Mingle in Dingle, 16 January 06

Today was the first day of class. Before it, we had a series of short presentations from faculty at DCU (Dublin City University) on various topics related to student life: housing, safety, clubs and sports, etc. I think the thing that the other students are finding hard to deal with is the continual theme of efficiency and no waste....we are such a spoiled country, but some more than others. While the manager of the apartments was explaining how to set the timer on the hot water heater (which is really a very simple process), this girl in the front said, "Well that doesn't really make any sense to me, but I guess I'll try and figure it out." Congratulations on trying new things, but please leave your attitude at gate 28C.

In other news from the Naive Desk, we got our syllabus for our first class, The History of Ireland. Now, the great thing about this program is that, we are here to work, but the professors know that we want to have fun and travel and experience the culture. So this class has ONE paper assigned at the end, on just about anything related to Irish History....it's cake. The paper is to be 2000-2500 words. Another inquisitive young lass asked, "How many pages does that translate to, because at home they assign papers by the page, not the number of words." For real? Did you really ask that out loud? Shame, shame.

So besides all that, Monday night got really good! A huge group of us, around 17, went to this pub called Comet's, down the street from our apartments. I like hanging out in the group, but I felt the need to get to know the people from the area. So I turned to these 4 guys at the table next to me and struck up a conversation about good places to eat locally, just something to get the talk started. Jon, Noel, Ger, and Kieran. A few hours later, I knew their whole story, and they knew mine, and I introduced them to Karen, Steve, Shane, and my roommate Graham.


They were all bout 24. Noel was flying to Australia for 10 months, and his buddies were sending him off with a night out. He's coming home via stops in Hawaii and Boston. These guys were great. I asked them about where to visit, they asked me about Boston and New York. We talked about movies (King Kong!), TV (Ger LOVES LOST), celebrities (Brad and Angelina....oh man), football (and football), beer, the benefits of MACs vs PCs, and good bars and clubs to go to. We basically just bullshitted until the bar closed, and by the end of the night, I wished Noel a fantastic trip to Australia, and Ger and I exchanged mobile numbers, making sure I knew to call if I have any problems or need any help. These guys were awesome, and I think tonight was the first step in discovering the reasons why I made this trip.

The pictures are of me, Lauren, Steve, and Karen on the green at Trinity College yesterday, and a view of the Spire (which Jon thinks is "total bollocks").