Only nerds introduce themselves to Professors...

Well today was the first day of classes here at DCU.  Mom...here's a first day of school pic. 

My first (and only class for the day) was Contemporary US Business & Society...let's just say I have a feeling Meg and I are going to get picked on a lot in this class.  Basically the first day was similar to syllabus week where we went over the different class topics and discussed the dynamics of the class.  After the class (where the lecturer pretty much subtly put down the US the entire time) Megan and I introduced ourselves to the Professor.  This is something I always do at Keene, but apparently it's not too normal here.  We told him we were international students and just wanted to be clear about the assignments and how to electronically hand them in.  He replied with 'yes, I can tell you are American..I picked up on that'.  Maybe, it was the fact we sat in the middle almost front row of the class, or that we were taking notes, or the blonde hair and still summer kissed skin...whatever it was, it was obvious. 

On Friday Meg, Sam, Martha and I took the bus into City Centre and strolled around while poking our head into a few pubs :) First we went to a place called Fitzgerald's where I officially tried my first Guinness.  Obviously, we took very touristy pictures and even documented my Guinness Stache.  After walking down Grafton Street and seeing the Molly Malone Statue we went to a pub called O'Donaghue's for dinner and then headed to Temple Bar and had an Irish Coffee.  The live music here is incredible, Meg and I decided that before we leave, WE WILL get on stage at Temple bar and do something cool and 'irish'..totally feasible right?

Our first Guinness!

Megan and I outside of Temple Bar

Overall, I am having an incredible time thus far.  We have made a lot of Irish friends, as well as some other international ones too.  There's kind of a mutual interest between American and Irish students.  We are both fascinated with each other's accents and the different terminology that is used.  We've already got our Irish neighbor, Cian, saying dollars instead of euros :) we are totally Americanizing him.  

Me, Megan & Kody

Sam, Megan, Cian, Kody & Myself

'The Americans'

Tonight we are attending what is called "Messy Mondays" which is at a local pub, and basically entails exactly what it says...good thing my class isn't until 12 tomorrow :) 

 Oh...and tomorrow is 'Toxic Tuesday'

Mom & Dad...sfp to the max!!!

xo

Lea :)

Have you met my American friend yet?

Of all the friends that we have made so more, there is nothing more fascinating to them then the fact that we are American. Literally everywhere we go it's "Oh have you met my American friends yet? This is Lea, she's from the states".  Then we usually get made fun of for a few minutes for the way we talk...and then it's instant best friends.  If you ask me it's pretty awesome, or maybe just different I guess. Never in my life have i felt so cool/popular..well maybe when it's my birthday on facebook. Everyone knows there's no better feeling than 300 notifications in one day.

Anyways, 2 nights ago there was this huge concert on campus for orientation week. The performer was calvin harris, he is a scottish singer-songwriter and producer.  Basically he is HUGE over here, the concert was totally sold out and people were dying for tickets...and we had none. So what did we do? work it.

My roommate Megan and I (Megan is from Minnesota and I often make fun of her for her accent and often just refer to her as 'dontcha knoww"...she usually responds then talks about how much she loves cheese)..so anyway the two of us just has the mentality that were GOING TO GET IN...and..it worked.

The concert started around 11:30 so we headed over to the Helix (like an amazing theatre/ bar...again on campus) around 11 only to find a line of about 500 people, we were not havin that. So we walked our little American butts right to the front of the line and did what we know best...argue/pout/pull the American card/not give up. And it worked.  We marched right up to the head of security, told him we were informed we didn't need to buy a ticket (bullshit), showed him our registration papers, and with a little finagling he pulled the gate open for us and let us in.  Some of the freezing cold people waiting in line were NOT happy but..whatever.

Yesterday we took a Dublin city bus tour which was an awesome way to see the city. I took a million pictures with my new camera and they came out really great.  Below are a few of my favorite.

Enjoy!
xoLea

In efforts of finally kicking this Jet Lag Meg and I got up at a normal hour today, are headed to the gym, and then out for something fun and touristy.  Maybe the Guiness factory or Jameson Distillery.

A city that doesn't know what sleep is

Note to self: if someone asks you how the crack is...they're not talking about drugs...Craic (pronounced crack) is like a slang word for fun.  Urban dictionary defines it as an"Irish word for fun/enjoyment that has been brought into the English language." so if someone says how's the craic? or that was really craic, they're saying are you having fun, or it was really enjoyable.


Let's just say when your in a pub with live music over powering your ears and a local asks you how's the craic it's a little embarrassing to say "yeah no thanks i don't do drugs"..that's probably one of the first of many ignorant things to come out of my lovely mouth while i'm here


Anyways, last night was the celebration for the Dublin Team.  First we went to the bar on campus (yes there is a full bar and night club in the student center...it's insane) and then we took a bus into the city center. I think there's no better way to explain the nightlife in Dublin then....


HOLY SHIT


I mean sorry for the profanity but it is honestly insane.  We went to a place called Copper Face Jacks which is a three level bar and night club. It was amazing and SO fun. My roommate Megan and I danced foreverrr and just mingled with all of the people.  Even the girls here are pretty nice..when we were getting on the bust to go to city center there were these 3 irish girls bustin out to 'i like big butts' when they saw us looking at them they immediately hushed, and were kind of embarrassed until the two of us starting singing too even louder with really obnoxious dance moves. ..i mean sfp right?


Needless to say we were all exhausted today and had to be at orientation at 10..yikes! we made it though, i think we were all delirious and slap happy but we champed it out.


Tonight we're going to make dinner in the apartment and then probably go wherever we damn feel like it. 


I'll post pictures soon! I don't dare take my new Nikon out at night though, I think it's worth more than my life!


xoxoxo
Lea


ps-sfp means sorry for partying :)

The Boys in Blue

Made it to Dublin!!

Feels great to be here! the flight was so easy. flew out of boston last night..met a few irish guys while i was waiting for the plane...one honestly looked like a leprechaun and the other had a lazy eye. let me tell you, that was a difficult conversation. I couldn't tell if he was talking to me or not while one eye was looking at the sky and the other at my feet... Anyways the flight wasn't bad at all.  Aer Lingus is prettttttty BA if you ask me (BA...badass...not to be mistaken for bachelor of arts).  First I watched water for elephants on my own personal tv, followed by old sex and the city and entourage episodes, topped off with some games of hang man and who wants to be a millionaire trivia.  Got into Dublin around 4:30 am local time, breezed through customs, and headed to the apartment. It's actually pretty nice, kind of like a glorified dorm with my own bathroom and shower which is clutch.  I will say i was a little disappointed when i got here, when we checked in to get our keys the attendant was very short and almost rude with us. I guess i was just expecting a gerard butler look a like with a delightful accent...Yeah, no i think his name was Mohammed, he wasn't that cool.

Headed in to town earlier with my roommates, we checked out the campus then stopped at 'the omni' for all you rhodeislanders it's pretty much a glorified warwick mall with a grocery store.  My first purchase: 4 rolls of toilet paper and irish cider. solid.

Tonight there's some football match, i guess it's like the super bowl in ireland..all of the houses are decorated with Blue dublin flags that read their mantra i suppose which is 'The Boys in Blue'

So my roommates and I are going into the city tonight to watch the match and get acquainted with some pubs...lucky me i have just the perfect blue top to fit right in :)

I stick out pretty bad here...blonde wavy hair and tan skin..i've already been asked if i'm for California....they laughed and asked what rhode island was when i told them that's where i was from...i told them the greatest place on earth of course

Anyways, mom & dad i'm safe and really happy.

Love to all :)

Pre-Departure

Hi All,

never in my life did i think i would have a blog...whatever. Turns out i'm just so popular and so many people want to hear from me while i'm abroad... HA yeah right. Well anyways i'm going to try and post about once a week about my travels in Ireland. i'm not really that interesting, but between the pictures and ridiculous things that i ususally get myself into, it should be alright.  I am flying out of boston tonight, and i'll be in Dublin around 5:30 am.

See you there :)