My Arrival

I made it in today around 10:30 am Irish time, 5:30 am EST.

I'm finally done packing for at least 3 weeks! It's such a relief after I've been packing for 2 weeks between moving from Georgetown and packing to travel back there and then packing to travel here.  Space bags are a total life saver and I think I have almost everything I need except cooking supplies.  Today I went and bought one bowl, one pot, one spoon, a bag of pasta and a jar of sauce.

But anyway, back to the flight.  Yes Dad, they did serve us dinner around midnight.  The flight was schedule to leave around 10:40 and ended up taking off at about 11:15. They only turned the lights off for about 2 hours in the middle, so I didn't get much sleep.  But it was really pretty taking off over New York at night.  I love watching the cars drive along like little golden dots moving along the highway.  I think it reminds me of Epcot or something.  Flying over Ireland in the morning was amazing.  It was really clear and you could see all these little plots of land and it was just so green!

Once I got my luggage, I took a cab to Upper Rathmines, a suburb south of Dublin where I'm living until the middle of September.  The cab driver took me through Dublin and pointed out all of the major sights and areas for shopping and nightlife, etc.

Dublin is so beautiful and chill, and it smells fresh and crisp.  DC smells like sweat and trash in the summer.  The weather was amazing today too, I think around the high 60s.  It was great, sunny light-sweater weather since I was outside walking a lot.   I was afraid it would be cold and I would miss fall weather but this is simply perfect.  It did rain briefly, but I was inside a store and only noticed that the sidewalks were wet when I came back out.

My room is a single with a bathroom in side an apartment with 5 other roommates.  I haven't met any of the other girls yet.  The room is really nice, large and well lit.  Also our kitchen/living room area over looks these greenhouses and just looks so great.  Pictures to come when my Internet is up an running from the dorm (I won't have Internet until Monday.  I have to use an Internet cafe until then and the d's and p's aren't working the best, so sorry for any typos).

View out my bedroom window

Today I unpacked and went shopping around the main street, about a 10 minute walk from the dorm.  I grabbed lunch at a cheap cafe and had a really weird cheese burger.  They put onions and ketchup on it without even asking and the patty was really thin and just strange.  I literally bought the essentials when it comes to cooking wear - one pot, one bowl, one spoon, one bag of pasta, and a jar of sauce.  Food is really expensive here. The one little jar of sauce was over 2 euros, which is pretty excessive.  And then they charged me 22c for a plastic bag.

I have to go make some dinner now, finish unpacking and write that essay for homework.  I'll try to write again tomorrow.

Rainbow (actually a double rainbow) seen while making dinner.

(Edited: Added pictures 9/5.)