Meet Greg and Kathryn!

Greg's from the Republic and Kathryn's from Northern Ireland. And you would never believe how well we all can get along!!!

new friends and first nights out!

First Week...CHECK!

Alright, I've finished my first week of med school. Yay! It feels like a big milestone. It was stressful and fun, emotional and event filled! I had my fair share of ups and downs and I've somehow managed to survive. By the skin on my teeth but still, its the surviving that counts, not by how much. So, I feel a little bit embarrassed by what I did this week but I thought I would share anyways. There is a lot of context around getting myself into the situation that I did but I'll just come right out with it. I was careless and got my wallet stolen or lost or whatever....its gone! I had to cancel all my cards, borrow a bunch of money from my new friends to get by on until I get my loan money or get my new cards to take money out of my American accounts, whichever comes first. I got a new student card (3 days after getting my first student card). I got an extension from Immigration so that I can register late and I got over the fact that I lost a bunch of money of which I could have used to come home or go somewhere else or have someone fly out here to curb my mounting homesickness. But all is better now and I've learned some very valuable lessons. I won't even get into any of the details surrounding the disappearing wallet because as someone very important said to me, "money isn't what matters. If you have love that's what really counts. " well it was something like that...at least that's what I got out of it. And I know that I have plenty of what matters so really I am rich! OK, well other than that I had 5 subjects of 2 lectures each plus anatomy lab. I've met a lot of great people in my class and feel lucky that so many of them are nice, fun and caring! I have good feeling about all of them really. Friday night we all watched Ireland play France in the Rugby World Cup and then went out dancing. Ireland lost and it was quite sad but then the great fun I had dancing made up for the disappointment, plus I learned a lot about rugby too. Well, I hope that you are all having much better luck than myself and lets hope that I got all of my bad luck out of the way and now onto just the good stuff! finger's crossed!

Cricket anyone?

Cricket game in Phoenix Park

Irish Polo Match

I loved the clouds...the ever changing Irish clouds.

Gates to the President's House

Now isn't that the most perfect latte?

I guess that's how its done in beautiful Phoenix Park (the central park of Ireland...only twice as big)

Farmleigh House

I can take you there if you want :)

What the pubs look like before an Irish Football match

Pretty crazy looking huh?

Its actually just what they mean by "Full Irish Breakfast". You can get this anywhere around here but especially so when you stay at a bed and breakfast. It includes: 2 sausages, 2 bacon strips, an overeasy egg, a tomato, white and black pudding (more meat), toast, and a few sides such as fruit, cereal, juice and of course you can not forget tea! By full, I think they mean that you won't get hungry again for a very long time. (Hey Kennedy, maybe you'll get some ideas to assist you in your bulking up hmmmm?)

The lovely B & B in Dundalk

I'd highly recommend it. In addition to being ridiculously nice and cozy it was very close to the ice rink.

Game 2...I know a little out of order...but thats ok

This game was fantastic. It was the Latvia Hawks v. Dundalk Bulls. There were so many Latvians screaming the entire game that my ears were ringing when we left. It didn't seem to matter too much that they were down the entire game either. They still fought hard and the fans never gave up. I like this picture because it shows the Bulls' goalie. I sat next to his mom. He is 16 and just started playing ice last December and he was amazing. Such a great game to watch. There was one fight that broke out but it wasn't typical. One of the refs was a woman and one of the Latvian players pushed her (I think). Apparently, the Irish team had enough and a brawl ensued. I was told that this fight was a long time coming. The Bulls won and I will definitely have to go back to see them play again. So young and so full of love for the sport! (Oh, and I think that one of the bull's players might have broke his ankle during the game. Dad, I was thinking that these Irish players may be in need of a good trainer!!!)

Just saying good night

And sweet dreams.

Belfast dominated

Even so, At the end, after both teams clapped for the 20 or so fans, they took a heart warming picture together. They looked so happy even just being there playing each other, that who actually won made no difference! It really was touching. I'm so glad I got to see the start of what I think is one of the best sports in such a great place! Plus, I still have one more game to watch next!!!

Fancy!

1st game: Belfast Bruins v. Irish Flyers

The playing is pretty good. On par with the gulls except without the fights. Its tied 2-2 now.

I made it!

I cant believe it but I made it to the 1st hockey game of the season. Only an hour and a half bus ride that turned out to stop right in front of the bed and breakfast that I only picked because it was the only one in the little town where the only rink is in Ireland. And to make me even happier, it was only a 20 minute walk from the bed and breakfast to the rink! Since the rink only opened last December and hockey is so new to this country in general, although I learned that most of the guys here have been playing roller hockey for years, I could barely find any info online but so far so good, eh?

Just a cool tree.

My roommate would call it 'grand'.

My eyes aren't used to seeing the sun anymore.

I was a lot closer to the 400 or so deer that are in this picture than it looks.

I actually saw two large male deer fighting but i realize its really too small to see anything. Oh well. It was my favorite part of the park!

Lots of fields

I rented a bike a road all around phoenix park today.

Yay, I finally found Brasil!

You know this is for all my Brazilian fans out there (of course, esp. for you Cintia!) The best part is that its not that expensive. Pretty cheap actually considering the cost of going out to eat in Dublin. And, well, that its about a five minute walk from my school means that I'm sure I'll be going there with someone hopefully soon. (so come visit me!!!)

A Trip to Dublin Castle

I finally made it to the Castle in the middle of the city. The best part of it was this garden which has a little maze in it and the Chester Betty Library which is full of the oldest and rarest collection of religious books in the world. They have bible texts written on parchment from like 100AD! They even had a lot of cool and very very old Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic writings too.

The Gate Theatre

Its just a 10 minute walk from my house which is what I found out when I went to Noel Coward's play Friday night. My first trip to the theatre...er...theater yet. (hehe)

Can you believe it took me this long to get an Irish flag on this thing?

Me at the garden

All the kids wear uniforms

and you can't get away from them when its after school...they're everywhere. At least these were some cute ones!

Garden of Rememberance pool tiles

Looked a little Native American to me.

Next was the garden of remembrance

Dedicated to those who gave their lives in the cause of irish freedom.

The church next door to the museum

Abbey Church off O'Connell Street. I was standing there when a nice old Irish Lady asked me what I was looking for and then showed me the museum right next door. I like looking at old churches.

Inside the house...

that is now the writers museum. George Jameson decorated the place...lots of religion...everywhere.

This says

George Jameson, of Jameson Whiskey, owned this house which now holds all the rare first edition Irish writers books and lots of old typewriters.

Dublin Writers Museum

This is where I went today first.

dun da da

In just one week I will be waking up on my last day of freedom because school starts a week from Monday. And well, I think I am starting to feel a bit nervous about that. This last week has had its ups and downs. Overall, I have been focused on being relaxed and soaking up my ability to veg out either reading, watching movies (drinking lots and lots of hot cocoa and now tea), laying in bed till noon, eating lunches in parks, people watching (because there are just tons and tons of people here...sorta like in a New York, times squaresque, way with just much smaller streets) and strolling around museums. But soon my ability to do any of those things will be out the window, gone forever (sigh).

(The best thing so far are my sunset runs down the river. The light and colors of the setting sun reflect off the serene water and are more beautiful then anything else I have seen so far. Also, at dusk, bright green lights appear under all the bridges and I can't help smiling as I am reminded just what city in the world I am running in.)

One thing I did do this weekend which was awesome was go to see a play at the Gate Theater, famous for its love of Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde. Its just a 10 minute walk from my apartment I found out and I saw a Noel Coward play called Private Lives. It was one of those plays that there's really nothing not to like. Good actors, funny when they were supposed to be funny and I got really into it (I know when this happens because I forget that I'm watching a play). Its a small theater and I sat in the 3rd row and the building has a lot of history, quite old and beautiful. It had 3 acts, 5 actors and no curtain. They changed the set in between acts and you could watch the whole time.

Alright, so one weird thing about Dublin and my apartment building...to throw out your trash, you have to go to the post office and buy these stickers to put on each bag of garbage. Each sticker is 2.80 Euros ($3.80) that I have to put on the bag, bring it down and leave on the sidewalk. The catch is that you can only do this at my building Mon-Fri from 5-7 pm which means that if you don't remember to take out smelly trash from the week by Friday at 7 then you have to live with it all weekend. Kay so my trash started getting smelly Saturday morning.............ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!