First Days in Dublin

January 10

Arriving in Dublin

The flight could not have been any easier! We ended up being able to take off about 30 minutes early because everyone boarded the flight so quickly. An added bonus was that no one sat next to me in my row, so I had three entire seats to myself! This was great for putting my legs up in an attempt to get a good night's rest.

We arrived in Dublin an entire hour early! In the darkness that is 7:30am here, we attempted to catch a bus to the UCD campus. Not knowing how the bus worked, we waited in the darkness and just hoped for a bus to come to the stop. In a few short minutes, one appeared! Filled with other UCD students, the bus drove through the center of Dublin, and we were able to see many glimpses of our new home.

The check-in process took quite a while. Even being one of the first buses to arrive to campus, we had to wait in a "queue" that took about an hour to get through before we could get to our dorm rooms. Upon check-in, I received my UCard, or my student ID, and a free SIM card (score!). I lugged my too-heavy suitcases behind me as we navigated our new home campus. Luckily, my apartment is on the "first" floor, or one flight up. Again, I had to lug my suitcases up the flight of stairs and into my new room for the semester.

Heading into Dublin for the First Time

Our apartment came with very little, so my new roommates and I went on an adventure. It took us about an hour to figure out how to get around Dublin. In the end, we settled on the bus. What we learned, though, is that we have to have exact change to ride the bus if we didn't have a Leap Card, or a bus pass. Our first stop then was the campus convenience store. We got our euro coins and then figured out what bus we needed to take.

The very nice bus driver let us get on without having to pay the extra 30 cents none of us had in coins. He must have known we were clueless Americans. It seems that a lot of people can recognize clueless Americans.

We rode into Dublin City Centre where we found a pub and ate some much-needed food. My first meal in Dublin was FANTASTIC! We found a pub with a rooftop terrace, but the owner insisted it was too cold to eat outside, so we settled for a booth that could barely fit the five of us. The name of this pub was "The Parnell Heritage Bar & Grill." I got a burger, and it was just amazing. It had so much flavor, and I enjoyed every second of it. We spent the meal getting to know each other. My roommates are from all over: Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Missouri! It is so cool to get to meet so many new people who come from all over the country and the world.

After dinner, we headed to TK Maxx, the European equivalent of TJ Maxx. There, we tried to get some of the essentials: towels, blankets, and sheets. The dorm room was freezing the first day we were here. After a short stop at TK, we found a bus stop in the Dublin rain and headed home for our first night in Ireland.

January 11

Exploring My New Home

I woke up pretty early compared to all my roommates and my friends from home who live right across the hall, so I took some time to walk around campus. My first mission was to find coffee. I learned very quickly that coffee here is not like coffee back home. I was able to find an on-campus coffee shop where I attempted to order an iced coffee. Apparently, iced coffees don't exist here. In the end, I got an iced latte, which seemed to just be a shot of espresso and lots of milk with ice in it. It wasn't great, but I now know not to order an "iced coffee" or an iced latte.

On my walk, I found the business school, where I will be taking most of my classes. My classes don't start until Tuesday the 18th, but the campus is big enough that I'll definitely need to take some time to find all my classrooms before the first day. In the coming days, I'll conduct a little walking tour of the campus and map out where I need to go. The campus is beautiful though, and I am just so excited to be here.

IKEA Trip

After my walk, the mission for the day was to journey north of the city to IKEA. With my friends from home, we headed to IKEA to get basically everything we needed for our apartments. The bus ride there took nearly an hour and a half. Getting around Dublin via bus may be the norm, but it certainly is not quick. I don't mind the long trip; I love looking out the window and seeing all the shops and pubs we pass along with all the homes that line the streets.

When we arrived at IKEA, we decided we needed food, so before we started shopping, we sat down at the IKEA restaurant to try their famous Swedish meatballs. Let me tell you: the meal was, again, delicious! It satisfied our hunger enough to be able to navigate the maze that is the floorplan of IKEA. By the time we were done shopping, the sun was setting (it was 4:30pm). When we arrived back at campus, we lugged our bags back to the dorms.

Throughout all these journeys, and even walks on campus, I have already met so many amazing people. The diversity here is amazing in terms of peoples' majors and where they are from. I am so excited to meet even more people and hear more stories they all have to share.

So far my time here has been incredible. It is incredibly empowering having to navigate an entirely new city across an ocean as a young adult and doing all that navigating pretty successfully. There is still much to be done in terms of settling in, but I'd say that I am doing very well so far. I can't wait to see even more of Dublin and Ireland in the coming days, weeks, and months!

Cheers!