Hi Everyone,
Sorry it's taken me so long to write again..
First off I have been so bad about getting my address out so for reference it is:
Lisa Koth
B-14-6-3
Belgrove Student Residences
UCD
Belfield
Dublin 4
IRELAND
...the Irish love their separate lines apparently.
I started class this past week and so far it has not been too bad. My classes seem much different than back at Madison. First, each class only meets once a week for about 3 hours. On top of that, only about half the students show up and of the students that do show up at least half of them are international students. From my understanding, the low turnout results because there is a shortage of housing on campus and students who live less that 2 hours away are forced to commute each day. In my first class last week, the professor showed up 30 minutes late and then proceeded to answer his cell phone 5 times during lecture. I was so confused and almost offended at this lack of professionalism; however, the rest of my professors were punctual. We have spent a lot of time discussing the U.S. in each of my classes and it is very interesting to get an outsider perspective of the financial crisis/recession.
I only have class Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so I finally was able to go grocery shopping on Thursday. I'm hoping my meals have a bit more diversity than toast and spaghetti. I found this great little market that sells fruits and vegetables 10 for 1 euro. They had everything from clementines and bananas to peppers tomatoes. I'm not able to choose which ones I want, so after taking out the bad ones its really more like 6 for a euro--but still a great deal.
On Friday, then, I ventured to the city of Cork with a few friends. Cork is the second largest city in Ireland and the city centre reminded me a lot of Dublin. After arriving at our hostel Friday night I realized my wallet was missing--which included almost every form of identification I had in Ireland, all my credit cards and money. I went back to the bus station in hopes of finding and luckily did. Needless to say, I will carry my wallet somewhere differently next time.
Saturday morning, we headed to Blarney to see the Blarney Castle; it is only about 20 minutes from Cork. We lucked out because it was an abnormally gorgeous morning for Ireland. The sun was shining during our whole tour of the Blarney Castle. I had heard the castle was a bit of let down, but I loved it. My friends made sure we covered almost every inch of the castle--including an underground tunnel/cave, murder hole, and kissing the blarney stone. It was really enjoyable and I took a ton of pictures which I will try and post to this blog. I thought of my McCarthy relatives because one of the signs talked about great craic (fun) and how the McCarthy's were great entertainers--I decided there must be some relation!
After the castle we ate traditional pub food [which I am still not sick of] and then headed to Blarney Woolen Mills which is a huge shopping store that carries anything and everything Irish. We then headed back to Cork and decided to make dinner at our hostel. While our hostel was actually quite nice, the kitchen had a few shortcomings. In order to keep the oven closed we had to prop a chair up against it. In addition, it was a gas stove. I had one in Madison so I did not foresee this being a problem. However, in order for the stove to be lit we had to turn on the gas and then start a fire with an outside flame so we ended up having to borrow a lighter from the guy at the front desk. Even if it took an abnormally long time to make the dinner, it ended up being quite fun and delicious. We met a lot of people in our hostel and then ended up just hanging out in the common room that night watching the top 50 hits of the 90's in the UK--it was great craic.
On Sunday then, we wanted to ring the bells of a famous church in Cork -- it has a huge golden fish on its steeple. We soon learned what should have been obvious -- Sunday is not the day to tour Churches. We were going to sit in on Mass then, but we weren't sure of the times and arrived half way through. After that, a few of my friends headed back to Dublin. The rest of us continued to walk around Cork. We had really only walked around the first evening and so I had not seen much of the city in the daylight. It was beautiful. I love how every church is an architectural phenomenon and I also enjoy the random statues and monuments constructed in the middle of streets. One aspect of Europe that I love is that everything is so old. One of the churches we walked into had a sign saying Christian gatherings had been held there for over 1000 years!
After grabbing an amazing lunch which included hot chocolate from Butler's chocaltier [a candy shop on the same scale as Vandewalle's) we headed back to Dublin. I really enjoyed the bus rides [both ways] because it allowed me to a lot of the Irish Countryside. The beautiful landscape is something I do not see in Dublin and definitely not in Wisconsin--although I did see many cows.
I don't have any crazy travel plans for the weekend because there is TradFest in the city centre. I believe this is a fairly large festival and there will be many cultural activities and Irish musicians playing. However, I did book a trip to Spain at the end of February!!! I will be visiting my old roommate, Maria, and am so excited! I will be spending a few days in Madrid and then heading also to Valencia.
I hope you are all doing well; although I am having a lot of fun, I miss you very much so please stay in touch!!
Love, Lisa
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
I moved into my dorm on the UCD campus Wednesday--it's no smith hall, but it's actually much nicer than I anticpated. There are three bedrooms, so I will have two other roommates. One of my roommates is from Italy. I also had one from California but she decided to go back home for the semester. Hopefully, though, Antonella and I will have another roommate before long.
The only people at UCD seem to be the study abroad and Erasmus students so the campus is still pretty dead. I guess most of the students won't be arriving until tomorrow.
Yesterday was my orientation--nothing too exciting except we learned about a few of the organized trips we will be taking. The international programs office seems pretty developed and they have a lot of activities planned--I will be able to travel to Belfast, the Wicklow Mountains and a whole slew of other places. On Tuesday, they are also having an event for the Inauguration--I'm quite excited for that as I thought I might miss it.
I have spent lots of my time in the city centre. There is just so much to see and I can't get enough of the atmosphere. There are street musicians, still people, and just so much diversity. I knew there would be a lot of tourists, but I love walking down the street and hearing so many different languages.
The weather here is a bit dreary. It's never too cold but it rains almost, if not every day--but on the bright side, I did see my first rainbow [in Ireland] yesterday!!
I'm actually quite excited for classes to start Monday. I'm not used to having so much free time and I think it will be good to get back into the swing of things.
The only people at UCD seem to be the study abroad and Erasmus students so the campus is still pretty dead. I guess most of the students won't be arriving until tomorrow.
Yesterday was my orientation--nothing too exciting except we learned about a few of the organized trips we will be taking. The international programs office seems pretty developed and they have a lot of activities planned--I will be able to travel to Belfast, the Wicklow Mountains and a whole slew of other places. On Tuesday, they are also having an event for the Inauguration--I'm quite excited for that as I thought I might miss it.
I have spent lots of my time in the city centre. There is just so much to see and I can't get enough of the atmosphere. There are street musicians, still people, and just so much diversity. I knew there would be a lot of tourists, but I love walking down the street and hearing so many different languages.
The weather here is a bit dreary. It's never too cold but it rains almost, if not every day--but on the bright side, I did see my first rainbow [in Ireland] yesterday!!
I'm actually quite excited for classes to start Monday. I'm not used to having so much free time and I think it will be good to get back into the swing of things.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Greetings!
I have been in Dublin for three days now -- I have had my sufficient share of challenges but am altogether having a great time and learning A LOT.
My plane ride over was rather uneventful, in fact it was much smoother than I anticipated given the weather conditions at the time. Once I arrived in customs, though, I faced my first challenge. Turns out the little blurb in my mother's travel book (which I read on the way to Chicago) about only being allowed to stay in Ireland for 90 days unless a return ticket is booked actually is true. As I held up the passport line and had to have my picture put on file with the Irish government, I felt like some super sketchy person who was trying to attempt something illegal. Thankfully though the lady let me through because my stay is only a month or so longer.
Because my housing doesn't actually open until tomorrow, I have been staying at a hostel for the past couple nights. I had printed off walking directions from the shuttle drop off spot and thought I was good to go. Instead of the 5 minute walk I should have had, I spent almost an hour walking in circles trying to find my hostel and figure out the maze that seemed to be the city centre of Dublin. Since finally arriving at my hostel, though, my trip has improved significantly.
I have spent most of my time the past few days just walking around. The first day I spent most of my time in the Grafton Street area -- one of many many many shopping areas. There were more stores than I could have dreamed of. However, it was a Sunday and a lot of places closed early. I wasn't really sure what to do then, so I found a Starbucks. My coffee which would cost me $1.74 back home, cost me 2.7 euros. Awesome.
I then slept for a very extensive period of time which was followed by my first experience with hostel [hopefully not all European] showers. My shower is like the faucets in some public restrooms where you have to push the handle down and then it runs for a few seconds before shutting off. So after pumping the handle for about five minutes (not even an exaggeration) I finally got hot water but then had to push the water back on about every 5-10 seconds.
Yesterday I spent most of my time in the Temple Bar and O'Connel street areas. Like Grafton Street there is an endless amount of shopping to be done. I would walk into a store and then realize that it was actually like 50 stores all merged together. One "store" was basically a shopping mall in itself(without actual store divisions). I walked into one thinking it was just Gap...turned out it was French Connection, United Colors of Benetton, Tommy Hillfiger, River Island, and like 20 more stores too (seriously). I decided it was a good thing I still have to move all my stuff to the UCD campus because otherwise I might have done some serious financial damage--there were just so many sales! I actually didn't buy anything though (be proud Dad!) I also went to St. Stephens Green which is a relatively large park. It kind of reminded me of one of the hofgarten we visited in Munich.
Today has actually been my favorite day thus far. For breakfast I went to Lemon which is a little crepe place by the Trinity campus. My hostelf roommate and my sister's friend Maddie recommended it so I figured it would be good--it was. If you are coming to visit me, I guarantee we'll be going there. I then decided to brave the bus system in order to get to the UCD campus. I thought it would be smart to find my dorm before actually moving in and avoid the hour of walking that it took me to find my hostel. It wasn't overly complicated and I made it to campus. I hadn't been sure what to expect, but I realy liked it. I went to the business school, my dorm, and then to a castle which has now been turned into the law school. There are tons of green areas and a fake pond kind of like the one in front of the Washington Memorial. I sat on the lawn by the pond and read for awhile and then headed back to the city centre. I went to a pub in hopes of grabbing dinner but they had stopped serving food. I went somewhere else then and got my first Guinness in Ireland. Delicious. I ate alone because I don't know anyone besides a few people from my hostel. It was kind of lonely, but I thought it kind of pathetic I hadn't been to a pub after three days in Ireland.
So that was a bit longer than I anticipated...I move into my dorm tomorrow and then have orientation Friday. I'll let you guys know when I figure out my address and also when I get a phone number.
I realize many of you are enjoying subzero temperatures and snow. Rumor has it, there hasn't been snow in Dublin for three years.
On that note, miss you all and hope everything is well!
<3 Lisa
I have been in Dublin for three days now -- I have had my sufficient share of challenges but am altogether having a great time and learning A LOT.
My plane ride over was rather uneventful, in fact it was much smoother than I anticipated given the weather conditions at the time. Once I arrived in customs, though, I faced my first challenge. Turns out the little blurb in my mother's travel book (which I read on the way to Chicago) about only being allowed to stay in Ireland for 90 days unless a return ticket is booked actually is true. As I held up the passport line and had to have my picture put on file with the Irish government, I felt like some super sketchy person who was trying to attempt something illegal. Thankfully though the lady let me through because my stay is only a month or so longer.
Because my housing doesn't actually open until tomorrow, I have been staying at a hostel for the past couple nights. I had printed off walking directions from the shuttle drop off spot and thought I was good to go. Instead of the 5 minute walk I should have had, I spent almost an hour walking in circles trying to find my hostel and figure out the maze that seemed to be the city centre of Dublin. Since finally arriving at my hostel, though, my trip has improved significantly.
I have spent most of my time the past few days just walking around. The first day I spent most of my time in the Grafton Street area -- one of many many many shopping areas. There were more stores than I could have dreamed of. However, it was a Sunday and a lot of places closed early. I wasn't really sure what to do then, so I found a Starbucks. My coffee which would cost me $1.74 back home, cost me 2.7 euros. Awesome.
I then slept for a very extensive period of time which was followed by my first experience with hostel [hopefully not all European] showers. My shower is like the faucets in some public restrooms where you have to push the handle down and then it runs for a few seconds before shutting off. So after pumping the handle for about five minutes (not even an exaggeration) I finally got hot water but then had to push the water back on about every 5-10 seconds.
Yesterday I spent most of my time in the Temple Bar and O'Connel street areas. Like Grafton Street there is an endless amount of shopping to be done. I would walk into a store and then realize that it was actually like 50 stores all merged together. One "store" was basically a shopping mall in itself(without actual store divisions). I walked into one thinking it was just Gap...turned out it was French Connection, United Colors of Benetton, Tommy Hillfiger, River Island, and like 20 more stores too (seriously). I decided it was a good thing I still have to move all my stuff to the UCD campus because otherwise I might have done some serious financial damage--there were just so many sales! I actually didn't buy anything though (be proud Dad!) I also went to St. Stephens Green which is a relatively large park. It kind of reminded me of one of the hofgarten we visited in Munich.
Today has actually been my favorite day thus far. For breakfast I went to Lemon which is a little crepe place by the Trinity campus. My hostelf roommate and my sister's friend Maddie recommended it so I figured it would be good--it was. If you are coming to visit me, I guarantee we'll be going there. I then decided to brave the bus system in order to get to the UCD campus. I thought it would be smart to find my dorm before actually moving in and avoid the hour of walking that it took me to find my hostel. It wasn't overly complicated and I made it to campus. I hadn't been sure what to expect, but I realy liked it. I went to the business school, my dorm, and then to a castle which has now been turned into the law school. There are tons of green areas and a fake pond kind of like the one in front of the Washington Memorial. I sat on the lawn by the pond and read for awhile and then headed back to the city centre. I went to a pub in hopes of grabbing dinner but they had stopped serving food. I went somewhere else then and got my first Guinness in Ireland. Delicious. I ate alone because I don't know anyone besides a few people from my hostel. It was kind of lonely, but I thought it kind of pathetic I hadn't been to a pub after three days in Ireland.
So that was a bit longer than I anticipated...I move into my dorm tomorrow and then have orientation Friday. I'll let you guys know when I figure out my address and also when I get a phone number.
I realize many of you are enjoying subzero temperatures and snow. Rumor has it, there hasn't been snow in Dublin for three years.
On that note, miss you all and hope everything is well!
<3 Lisa
Friday, January 9, 2009
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