First post since being in Ireland

I’ve been here two weeks now and this is my first blog… whoops. A lot has happened so far here so let me catch up on the recent events.  This may be long, so brace yourselves.

My three flights to get here went well. I tried to sleep as much as possible in hopes of not being affected by the jet lag too much. I think it worked because it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be to adjust to the time change, which is 7 hours ahead of home.

When I landed I found out that a few of the people on that last flight were studying abroad in Limerick as well.  It was fun to meet them and talk for a little while as we waited for the bus to come pick us up. There were two guys and two girls from Poland, two girls from the Netherlands and then about 8 from America. We all sat for about an hour talking and getting to know each other.

From there we took a bus to the University of Limerick where we were dropped off at our villages. I was the only one living in Thomond Village and they literally dropped me off. The bus driver pointed me to the village reception and drove off.  It was an interesting way to start off, especially after my experience going to CCU being more than welcomed and having people everywhere. This time there was no one. And I mean no one, haha. The freshman and international student move onto campus a week before the upperclassman. Even though that includes a couple hundred students, they are all spread out among five villages, so it seemed pretty dead on campus for a while.

After this sudden drop off, everything went smoothly. I got my room key and found my room. The keys are little cards kind of like hotel rooms so that was fun. I still sometimes feel like I am in a hotel room. I have a bed, a desk, a closet and a couple shelves all fit into this nice little room which actually is not too small. I also have my own bathroom, which is super nice. There are five other students living in the apartment with me.  There is a hallway with six bedrooms (all locked, like hotels) and then at the end there is a common room with a full kitchen and living area. I gotta say, it’s pretty awesome for being a dorm. Especially after dropping Jacob off at college and seeing his dorm room. Hope its going well for you! I haven’t talked to him since I was at the airport in the state. There is a problem with that!!

Just like the rest of campus, my building was abandoned. And it seemed like it for three days, turns out there were two other people living in the apartment that whole time. After three days of being here, I met two of my “room mates.” They are two guys from Brazil, Augusto and Diego. They are both really nice guys who have come here to work on their English speaking while studying their majors.  Being from two different countries where we are used to very different ways of doing things is interesting to live with. It is nothing bad, but I think we are all just super nice and agreeable, just to not offend the others. At least that is what I feel like. It is an adjustment getting used to the way of life in Ireland, but also how these two are used to living in Brazil. It is all working out well though and everyone gets along.

The whole first week was orientation and meeting TONS of people from all over the world. I think it is so cool how so many different types of people can be together, excited to meet each other and be accepting of everyone. It was definitely a fun time! I have become friends with people from America, Canada, Romania, Germany, Poland, France, the Netherlands, Thailand and Brazil. I’m sure there are more that I am missing in there. Meeting all these people was definitely the best part of the first week!

On Monday I met my other three roommates. They are three girls from Ireland who knew each other from last year. I haven’t seen them much so far. Turns out most Irish students go home every weekend. Hopefully I’ll get to know them better in the next few weeks.

I think that is all for this one… so it’s not too long, I’ll write separate ones about my trips around Ireland