Moving In, and Moving On Up

We took a cab from the airport to our residence, Shanowen Square, a brand new apartment complex right next to the college. We live in suites with 4 people total. Everyone has their own bed/bath, and we share a living room and kitchen. My roommates are Graham, a guy from Rochester who goes to St. Michaels College in Vermont, Sara from BU, and Diane from Cornell. They’re all really nice. Boys and Girls! Living Together! Blasphemy! Our rooms came fully furnished and linen-ed. Mine also came with a Curious George garbage can.

I went out looking for Karen around 11:30 am, and she spotted me from a window, and yelled down to me, just as we pictured it happening.

Internet: The first step in the instructions for setting up the internet was: 1, click Start, then go to Control Panel. I thought that was very funny because I have a MAC...and they looked at me funny when I told them I didn't have Start > Control Panel.

Karen introduced me to Lisa, from Millburn NJ, who goes to Bucknell. We found a mall called the OMNI, and got pay-as-you-go cellphones from METEOR. Everyone bought the cheapest Nokia, so 40 people all have the same phone. Picture a group of people sitting down to dinner and putting all the same phone on the table…I think I’m gonna have to BEDAZZLE mine. We did some light grocery shopping at TESCO, where the eggs come unrefrigerated, and came home.

When it came time for dinner, we decided to go out. The night guard knew of no restaurants…because there aren’t any in Santry, turns out. So we walked around, found a few pubs, and went into one called the SWISS COTTAGE. Inside, we found Steve Rochette and his roommate, Shane. Shane is from Bergen County and goes to Villanova. Had our first pints of Guinness. I really liked it, has a lot of flavor. The girls prefer other tastes. It’s a whole meal really, but I enjoy it.

Turns out, pubs don’t serve food after like 6 oclock, so when we were done drinking, we went to McDonalds. Absolutely Pathetic. Our first dinner in Ireland….MickyD’s. They call their Dollar Menu the EUROSAVER.

Impressions on Dublin after 1 day: Everyone looks like (Nick's friend) Ryan or Mike Trash or Dan Agar's dad....everyone. Be very careful crossing the street. American pop music is crazy popular. People are very very friendly. Hot water is a much appreciated luxury. Wasting/Littering is unheard of.