First weekend and days of school

The Super Bowl was absolutely crazy here. Eight of us went down to Murray’s for 9€ pitchers. Crazier than the EPL games (though to be fair, it was later at night). I think there is a certain type of crowd, the one too many screws loose crowd, that loves American football.

First day of school is also a beautiful sunny day!(not that I mind these cloudy days). After class, I went and worked out for an hour, and then I went to the park which is right next to campus and pretty big and walked around. There are some beautiful green spaces, I’ll take pictures in the future, and I found myself stopping to just stare at them. I had to sit down and enjoy it.

I have time to stop and smell the roses now, and still have a blast when I want. Shanowen square has filled up now, so it is much livelier.

Chemistry class was simple. I already know I’m going to have a little trouble translating my knowledge over. There was a lot of bond talk today and they just use a slightly different system and some different symbols. But I think it might be better, and there is some new stuff that’s cool. Also, the book can be checked out in the library, which is great.

This perspectives on culture class is going to be right up my alley. I’m very excited. Just a lot of thinking, things you think about in your down time though, except now you have a chance to put it together and establish something for peer and professor review. The class is huge and very diverse, like Ireland-age, race, nationality, wealth it would seem.

Irish people smoke cigarettes much more than Americans do, and especially for being at college it’s a bit of a shock and an annoyance. The campus also gets riddled with obnoxious youth around lunchtime, which kinda stinks.

I finally got my phone unlocked. I should have known to ask an Irish-Asian first. I haggled with him for the price successfully but still got ripped off by the “Sunday special” because unlocking a phone is a 30 second ordeal.

My roommates and the other interns and myself all went out to find a good club and we were half successful. A few notes. The good clubs are for over 21s only. I assume this is to make more money with a wealthier crowd and to keep the young obnoxious dudes out. Some of the girls aren’t 21, but still had no problem. They don’t start clubbing here til after 11 and they still shut down by 2 which was unexpectedly short.

Interruption-the sun just disappeared in a like a second and its dark and pouring down rain now. Dang.

We went downtown way too early and lost the buzz as a result, which led to extra money being spent on drinks, and it was still ineffective. We just could not get on these people’s level. But it was still fun and I got a few dances in. But I think we all wanted to people watch. Old people go to these clubs. Like +35 and that can get weird, because the old men and women who get trashed just start passing around looking for someone to flirt with. The old guys are also very aggressive and grabby. Luckily the one I had to deal with who was bothering Paige wasn’t a fighter and somehow I ended up with 5€. I think he thought he was paying me to talk to her. The night ended up well and we got up late and went out all day again the next day.

Soccer is called soccer here because they have Gaelic football which looks awesome, and I would say either is or Rugby is most popular here, with soccer being third down the list. I’m watching a rugby match 4 March and on the 19th here there is a GAA/rugby showdown at Cowen Park I’m going to.

Interruption-Wow, the sun is back and the sky is bright blue…..

I can’t wait to tonight for soccer. It’s going to be great. I used the swimming pool at DCU which is very nice and I swam for an hour. I got much better by the end, getting back to the 8 stoke breath instead of the 2 or 4. I’m going to make this a regular thing. I just need to remember to bring a towel, because drying off with and then wearing my T-shirt was bad news.

Big paint party tonight! I passed out early last night due to the long day and missed a good show, so I’m ready to rage. Until next time.