People are here!

Today was the start of Freshers' Week, which meant people came to campus.  It was really and no longer filled with tourists.  Before I go too far, let me cover the end of the weekend.

Sunday was the All-Ireland Gaelic Football game.  Gaelic Football is like soccer, but you can pick up and carry the ball and can also score over the goal (between field-goal posts, like in hurling).  The match was pretty good.  I went with some friends down around the stadium but the pub we were going to was packed, people filling the streets around it, so we turned back and ended up in a really quiet hotel bar.  It was still a nice game.  Like hurling, it's played by county and by a team of amateurs.  Sunday's match was Down versus Cork, Down being in Northern Ireland but the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association that manages the sport and Croke Park) doesn't recognize the partition apparently.  Anyway, Cork started off weak but came back in the second half and won narrowly by one point.  It was a lively game - I liked it.

Then we came back and had a small Georgetown dinner with only half the people from Georgetown going to Trinity, but it was still very nice.  I had my first Irish salmon. It sounded like it would be spectacular, in everything I liked: vodka and marinara sauce and over pasta.  It was good, just not as good as I was imagining when I ordered it, and of course nothing to yours, Mom.

Also, two of my flatmates moved in, so I'm no longer all alone! Kristen is also from Georgetown and I knew her before I got here, and Emma is a speech therapy student from Cavan.  Both are very nice and friendly, and I'm really glad just not to be by myself anymore.  Our fourth and final flatmate has yet to arrive. 

So then, today, there were people. Lots and lots of people.  I went to the English Department this morning to try to work out classes, but it's really difficult.  They still haven't finished creating the timetables for the classes which start next week, so you can't actually sign up for most things yet.  I just have to be more relaxed, but it's difficult.  Ireland is so similar to America that when you experience culture shock (aside from the really awesome/inexpensive pricing), most of it I perceive as inefficiencies. Like Trinity's nicely managed "green spaces" and lawns, cordoned off so that you can walk, sit, or lay on them.  They look lovely but you can't use them which is frustrating. Like the library which has a zillion books, but most aren't on the shelves and hardly any can be checked out. I'm sorry to rant; this is basically the only thing I dislike about Ireland.  So please don't interpret this as me being overly negative.  I know I should talk more about the things I like, but I want to show the negative aspects as well as the good ones and it helps to get this off my chest.

So once again, people.  I'm just really happy things are going to start soon. I feel like everything is so delayed with us not beginning classes until almost October. Front Square was packed with club and society booths today and for the rest of the week for people to join.  It's kind of funny that they charge people to join their societies. Typically it's between two and five euro, which isn't that much, but still funny.  I only joined a couple today, The Hist which is the world's oldest undergraduate debating society, and the Literary Society.  I figure I'll join more tomorrow or Wednesday.

I had lunch and milkshakes with Liz and Brooke and then attempted to do some research for my last SSP paper, due Friday.  I'm writing it on Partition and hopefully it will go well.  It's just super difficult to write a paper when you have to do all the research within a library that closes at 5 pm.

Later in the early evening, I went to the first debate of the Hist for the school year.  It was called the Colours debate and the question on the floor being debated was whether the worst thing about UCD was its people.  UCD is another big university in Dublin that's a rival of Trinity, but not nearly as prestigious. It was hilarious.  I went with Brooke and two of her flatmates, who are regular Irish students.  Obviously, the TCD debaters (the Colours) killed, but one of the girls I was with was pretty disappointed the UCD side hadn't tried harder or sent more experienced debaters.  It was uproarious and I thoroughly enjoyed it.