Where to begin except the flight over? Personally, I took Ireland's major airline Aer Lingus as it was the cheapest and easiest to schedule flight available. I wasn't the only one to come to this conclusion either, there were 10 or so other Champlain students on my flight. We arrived a little before 5:00 AM in Dublin which meant midnight back in New England so we all knew we were in for some serious jet lag. The excitement of arriving in a new country was enough to keep me awake however. After the Dublin Campus Administrator, Stephen, bought us all cabs to the apartments, one of my roommates and I unpacked and got settled in. We met up with a few other students that had finished unpacking and tried to find some breakfast; unfortunately for us nothing in Dublin opens until around 9:30. The next big shocker was the price tags. I assumed coming here that because the Euro held a larger value over the Dollar that prices would reflect that--much to my surprise, all of the food had roughly the same price tag you would expect in the states if not higher. We figured out pretty quick that grocery shopping was the way to go.
Day 1:
Most of the first day was spent exploring the city. We covered a good chunk of the south side of the Liffey (the river that splits Dublin in half) on our own and the north side with the Head Resident, Tom. We crowded into an Asian noodle house and had some great Chinese food while we listened to some hilarious karaoke next door. All in all a good day, but we all slept easy that night. Day two was a little less eventful for those of us who arrived the previous day. It was spent mostly exploring the city, hanging out, and grocery shopping--a pretty good day to relax and finish getting over jet lag.
Orientation:
Then orientation started. We got the first taste of the hike we'll be making many more times over the next four months. It can be daunting at first, but a week in I've already gotten used to it. We were all pleasantly surprised to see what the academic building looked like. It is very elegant inside with fireplaces and large windows in nearly every room. There is a garden area outback that could be nice to study in. I think everyone's favorite room, though, was the lounge area at the top of the stairs with the biggest bean bag chairs you've ever seen. The whole room is very cool with a big TV on the wall, coffee tables, and colorful seats; all of that on top of the bean bag chairs of course. Needless to say, our time spent in the academic center is comfortable.
After going over some preliminary information, we were put into groups and set out onto a scavenger hunt with the winning group getting a free meal at a nice restaurant. The scavenger hunt definitely got us walking around and seeing parts of the city we had missed up to that point. Some of the items on the hunt were a little difficult to achieve and my group certainly didn't complete it, but we had fun. After recovering in our apartments for a little while, we met back up and walked to the Porterhouse for a meal on Champlain's tab. I really liked the Porterhouse--it had a very modern pub layout consisting of several stories of small dining areas and bars and a stage surrounded by the winding staircase. Unfortunately there was no one performing at the time, but the atmosphere was cool nonetheless. Much to my surprise the food was very good. I hadn't come to Ireland expecting much for food but my fish n' chips were delicious. I heard similar comments from the others so it wasn't a fluke--just don't order a steak, it's not like back home. Day two of orientation was much the same layout as the first except the scavenger hunt took place on the north side of the Liffey. Food that night was served at the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin. This place had a very old traditional feel to it which was cool. They maintained the original layout with a courtyard out front that you can eat and drink at. We had a decent variety of stews to choose from on the menu; I personally chose the Beef & Guinness Stew which was a kind of spiced beef stew with Guinness cooked into the broth and was delicious. In between each course we were entertained by stories from a former tour guide on the subject of Irish history, specifically about the famine and their belief in fairies. I enjoyed the stories very much, the guy was a great story teller and captivated us well.
The third day of orientation was a little different. We were given train tickets and brought to a small seaside village north of Dublin called Howth. Upon exiting the train, the coordinators said, "That's the end of orientation, see you back in Dublin" and we were on our own to explore Howth as we wished. Howth is a beautiful village with some great spots for taking pictures. We all hiked up the hill on the coast and spent a good deal of time up there. I plan on going back while I'm here because there is a lot to see there and I didn't catch all of it that day.
Classes:
Nothing was planned for Sunday so I made use of it and slept in. Classes began the next day and I got my first taste of school in Dublin. I may not be the best example since I only had one class that day but I like my Mondays easy. The first instance of every class I had was just an introduction to the course so it was an easy week. I ended up with assignments in two or three classes but nothing too serious. There isn't really much to report on the classes at this point since they've just started but they all sound interesting so far. The week ended on Thursday since everyone has Fridays off so that was a relief--the first week of classes is always a downer. Then today rolled around and a couple of us decided to go to the zoo. We didn't know much about the Dublin Zoo but we were curious enough to walk the 20 minutes and pay the 12.50 student entry fee. Again I was pleasantly surprised because the zoo was quite large and had some fascinating exhibits. We were even so fortunate as to arrive at feeding time for the arctic wolves. All in all it was a good trip and a great way to spend a friday afternoon.
That is about it for orientation and the first week. I'm looking forward to getting out of the city sometime soon, Howth was a lot of fun and we have a trip planned for Malahide tomorrow. Next weekend is our Western Ireland trip so I'll be sure to report back with the details from that. I can't wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment