In the beginning...

Oh dear god. I've joined the enormous ranks of silly people who have little to say, but endless venues to say it... I've gotten myself a blog. Largely, this tad bit of internetz is so that you (my friends and family) will be able to hear about all the interesting and cultured things I learn about in Ireland. Also, whenever I get horribly hammered at some pub and yell at random people in the street I'll talk about that too. So, if you didn't know, I'm studying abroad for 5 months, I kept a short jounal about my first days (didn't have internet for a little while) so here it is;

January 3rd, 2009 – The Flight.
I’m flying over the Atlantic Ocean right now. Finally, I’m out of Kansas, hell, I’m out of America completely. Everyone has told me to have fun, have experiences, and they’ve all asked me if I was nervous. All of them, with the exception of Stephan, and then they were all surprised that I was. Of course they reassured me that I’d have a good time, I’d fit in and it would be the time of my life. And of course they missed the point completely.
I wasn’t nervous for any of the reasons they thought, I was simply nervous. It was a major decision; to live and study in a foreign country for five months should make you nervous, for that reason alone. Well my power is running low; have to cut it short for this one, once I find a plug I’ll recharge.

Later that day…
Ok so I’ll admit I sort of had a tough time making my way to the University of Cork after landing in Dublin. It took me a fair hour or so to find the bus station, which was freezing, and I missed the noon bus by about ten minutes, the next one left at two. Which was in fact a blessing in disguise. You see, the apartment (I use that term loosely) that I got, its reception desk isn’t open on the weekends and the wardens (RA’s) don’t come on duty until 6 p.m. sharp. Had I gotten on the earlier bus, I would have been waiting for a solid two hours instead of twenty minutes.
I can’t help but notice differences between here and the states, some of the more obvious things I’ve seen are:
1. The Irish really, really, really like round-abouts. Completely serious here, there are so many, even more than in Spain.
2. It is a different kind of cold here, certainly not the kind I’m use to. Not all that much worse mind you, but I’m use to it being warm when i go iniside... Good thing I have warm socks and sweaters for this trip.
3. There are a lot of sheep here. More than I’m comfortable with…
4. Street signs are harder to find, at least they were in Dublin. I’ve been to major cities before (New York, L.A., D.C. and Denver) but for some reason I got lost fairly easily in Dublin… dunno why.
5. The Irish and I have a very different understanding of what an “apartment” is….
6. Everything is closer together, smaller; more pushed together, streets, buildings, and cars, all of it.

There are also some similarities; they give college kids shitty lodging everywhere in the world. I’m going to need my folks to send me stuff; I’m considering asking for my shot glasses. Also, I need to find a good way to get around, might have to buy a bike or rent a scooter. Also, I will most likely need a liver transplant after this trip because I may need to start drinking every night to stay warm. Everything is supposed to close at 5pm, so there isn’t much I can do tonight.

January 4th, Sunday – Ok, really guy? It doesn’t get light here until 8:30, which means it doesn’t even start to get warm until at least 10… crap. I slept poorly; I’m just guessing that is mostly due to jet lag. At least I hope that is the reason, not the whole; I don’t have pillows or blankets, just a sheet that I brought with me thing. If most of the shops are closed today, because it is Sunday and all, well then, I’m just sort of fucked. I have an ass long shopping list to take care of. Uh, Jen Beck if you could please tell me how you’ve managed to stay warm while in England it would be much appreciated (thanks). I haven’t eaten properly yet since I’ve been here, so that is sort of the first thing to do, once the sun comes out…

I’m better now, had some sausage and egg and hash browns and mushrooms and tomato. They call it ‘a full Irish breakfast’ I simply call it wonderful. Though most shops do appear to be closed for the day, there is a hemp store just down the street that looked open. So, my first real look at the city of Cork. Well, I wandered around for about two hours, found a nearby pizza place and other restaurants. Saw a pharmacy that was within a 10min walk and there is a Centra (small grocery store) that is just down the street. Also, there are an epic fuck ton of bed and breakfasts that line the street near my apartment. Could be as many as 40 or more different ones.

Cork isn’t really on the coast, but it is close enough, two rivers empty out to sea here and they run through town. It’s pretty clean, not as clean as Sydney, but the Australians are sticklers for not littering. Not to say that it is a dirty city, not at all. Moss grows everywhere, same with vines. Wrought iron fences must be all the rage here because that’s pretty much all there is, with the occasional stone fence. Haven’t met my “apartment” mates with the exception of the girl that lives next to me. I already forgot her name…. oops. Oh, yeah, I live in an apartment with three girls, go figure.

January 5th – Ok went shopping today, got a lot of stuff. Alcohol is much more expensive over here, not just in the pubs, but at the stores too. I’m thinking it’s going to be cheap vodka the whole time. It’ll be just like high school. Also, carrying groceries all the way back sucked, I want my car. I still have a few things to get for tomorrow like a cell phone, Ethernet cord and more adapters. Our registration takes like three days they don’t do it all at once, still not enrolled in any classes, but oh well. I’ve started meeting new people, but I think I should have done this through a program or something, because it is a lot harder trying to meet all these new people at the same time. I’ll make it work some how… But I am just tired as fuck, so I’m going to check my facebook downstairs and them I’m going to sleep.

Sleeping only happened for a bit. I went out and got drunk, it was awesome. Guinness is pretty good, but expensive… Drinking dramatically increases my ability to ignore the cold.