept for hours, but I woke up at 8:00am to shower and arrived at orientation at 9:30am. Me and my group sat through lecture after lecture from about 8-4pm...it was exhausting!

Later, we took a tour of the school (I STILL don't know my way around...), and then we purchased bus passes (we'll need those - especially when we begin our internships). I met this really nice girl who goes to school in another part of Pennsylvania, and the two of us grabbed dinner together and decided we would meet up to go to the mall another night. The mall is about a 10 minute walk away from our dorms, and it was getting dark out, so it would not have been a good idea to go there tonight.

I would like to mention that with my dinner, I bought a kinder egg...aka the most delicious type of chocolate in the world (pictured below, on top of my comforter, along with egg 'n' spoon!). Kinder eggs are chocolate on the outside, vanilla on the inside, AND they have a prize inside! I know you are all jealous of my awesome race-car that I built!

I was heading out to meet my friend Rickey for a second dinner (I was still hungry...), and on my way out, I met one of my suitemates! His name is Antoine and he is from France.

I look forward to meeting the other three suitemates soon!

Too Jet-Lagged To Function

We arrived in Ireland some time between 6am-7am this morning! It's been a crazy day and I'm too jet lagged and dehydrated to function, but I accomplished a little bit of unpacking, and hope to finish tonight/tomorrow.

The Plane Ride: 
I was in the last group to board, so when I got to my seat, all the overhead compartments were full, and I panicked a little. Luckily, this Irishman sitting directly behind me came to the rescue, and he helped squeeze my suitcase in! There were no movies I really enjoyed on the flight over, so I entertained myself with music, a couple of Whose Line Is It Anyway episodes, and Flappy Bird (shout-out to Mason and Remy from 93.7 The Bull for tweeting about it and getting me addicted).

University and Shopping:
After landing, our professor, Dr. McEwan, met us at the airport, and we drove to DCU. We walked to a nearby mall to buy towels, sheets, toilet paper, phones, and other necessities. It took 10 minutes to walk there, and about 15 to walk back. We struggled to walk back as we had to carry our own paper bags and mine broke on the way home!

Phones: 
We bought box phones (I think that's what they are called) at Tesco, and me and two of my friends, Cat and Kira, spent the last hour or so trying to figure out how to work them. They were inexpensive, and will ensure that everyone in my group can stay in contact, and so that we can contact our internship coordinators.

My Room:
My room is tiny - I'll post pictures of it later once I am fully unpacked. I still have yet to meet my suitemates!

Snow Day, S'No Way I'm Ready to Travel

Well...the big day is almost here. In 23 hours, I will be on the plane!

I woke up early to a fresh blanket of snow, and began to prepare for a Skype interview with a potential internship employer from Ireland. I logged onto Skype moments before 10:30, but the company had not accepted my contact request so I could not call them (I found out later they were experiencing Skype issues, so I will have to wait until I arrive in Ireland to talk to them).

The rest of the snow day was spent packing. Honestly, I have no idea how much my suitcase weighs, but my mom said "hey, you're either going to pay an overweight fee or an extra baggage fee, so it's perfectly okay," which was reassuring. I once spent a month in Costa Rica with only two backpacks (one large hiking backpack and one school backpack), and a sleeping bag liner, and I was perfectly fine in terms of clothing/other necessities. Of course, that was during summer, and now I am traveling in winter, so I had to pack sweaters and other bulkier clothing.

Despite today's chaos and packing stress, I am reassuring myself that tomorrow will be fine, as Minion Jerry (pictured below) will be accompanying me on the plane. Also, I bought "Despicable Me" band-aids. I'm fairly accident prone (as I'm a clumsy runner), so I expect they will come to good use!

Super Bowl Not-So-Fun Day (of packing)

Two days until I leave for Ireland! I've been packing for most of the day, which became especially difficult when the Super Bowl came on, and I waited impatiently for the "Full House" Oikos Yogurt commercial. I had to miss out on the game, but checked in every 15 minutes to make sure I did not miss the commercial.

I made a couple lists. I'll probably expand upon them tomorrow night.

What I am excited for:
-experiencing the culture of another [and a bigger] college.
-getting more college radio experience - I'm hoping DCU's radio station lets me write and produce news features).
-Meeting my suitemates - I am going to be living with 4 other people that are not from my school.
-Kinder Egg Chocolates!! -The most delicious chocolate in Europe! They are banned from the US because there are build-able prizes inside that children have swallowed.
-Seeing Dublin Castle.
-Exploring the country!

What I am going to miss: 
-My internship! - I intern at WNPR, which has been a dream come true for me. Can't wait to come back this summer!
-Friends and family
-My "Despicable Me" minion stuffed plushes (Side note: I'm a kid at heart) - definitely not enough room to pack those.
-Quaker Oats Chewy Bars - do they have those in Dublin? If not, I guess 4 months of separation is a good thing.
-my "Full House" dvds.

I gotta get some sleep. I'm interviewing with a potential Dublin internship employer tomorrow, and then I'll be packing/making sure I have EVERYTHING ready to go!