Days 10, 11 and 12: "More like frosted FAKES."

It's definitely getting harder and harder to update everyday, so I'll do my best to do it every couple of days! The title of this blog is definitely referring to how different everything tastes here. Even my Frosted Flakes taste funny. And it's increasingly difficult to find skim milk here. I've had to start drinking low fat milk, and even THAT tastes funny. And I cannot find GRAPE jelly ANYWHERE! Apparently the Irish only like jam, and strawberry jam for that matter. It's the little things I miss, like my Frosted Flakes... and Chipotle. But don't get me wrong, the food at restaurants are ridiculously delicious. Enough of that, on to the past few days!

Day 10: June 5, 2010

Saturday was SO much fun! My suite-mates and I (all six of us) went to the Docklands festival that afternoon. We weren't entirely sure what to expect, but it was definitely fun! There were probably a hundred or so vendors in tents along both sides of the Liffey river, which runs straight through Dublin. I ate a piece of ham, spinach and onion quiche, and Rachel got an Irish sausage hot dog. So delicious!

Me and the dutch vendor! Haha! Such good quiche.

Rachel and me enjoying Krombacher beer;

a German beer, which we have yet to find in any pubs.

And it's hands down the best beer I've ever consumed.

View of the carnival part of the festival

After the Docklands Festival, the roomies and I headed back to our room and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon before heading out to Temple Bar in the evening. It's definitely expensive to go out here.

Day 11: June 6, 2010

Sunday was definitely a lazy day. It started raining pretty early, and it has continued raining since then. So I woke up rather early and decided to start watching Season 2 of True Blood since I haven't yet! But it took me like 2 hours to watch one episode because these foreign TV show web sites only allow a certain number of minutes at a time or something strange like that!

Then around 1 or so me, Rachel Q, Tracie, Cindy, Krysten and Ana went to Eddie Rockets for lunch. Yes, Eddie Rockets! It's exactly like Johnny Rockets back home. Pretty much identical, except our waitresses were Polish and hard to understand. We were definitely just craving some good old fashion American food at that point. Then after that, we went shopping yet again at Penneys and Dunnes. But this time, I actually had success! I spent 58 euro total for a blazer, a pair of jeans, a going-out top, package of socks, and a linen skirt. AMAZING!

Then we came home and napped again before heading out, since Monday was a bank holiday here and class was cancelled since all the buildings on campus were closed. So we unexpectedly had a 3-day weekend! Woohoo!

Day 12: June 7, 2010

Monday was even lazier. Rachel and I decided to do laundry (which I desperately needed to do by then!) in the afternoon. It took us close to 3 hours since we chose a bad dryer that didn't work. I probably spent 12 euro doing laundry today, ridiculous. Even doing laundry's expensive. After laundry we hung out with a few law students we met who also live in our dorm. It was raining ALL day so we were perfectly content with staying inside and on campus all day.

I'm getting increasingly worse at taking pictures, too. I'm really trying to work on that! Well, it's 8:30 in the morning and we have another site visit this morning at Carr Communications, so I must get ready!

Love and miss you all,

Hillary

Days 7, 8 and 9: "I'm American, not retarded."

Man. I really wish I kept up with blogging! We've done SO much in the past 3 days. Here goes my best attempt at remembering everything! And for my own personal use/help with remembering, I'll be dating each day. :)

Day 7: June 2, 2010

Wednesday. Wednesday was definitely a busy day. We had class from 10 til 12 again. And if I remember correctly, we broke up into small groups to begin our secondary research/continued that from Tuesday. After class, Rachel Q and I haaaad to do laundry so we went to the launderett. Yes, the launderett. Adorbs. Except it's not exactly clean or adorable. So we did a few loads and laundry and watched GLEE while we waited! I finally found a web site that would work over here! Yess! Thanks yidio.com!

After laundry, we got ready for our meeting with the HSE or Health Services Executive. We met with two representatives in charge of the plan for disseminating cervical cancer vaccine. Since Ireland has universal healthcare, the government/HSE is giving out the vaccine for free to girls ages 12-13. I found it ironic that the HSE is also responsible for issuing marriage licenses... apparently they offer a very wide variety of services!

The meeting went well. The HSE reps had already done a lot with their campaign and told us not to change anything, but just to add more, which I wasn't expecting. They're way more ahead of the game than we thought. But we definitely received some useful information!

After the meeting, Rachel Q, Kelsey, Cindy and I were craving Chinese food, so we went to some place called Charlie's (ironic, I know!) and got some Chinese take away. We found a cute little plaza and ate there. Let me tell you, it was not very good Chinese food, but I love how they give out half rice/half "chips" with the sweet and sour pork. So weird.

On our way back to the bus, we had to walk through Temple Bar, so of course we stopped and grabbed a pint at The Auld Dubliners. I got the Berry Bulmers... SO delicious. I've got to find the Bulmers equivalent when I get home! When we got home, we decided to check out one of the student pubs on campus. It's actually located right by the building we have class everyday. But our UCD liaison said it would be pretty slow since most students are home or on holiday, and man, she was right. It was pretty much just 5 of us jamming to the UK's Top 40 music video countdown. And you better BELIEBE that J. Bieber came on. Bieber fever is out of control over here! Then we pretty much called it a night. I got a wonderful 9 hours of sleep, for the first time since I've been here!

Day 8: June 3, 2010

Thursday. Thursday was awesome! After class, Rachel Q and I went to the National Gallery of Ireland. It. Was. Amazing. There were something like 50 rooms of paintings ranging from European to Flemish to Irish. Breathtaking. And it just so happened that while we're here, the Taking Stock: Acquisition exhibit is also here. We saw a few pieces of work from Van Gogh and Monet, which were my favorites.

Outside National Gallery

After the gallery, we headed to Merrion Square to relax and enjoy the unusually beautiful weather. While we were resting, an old Irish man named Tom and his cocker spaniel, Scotty, approached us and we chatted for a bit. He was too nice. And Scotty was adorbs. It definitely made me miss my little Leo, and Tiger, too! Also, we saw a class of elementary aged kids playing. They were dressed just like the kids in Madeline... definitely didn't know kids had to dress like that here! They were freaking cute.

Aren't they adorable?!

After Merrion Square, Rachel and I met up with one of our roommates Cindy and began our excursion for Indian food. I've never had Indian food in my life. But man, I actually really liked it! We went to a restaurant called Mantraa, and it was definitely gourmet. Luckily, we were just in time for the Early Bird Special and each got a 3-course meal for 12.50 euro!

My vegetable samosa! YUM!

After dinner, we made a quick stop at Tesco to grab a few groceries, then made our way to the bus stop, only to discover that a protest was taking place and the buses couldn't get through. So we started walking toward campus, until the protest caught up with us. So we took a side street to avoid it and we FINALLY got on a bus. It took us over an hour to get from the grocery store to campus! Ridic.

Later that night we went out to Temple Bar and a few other places around Dublin. And we finally found a karaoke bar! Ashley sang "Living On a Prayer" and Jenna and Stephanie sang "Brown Eyed Girl." It was hilarious!

Day 9: June 4, 2010

On Friday, instead of having class at 10, each group met with B.Love at a little coffee shop inside of this HUGE shopping center that used to be someone's mansion. Crazy. So we met with him and discussed our research. After that, a few of us went shopping in search of something to wear for Irish dancing tonight! Alas, I found nothing and had to make due with what I brought.

At 5 p.m., we met the group at the bus stop to go to dinner at a restaurant called Valparaiso. It. Was. Delicious. We had to sit at two separate tables so there were about 9 at each table (since B.Love's wife got here today!) Everyone at out table ordered the grilled sirloin. And oh my dang, it was amazing. SO good. Even better with a Tiger beer. No joke. Tiger beer. Imported from Asia. Delicious.

Tiger beer. Straight from Asia. Holla!

After dinner the group walked to Black Rock beach (the same coast my tour bus stopped at on the way to Glendalough on Sunday) to just look around and kill time before Irish dancing at 9 p.m.!

All of us girls!

Then it was finally time for Irish dancing! Rather than try and describe EVERYTHING in words, I'll just let the video do the explaining. BUT, I will add that we learned about 5 different dances and our instructor took it VERY seriously... haha! Our instructor, Kathy, is the woman in the green with the microphone. What a haus.

The other people in the video were part of a wedding party. Yes, an Irish wedding party! They were all such good dancers. At the very end of the night, everyone joined in a circle around them and "mushed" while they danced in the middle and then we made an arch leading out the door and they ran under it and out the door! It was so cute and exciting!

We were EXHAUSTED after dancing! So we headed home in taxis (courtesy of UT, thanks for paying!) and passed out almost immediately. And today was quite adventurous, but I'll have to save that for tomorrow. I'm exhausted and this post has taken me over an hour! Nap time!

Until next time,

Hillary

Days 7, 8 and 9 to come soon!

Oh man! I've been so busy lately that I've barely had time to get online for personal use. The past 3 days have been epic. I can't upload pictures from my camera right now because I need to borrow Tracie's USB cord, so I'll have to upload/update tomorrow. But just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive and well in Dublin!

We just spent the past 3 hours learning and participating in Irish dancing at Culturlann na Herieann. My feet are mutilated. No doubt. But I got some awesome videos to post! I'll have to expand when I have time to update. I'm DEFINITELY going to pass out now (right after Rachel Q and I plan out our weekend activities and next weekend's trip to Gallway!).

But for now, here's a video of Groove Machine, whom we saw on Tuesday night at Porterhouse.

Goodnight and goodbye,
Hillary

Day 6: If I could walk 500 miles...

...THEN I WOULD WALK 500 MORE!

Today definitely started off on the wrong foot. I woke up at 7:30 for our first day of class, and I decided to shower like I do every morning. Only this morning, we were in the dorms. Our bathrooms are essentially our showers. There's only a curtain covering a corner of the bathroom with a tiny drain in the middle of the floor. So, I take like maybe a 10 minutes shower, get out and open the bathroom door, only to find that half of my (carpeted) room is flooded. AWESOME. My entire suitcase got soaked, aaaand there was 2 inches of standing water in my bathroom. Needless to say, the day did not start off as planned. I later discovered that the drain was clogged and it was in no way my fault (which definitely relieved me!). And it's funny, because the receptionist was infinitely nicer to me once maintenance discovered the clog... hm, interesting!

After Rachel went down and told reception about my shower incident, we headed to our first day of class. Starting today, we have class every day from 10 a.m. to noon. We were introduced to our topic, which is HPV prevention in Ireland among teenage Irish girls. This week, we're supposed to conduct secondary research and gather as much information as possible dealing with either HPV prevention in the US, HPV prevention in Ireland, and the current picture of young Irish girls today. My group is assigned to prior HPV prevention in the US. I'm actually really excited to delve into this project!

After class, I went shopping with 2 of the 3 Rachel's (both of whom I'm rooming with in the dorms!). We went to Penneys, Dunnes, and Arnott's! I got a few clothing items I needed, like a scarf (for only 3 euro!!) and some leggings, and another pair of shoes, and I got a Longchamp bag at Arnott's. I was definitely most excited for this! It'll definitely come in handy, and it's adorable!

After shopping, we came home and napped for bit. Then we got ready to go out to Temple Bar again! Tonight, we went to Purty Kitchen and Porterhouse. Both of which had live bands that were very entertaining (and free!), which is definitely different than Austin. I like not having to pay to see awesome bands! We definitely go out earlier here, but only so we can catch the bus back to campus and not have to pay for a cab. We're all about being economical here!

Tonight, I tried strawberry beer called Fruli, a Belgium beer! It was definitely delicious. The band at Porterhouse was called Groove Machine, and they definitely played every 70s and 80s song I know and love.

Cindy, Rachel and Me at Purty Kitchen!

Rachel, Me and Tracie enjoying our yummy strawberry beer!



Today was definitely a chill day. Always fun! Tomorrow after class, we're going to visit the HSE (Health Science Executive) to discuss our project. I'm very excited! That's all for now! Goodnight

From Ireland with love,
Hillary

Day 5: Move-in day! and Temple bar?!

Today was rather eventful. We moved out of Ariel House and into the dorms on University College Dublin campus! It's actually like an apartment. There are six people to an apartment, and we each have our own room and bathroom. Our front door opens to a hallway, with 3 rooms on each side and another door to the right leading to the kitchen/living area. Unfortunately, there are no TVs. BUT, it's about time I learn to live without it! ;)

After we got to our rooms, we had a brief orientation and tour of the campus. It is GORGEOUS! It was another beautiful day, so that really impacted it for sure. But there are about 22,000 undergrads at UCD, which is the largest university in all of Ireland. Unfortunately, practically every student goes home for the summer, so we won't get to meet too many local students.

After unpacking and getting situated, we went grocery shopping in the city centre. Then everybody went to William & Searsons for linner (yes, linner! lunch + dinner!) and a pint.

Later this evening, we went to Temple bar! Temple bar is not just one bar. It's actually 2 large squares of pure pubs, which equals about 5 or 6 blocks, maybe more. Tonight, however, we went to the original Temple Bar, which is a single bar located in Temple bar area. I had my first Guinness tonight! And I actually liked it! I also had Bulmers cider, which is also amazingly tasty. Big fan. A local Irish band played and we met people from all over the world. It was definitely fun!

Tomorrow is our first day of class. Eek! We will officially find out our topic that we will be working on with the HSE (Health Services Executive). Class is going to be from 10 a.m. to noon every weekday. So we will have the afternoons and evenings to study, travel, and further explore Dublin.

I realized I didn't take any pictures today about an hour ago. So, I'm sorry for the lack of photographs! But I'll be sure to take some tomorrow! Goodnight!

From Ireland with love,
Hillary

Day 4: Glendalough and old Irish men make for a perfect day.

Today was just... amazing. I've run out of adjectives to describe everything I've seen here, and it's only day four! This morning we met the group around 10 a.m. and went on a tour of Glendalough. Glendalough is small town West of Dublin, most well-known for St. Kevin's monastery.

Our tour guide/driver, Ed, was the cutest old Irish man! He drove us up the coast through Black Rock, which is a town equivalent of a suburb. The tide was probably a mile out, and Ed told us that about four times a year, the tide flows over the 3-foot stone wall and floods the streets for about a week. The houses along that street keep sand bags outside to keep their houses from flooding. Ed let us get out at a viewing point and take pictures along the way.

View of Black Rock

The small tower on the hill in the back is called a Martello tower, and is one of 16 along the coast of Dublin. They were built to keep Napoleon from invading, and were actually most successful considering he never actually invaded! The best-known resident of a Martello Tower was James Joyce, who lived in one for a week. James Joyce also dubbed Dublin "Publin" because of the 848 pubs in the entire city.

After Black Rock, we continued along the coast to White Rock. The view was breathtaking. We took a few pictures, then Ed made everyone coffee and tea. He even brought us biscuits :) (i.e. Ginger Snaps!).

View of White Rock

After White Rock, we drove through Killiney a neighborhood/suburb of Dublin. We got to see Enya's castle. It was HUGE. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good picture from the moving van. But that's OK, because we also so BONO's house! Or what part wasn't blocked off. Below is a picture of his front gate. U2 lyrics are bronzed behind the iron gates. Amazing.

Bono's front gate!

Next, we ventured from the coast and headed toward the mountain path to catch up with the other tour bus that the rest of our group was in. Next stop: Guinness lake! This lake is on property that the Guinness family owns. And, it looks like a guinness beer! It's black from when glaciers melted hundreds of years ago. Also, the family has a huge house next to it. B. Love told us that Michael Jackson hid out in the house when he was being indicted for molestation charges and that Tiger Woods hid out there recently, too. It's a perfect hide out since it's so far down in the basin and the Guinness family's only rule for allowing visitors is that no one drive on the land. So, there's essentially no way for paparazzi to get down there. Also, it was beyond freezing up there!

Guinness Lake!

It's kind of hard to see, but the house is located on the far right.

Only the tower part is visible in this picture, it's white w/ a grey roof, between two tall trees!

After Guinness Lake, we got to see two filming locations from two movies. That's right, P.S. I Love You AND Braveheart! SO exciting!

This is the bridge where P.S. I Love You was partly filmed!

This is the valley where Braveheart was filmed. About 90% of the movie was filmed in Ireland because Mel Gibson discovered that he wouldn't have to pay taxes on anything he produced/filmed here due to a tax incentive at the time (1994) that encouraged artists and musicians of the like to come to Ireland.

Next, we finally arrived to Glendalough! I. Was. Speechless. One of the tour bus drivers took us through the monastery remains and showed us safe house/round tower and explained the history. It was built with absolutely NO cement and was essentially still erect because of two large stones in the front. The door was located 12 feet off the ground and was only 4 feet tall. If the door were any lower, the entire tower would fall into itself and collapse.

The hole at the bottom is the door. SO small!

Then we saw St. Kevin's chapel and cross. The saying is that if you wrap your arms around St. Kevin's cross and your fingers touch, whatever wish you make will come true! And mine touched! Woohoo!

St. Kevin's chapel

One of the only remaining buildings with a roof intact.

St. Kevin's Cross!

After the tour and photo ops, we walked 20 minutes up the road to two lakes. Glendalough actually means "Glen of two lakes" in Irish. The lake closest to the monastery is simply referred to as the Lower Lake. While it was still beautiful, it didn't hold a candle to the Upper Lake.

Upper Lake. Oh. My. Gosh. Beautiful.

I saw these two Irish children throwing rocks into the lake and decided to have an artsy moment.

They were adorable.

Rachel Q., Me, Rachel P., and Anna just jumping :)

Today was definitely my favorite day so far as far as scenery goes. Everything was just breathtaking! I slept pretty much the entire bus ride back because I was so exhausted. But man, it was so worth all the walking... and the sun burn! :(

We got back to Ariel House a little before 6 p.m. Then B. Love took us all out to dinner at Milano, where a few of us ate yesterday. I was totally OK with that since it was DELICIOUS. So B. Love got us all dinner and we sat and talked for a good 2 and a half to 3 hours. Just good food and good conversation, a perfect way to end this perfect day!

Now, Rachel and I are eating an Aero bar (omg, why doesn't Nestle make these in America?!) and packing because tomorrow we're moving into the dorms on UCD campus! Yay!

Here's one of my favorite pictures of the day. Just B. Love. You know, hanging out.

Haha!

From Ireland with love,

Hillary

Day 3: First rainy day in Ireland :)

Today was officially the first day it rained for the entire day! Constant drizzle. This morning was pretty leisurely. The group met once again in the drawing room (see pictures below :] ) before heading out to Brazenhead Pub in West Dublin around 1 pm. (http://www.brazenhead.com/) Brazenhead is THE oldest pub in Ireland! I had tomato soup for an appetizer, beef and guinness stew for main course, and bread pudding for dessert. It was SO good!

My roommate Rachel and me in The Drawing Room before Brazenhead!

Tracie and me outside of Brazenhead before brunch! 

After brunch, we were planning on going on the Guinness factory tour, but it was too rainy. Apparently the best part of the tour is at the end where you get to go to the sky bar and look out over Dublin. So, we plan to save that for a sunny day! Instead, we ended up going shopping on Henry Street, which has a ton of cute stores! H&M, Dunnes (which is the Irish equivalent of Target), Penneys (Owned by J.C. Penney and Primark, but more like a Forever XXI), etc. I didn't end up buying anything because it was ridiculously crowded, and if you know me, you know how much I dislike being in crowds. Terrible.

So, a bunch of us ended up going to see SATC2, but for real this time! I'm a fan. SO much better than the first! And the best part was probably when Charlotte's Irish nanny was introduced and the fact that we were sitting in a movie theatre in Ireland surrounded by Irish people. Our thought is that they were either really offended or found it hysterical. Haha! We just heard a TON of whispering whenever she was on screen! It was hilarious!

After the movie, we went to dinner at this Italian place called Milano. I got the Cannelloni and a glass of Chardonnay. It was probably THE best Italian meal I've had in my entire life. SO amazing! I feel like the closer you get the Italy, the better the Italian food gets! We had a leisurely meal and talked over wine. Perfect evening!

It was definitely a chill day today, which I think we all needed after yesterday! I definitely only took 5 pictures today because it was so gloomy! But tomorrow has a zero percent chance of rain (which is VERY rare in Ireland) and we're going to Glendalough with the group! I hear it's beautiful, and I can't wait to see it for myself.

Tomorrow we have to meet the group around 9:30 a.m., and considering it's already midnight here, I should be getting to bed! Goodnight.

From Ireland with love,
Hillary

Day 2: New flats were a bad idea.

Well, today was quite adventurous! After waking up (and staying up) at 4:30 a.m., my roommate Rachel and I ate a wonderful breakfast at Ariel House around 7:30 a.m. I didn't try the traditional Irish breakfast, for fear of the "blood sausage." BUT I'm determined to try it before we leave! I got scrambled eggs, grilled bacon, and delicious fruit and toast! YUM!

After that, we convened in the drawing room to get ready for our guided tour of Dublin. On the way to the meeting spot, a homeless man asked me for change and I felt like I was back in Austin for a second. Except he said, "That's alright, sweetheart." And I swear to God, my heart melted because of his accent. Adorbs. Then I remembered he was homeless, and it was just creepy. BUT, homeless people are much nicer in Dublin. Our tour guide was named Garvan, or Garbhan, in traditional Irish.

Yep, that's him! Red headed Garvan. This was right after we did a far-away-high-five because I answered a question correctly about Vikings. He was HILARIOUS! He even sang us a song. :) I have video of it and once again, don't know how to post it! Sad day. The tour lasted a good 3+ hours. We started our tour near City Hall, ventured to Dublin Castle, Trinity College, Temple Bar, O'Connell street, the Irish Parliament building (which the White House was designed after) and we ended at St. Stephens Green. Such amazing history in Ireland!

This is an arch in the center of Trinity College (and Garvan, haha). It's legend that if you're an undergraduate student at Trinity and you walk under the arch that you'll fail your finals and end up dropping out. I think Courtney Love must've done that, because she only attended Trinity College for one year before dropping out! True story. 

After the tour, Garvan took us to a pub called O'Neills. I definitely got the fish and chips, which was delicious!  Garvan even ate and hung out with us some more. We had every intention of going on a pub crawl afterwards, but around 7 p.m., we were exhausted! And the pub crawl started at 7:30 p.m. So, a few girls and I decided to go see Sex and the City 2! But... we walked all the way to the theatre, across Dublin, to find out that it was sold out! Fail. Still a little bitter. We'll try again Monday.  

We ended up picking up a few bottles of wine and coming back to our room to hang out. On the way home, we walked up to a hit and run scene. Apparently a woman was crossing the street when the driver's light turned yellow and he turned left in a hurry and hit her, then drove off. It must had just happened because the woman was still laying on the ground surrounded by the EMT, covered in blood. It was really tragic. We have no idea how she's doing, but I'm thinking (and hoping) she's still alive. And this was only a few hours after Professor Love warned us about obeying the walking signals (he told us to "Choose life!" after we illegally crossed the street LOL) and Garvan told us that NO ONE in Ireland obeys any laws in a collaborated effort to disobey government and that jaywalking doesn't exist here. Apparently everyone in Ireland hates the government in a leftover feeling of resentment toward the British government. 

We probably walked more than 7 miles today. I did manage to wear my Easy Tones for the tour (such a fan!), but I changed into my flats for the failed attempt to see SATC2. Needless to say, they were brand new flats and my baby toe actually BLED. Not just blistered, BLED. Thanks, Target. 

Well, I'm exhausted. Definitely time for sleep. Another big day tomorrow will consist of a welcome brunch at the famous Brazenhead pub, and then a tour of the Guinness, and possibly Jameson factories. Exciting! 

From Ireland with love,

Hillary 

Day 1.5: Jet lag cont.

It's 5 a.m. here. Geez. I tried my best to stay up last night to avoid jet lag, but I passed out at 6:30 p.m. and my roommate and I woke up at 4:30 a.m. Yikes. It's gonna be a rough week! So much for avoiding jet lag! Oh, and it's ALREADY daylight here. Out of control! Ok, that's all for now. I'm going to try to go back to sleep. We have to meet everyone back in the The Drawing Room at 11 a.m. and breakfast starts at 7! Yay for traditional Irish breakfasts!!

Day 1: Jet lag sucks, but Ireland does NOT.

Greetings from Dublin! I arrived this morning around 10 a.m. (4 a.m. central time). Starting today, the group is staying at a bed and breakfast called Ariel House. (http://www.ariel-house.net/) It's so cute and small! BUT, my perfume exploded in my luggage so needless to say, it's extremely difficult to breathe in my room. :(  Here are just a few pics I managed to take on the Aircoach, which drove us to a stop near our B&B.

JUST landed! First thing I see is a shamrock. That must be good luck!

This is Abbey Presbyterian Church. Breathtaking!

Upon arrival, I immediately showered and discovered my straightener does in fact work here (yay!). The group convened in "The Drawing Room" (adorbs, right?!) around 1 p.m. and met with our professor and our contact from University College Dublin (UCD), Enda. They distributed our local cell phones, too. I'm talking like old school Nokia brick-style phones from junior high. You know, the ones with the game Snake? I'm pretty excited about that. ;)

In an effort to keep everyone awake, our professor lead us to Dublin City Centre, which is about 1 or 2 miles away from our B&B. It reminds me of Greenwich Village in NYC... love it! We grabbed a quick lunch at a local deli (I guess you can call it that?). It mainly had pre-prepared sandwiches and salads, good for on the go. Then we walked to St. Stephens Garden, a beautiful park in the middle of the Centre, full of people and covered in the greenest grass, perfect for naps!

Then we walked around Grafton Square. We saw a TON of local musicians playing on the streets and it definitely reminded me of home. :) I took a video of a band called Mutefish, but I have no idea how to post videos on here. But here's one I found on YouTube! They're legit. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hi6w0m5bBg&feature=related ) I also carefully took note of a ton of shops I must visit before I leave. Shopping is a must here! Everyone is so well-dressed and put-together.

By about 4 p.m. everyone was getting extremely jet-lagged. Like to the point of becoming delusional. So we came back to our rooms a little while ago to rest. My feet are killing me and I'm exhausted. It's definitely time for a nap. Then a few of us are going to go grab some dinner and a pint at a local pub!

Big plans for tomorrow: Guided tour of Dublin! Professor Love said we'll be walking for at least 5 hours. Let me tell you, I really regret bringing flats I've never worn before. Smart move, Hillary.

I'll be more excited and optimistic after I get used to the time difference, I promise. I definitely underestimated the effect it'd have on me! It does not, however, change the fact that I'm ridiculously excited to be here! Skype me!

From Ireland with love,
Hillary