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.