Week One

Bonjour Family!! Haha, as I quickly learned here, the program CEA is not really a variety of international students, more so french students and a small mix of Americans... it has its good sides and bad. Unfortunately I will not be studying with Irish students, I do have Irish professors though. Also, to my disappointment, Ireland is NOT full of redheads, NOR leprechauns.. sad day, Mel and I will go on a hunt for them when we leave the city. 

A little update on what I've been up to lately:  

Went for a couple runs away from the city this week over the canal and went west. I was wearing shorts because its nearly 45 degrees and I thought it seemed logical with a long sleeve. Everyone stared at me like I was completely crazy!! Anyways, I passed a cute park in the middle of a busy streets and it had old rock waterfall and benches, I'm definitely going back there. I hooked a right then and ran down a culdesac, found an amazingly large castle! It looked newer though with an older smaller section, could have been a church or something too. Then I continued left and went around the block and found a huge park! There was the greyhound races track (I think that’s what it was) and tennis courts and the professional soccer team practicing!! Magically I found my way home after 40 minutes of exploring. I’d say that’s a great start to a day.

There is a cute park called St. Stephens Greens in the heart of Dublin,  its just like a mini central park. Walked around and there are bridges and ponds and swans, and awesome trees with really creepy statures. The police men on the dot at 5 would chase everyone around in the park and tell them to leave and force them out the entrances, cant work an extra second sheesh. It was fun to walk around by myself and listen to music and just feel more part of the city, knowing where I'm going and not getting out a map, only used it twice this week! Plus, the weather has been really amazing, it only rained the first day we were in Ireland and that was just a mist, its always been between 40 and 50 partly cloudy. 

We went out to a club with the french students the other night, it was so fun. Its amazing how hard it is to break a language barrier!! French is so hard to learn, every syllable counts. We tried to teach all 16 of them how to play circle of death (a fun drinking game with cards) and honestly it was hilarious, they had no idea what they were doing but I learned some french! The club had the entire roof designated for smokers with a garden and a rock waterfall. I don't get it, they say no smoking in public places but condone it by sprucing up the outdoor smoke areas!? (Don't worry, I do not participate!)

We took a bus tour of the city yesterday and it was amazing. The tour guides name was Dorothy and she had a fabulous accent. The tour took us places we had seen, but others we couldn't walk to such as Phoenix Park. As you could see in my facebook pictures, the park has literally 1,000 deer that roam around and you can get right up close to them without them budging! Also the U.S. Ambassador of Ireland's mansion was in the park, the President of Ireland's mansion was in the park, along with other beautiful monuments. The Dublin Zoo is also in the park, apparently they are known for their breeding of giraffes!?!? crazy. Its known as the largest park in Europe and it is right by the Guinness factory. Did you know the Guinness factory brews 4 million pints of beer a day? And distributes it to 70 different countries! There factory is 33 hectors large and has its own rail system inside!

Anywhoo, I'm learning more and more about Dublin but honestly, I'm ready for some rolling hills, mountains, hole in the wall pubs, etc. .. The first weekend of February we are going to Galway and the Aran Islands for some fun! Out there is also the Cliffs of Moher (the background picture of this blog)!!! Tomorrow some girls and I are touring the Dublin Castle and our welcoming party at a club with all 150 students for CEA is that night, Saturday is a tour of the Guinness Factory, and Sunday Mel and I are going to a mass at St. Patricks Cathedral then going to a pub for the Packer game!! GO PACK GO!!! Monday and Tuesday I may either head out to Wicklow County and see the mountains up close or take the train to some small surrounding cities.. No worries Mom, I'll leave a note  :)

Love you all!