Day One

Flying into Shannon at sunrise

After leaving Phoenix at 8:40 a.m., I finally arrived at about the same time in Ireland the next day. There were a fair amount of study abroad students on my flight and they all seemed to be from the Midwest or the East Coast. I definitely heard someone say, "I bet the people from the West Coast are freaking out right now" because of the weather... but I was surprisingly ok in the sun.

Today mainly consisted of getting unpacked and walking to the student area on campus. I showered... before realizing that I have yet to get a towel, played with the weird European outlets, and made a list of all of the things I need to buy when I go into town tomorrow.

I am living in an apartment-style dorm but it's way different than I expected. After swiping your ID card into the apartment, you walk into a long hallway and there are three single-person rooms on each side and a door at the end of the hall that leads to the kitchen/dining/tv room. The kitchen is sooo different! The refrigerator and freezer look like cupboards from the outside and there isn't a dishwasher or a microwave!!! Guess I need to learn how to cook...

Two of my five roommates are checked in, one guy and one girl - both American - and we have one temporary roommate who will probably be moved out by the end of the week once the pipe in her dorm is fixed. Theresa, the temporary roomie, is Irish and was so fun to talk to during our quick chat in common area.

Interesting things that came up in our conversation:

- There's some "monster" rugby team practicing in the University's gym and it's supposedly a pretty big deal

- The gym and my dorm village are on complete opposite sides of campus

- She had never heard of the terms freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior... They simply use first year, second year, third year and fourth year

- She imagines the United States the same as Ireland but warmer and more expensive (Check out the exchange rate, girlfriend)

Later, I met up with Courtney, the other Chapman student studying here, and we walked back over to one of the pubs on campus and each had our first Irish Guinness! Yum. It was foamy and fabulous! Definitely better than the bottled version in the States. 

Legal in Limerick ;) 

Courtney and I are heading into the city tomorrow and buying some essentials - lucky for me, Courtney explored a little today and figured out stuff like the bus path and the fact that you need to bring your own shopping bag with you or else you get charged for one.

It's about 8:30 p.m. now and I am off to bed (I can't believe I lasted all day without a nap!!)

xxx!