Summary of study abroad trip

I have updated a summary of my study abroad trip. Enjoy and please consider going abroad. It was a fabulous learning experience.

West Coast of Ireland: Cong & Connemara

For the second day of my west coast tour we went through/to Inagh Valley, Kylemore Abbey, Joyce County, Cong Village, and Ross Errily Friary. 

Kylemore Abbey: 

A lot of the trees around here have toppled over. Apparently the soil is very loose here.

Through Joyce County 

This tree is known as a rag tree. It believed to be a faerie tree. 

Going up north: Belfast

During the exam period in May, I had 5 days where I didn't have any exams. So one day, I took the train to Belfast. The train ride was about 2 hours. I spent the day walking around the city. It was a nice day. 

Similarities & Differences: Dublin/Ireland vs. Los Angeles/California

Coming to Ireland, I expected a lot of things to be different then California. Certain things are different but some are similar too. It is usually the little differences that get to me. I can't say that I'm completely over my culture shock but I learned to deal with the differences and live comfortably here.

Back in California

I came back to California on Thursday after a long day of traveling (7 hours from Dublin to Newark, a 3 hour layover, and 6 hours from Newark to Los Angeles). I'm so happy to be back home and sleep in my own bed.

Anyways, I still have a lot to talk about so I will still be creating new posts about places I've been to and stuff even though I am back home. Be on the lookout for new posts soon. 

Kilkenny: a medieval town

UCD's International Office planned a trip to Kilkenny a few Sundays ago. Kilkenny is about an hour or south south east of Dublin. 12 euros paid for lunch (tea sandwiches & soup), transportation, and a castle tour. We also had about 2-3 hours to explore the little town after lunch.

It was a gorgeous day to go out. The castle has a big park open to the public and it was full of families and friends spending a day out in the sun.

Kilkenny is advertised to tourists as a medieval town. There is one main road into the city with only one lane for each direction of traffic. The streets around the town are narrow and has small alleyways around.

Pictures under the cut

Cork: The Rebel County

Several weeks ago, my friend and I took a day trip to Cork City.  I had a 2 euro voucher for a bus ride to Cork and didn't want to waste it since a normal ticket costs 22 euros. So even though Cork is 4 hours away from Dublin, my friend and I decided to go down anyways. We woke up at 6:30 am to catch the bus into the city for the 7 am bus to Cork. After 4 hours we arrived in Cork City. We walked around the city for about 6 hours looking at the different buildings and what not before hopping on the 5 pm bus back to Dublin. We got back around 9 pm and waited for the bus to go back to Belfield.

Despite the 8 hours spent on a bus I did enjoy Cork. We went to the UCC campus and I absolutely loved that place. University College Cork was my second choice in my study abroad application. Both Laura and I agreed that while we love how the UCC campus looks we would rather live in Dublin.  We also walked to the city gaol (jail) and other tourist spots.

It was supposed to rain the entire day but luckily the heaviest rain did not occur until we were on the bus back to Dublin.

Field trip to Ferrycarrig: a blast into Ireland's archaeological past

For my archeology class we went on a field trip to Ferrycarrig Irish Heritage Park. The park has different sites that highlights the archaeological history of Ireland from the pre-historic period to historic period (medieval and viking). History, according to my professor, in Ireland begins with the introduction of written work around the time of St. Patrick and the arrival of Christianity.

They have recreations of things associated with life in Ireland during the Mesolithic period (pre 4000 BC), Neolithic period (4000-2500 BC), Bronze Age (2500 BC - 700 BC), Iron Age (700 BC-400 AD, Medieval period (400 AD - 900 AD, 1100 AD - 1600AD) and Viking period (900 AD-1100AD).

The park is in Wexford which is about a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive south of Dublin.

Generalizations in the blog.

I realize that I've been generalizing a lot in my blog updates. I try not to but it happens. So please remember that my blog represents my perspective of the country, mainly Dublin, and shouldn't be taken as hard fact.

Chips & Drinks abroad

I try to shy away from potato chips (known as crisps in Ireland) & soda because they're not healthy for you.  However, I've tried some because of the different flavors they offer here. For instance, prawn cocktail, bacon, beef & onion and sweet chilli chicken to name a few.

Walkers, known as Lays back in the US, has a Sweet Chilli Chicken flavor.

There is also Monster Munch targeted to kids. I had the "flamin' hot' flavor in Glasgow, Scotland. It is not like the 'Flamin' Hots' back in the state. It taste like tabasco on corn chips.

Scotland has its own soda, Irn Bru. It literally tastes like you are drinking melted gummy worms. It's sugary to the extreme and just not for me. I took one zip and had to throw it away. Although it's not for me, it's a popular drink in Scotland. My tour guide in Edinburgh said that when the first McDonald's opened, the soda was not offered and people refused to go to the restaurant. Whether or not that's true, I'm not sure but I'll take his word for it. haha.

The Gatorade type drink here is Lucozade. My flatmate  (apartment mate) in Belgrove drank it religiously. I always saw bottles of it and didn't know what it was. I asked a friend and he said it's basically their form of Gatorade (they aren't the same company though). I think Orange is their most popular flavor but I tried Raspberry. I think it tastes just like Gatorade fruit punch.

There are plenty of other food items that are region specific. I'll try to go to a grocery store before I leave and try and get some photos (if possible) of the different products.

Exams have come a knockin'

Today I took my first exam at UCD. Finals here are different than exams back at UCLA. They are more strict here and are structured differently.

First of all, exams are done off campus (well almost all, I know someone who had an in-class exam, which is what I'm used to). Anyways, the exams take place at RDS which is this big showground area. Ever been to the LA fair? Think of taking a final in one of the exhibition buildings. About 3000 students take their exams at the same time in the same room.

My exam was at 9 am so I woke up at 7:15 in order to make breakfast (oatmeal) and have plenty of time to get to the exam location. I hoped onto a bus, went 3 stops down (less than 5 minute bus ride) then walked for another 5 to the exam hall. (Side note: Yesterday my Irish flatmate told me that it would be easy to find the place and to "just follow the crowd of people." He wasn't wrong.) There were so many students walking to RDS. A man on a bike heading out the city even asked if it was the first day of exams (I guess they're used to it).

Anyways, when I got to the exam hall, there were so many students there. Many were cramming in last minute studying. I used to do that but I've since stopped. It only makes me nervous. I've adopted the ideal that if I know it then I know it, if I don't I won't learn it in the next 30 minutes or so. So in order to ignore the other students and get into my zone, I tried to think happy thoughts. Of course my happy thoughts only reminded me of the final I was about to take, Geography of Latin America. I started to hum "Cool" from West Side Story but then it made me think of Puerto Ricans and from Puerto Ricans I thought of the development of Salsa and cultural geography. With that thought in my head I figured I was ready as ever.

After I arrived, I checked the board for my name and seat number. I was 1879. >.< Next they announced that the exam room was open. As I entered the room I couldn't get over the fact at how the room was set up. Individual desks lined up in neat rows and columns. I think each row had about 100 seats in it. It was a bit ridiculous and quite petrifying.

I've never felt comfortable in big exams rooms. I was even more scared when I entered the room and saw how many chairs and tables were in there. After finding my seat, I tried to relax and calm my nerves. The exam is supposed to start quickly at 9 am but most students didn't even get into the room until 8:55. It was distracting to see students gathering in groups trying to quick study and quick fire terms and what not. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore my surroundings.

Although I was nervous about having so many people around, once I got my test, I zoned in on it and was completely able to ignore the people around me. I stayed the entire exam period and afterwards decided to walk back to campus in order to relax some more. I'm not sure how well I did but I'm 80% confident that I answered things correctly. I learned after I had turned in my test that I could actually keep the booklet with the questions but I'm sort of happy I didn't. If I did I would be tempted to look and see if I answered things correctly.I figure this would only distract me. If I did poorly, it would damper my spirit. I can't let that happen now especially since I have 3 more finals to do: 2 on Thursday and one next Thursday.

Here's a quick breakdown about the differences in taking exams:
 UCD:          

• off campus, one big room, 
  3000 students taking different subject exams at the same time
• PA announcements distracting
• mix of 1 hour & 2 hour exams taken during the same period. 
• There are exam regulations, part of policy
• no cellphones in exam hall
• no bags/backpacks in exam halls
• no pencil cases
• must have Student ID on table
• must sit in assigned seat

 UCLA:

• exams are usually in the classroom where lectures are held. The most people I've ever taken an exam with was about 350 (I think) in Ackerman Grand Ballroom. By the way, RDS is about 4, maybe 5 times bigger than AGB.  
• only taking exam with students in the same class
• Informal exam regulations, decided by professor
• bags allowed but must be under seat, one professor made us put them at the front of the class
• can sit wherever, sometimes professors make students sit one seat apart

Overall there are some part of the exam process I like and some that I don't like. But I do understand why UCD sets their exams up this way. It standardizes the procedure, makes it easier for them to regulate the exam process, and prevents cheating.

Well I would type more but this post is getting long and I really must study for my exams on Thursday. 

Dim Sum in Dublin: Cultural diversity in Ireland

har-gow (shrimp dumpling)

Two weeks ago I went with a couple friends to have dim sum. For those who don't know what dim sum is, dim sum is a Cantonese term used to refer to small dishes of Chinese food. It allows a person to have a small portion of different types/tastes of food in a sitting. The wikipedia article has great information about dim sum if you want to google it.

Anyways, one of my biggest fears of living abroad in Ireland was that I would not have the comfort of Chinese food. I naively thought that Ireland was a country with little cultural and ethnic diversity (I didn't research that much about Ireland even though you should before deciding to live in another country).

So with the belief that Ireland had little ethnic diversity, I was really surprised to find that there were Asian supermarkets and Chinese food restaurants here.

I learned from school that a lot of in-migration occurred during the Celtic Tiger period (1990s-early 2000s). It was a time of economic boom and people from different countries began migrating to Ireland for work. (there are also other reasons but mostly work related). The Chinese continue to be one group that is continually growing in Ireland.

Being able to eat dim sum in Dublin highlights Ireland's growing diversity.

Powerscourt Gardens

UCD International Student Office took about 50 students to Powerscourt Gardens in February. Powerscourt Garden is a large country estate located in County Wicklow (about 45 mins from UCD) with beautiful gardens. Unfortunately we went when nothing was in bloom but the estate itself was beautiful.

London

On Friday I went with 2 of my EAP friends to London where we met up with my sister who flew in from Florence. We spent 4 wonderful days there. It was hotter than I expected and disgustingly warm...very uncharacteristic of London. On our second day it did rain for about a hour or so. We got caught in the rain unprepared but still had fun.

London has an Underground subway system known as the Tube. It's such a crazy system and 100x more complicated than LA Metro. The city was full of tourist, it being a holiday weekend and all, and everyone went Underground when it started to rain.

In our four days there, we went to most of the major attractions. A lot of the popular places you have to pay for but we chose 3 big ones that we didn't mind paying for. London is an expensive city so we had to pick and choose what we really wanted to do. We found a good deal (2 for 1) for the Tower of London online so that helped ease the cost. We almost got a the same deal for the London Eye (big ferris wheel) but it was only valid after 4 pm. We went there earlier that day because Alanna, who's already been to London in March, said to do that early.

I don't have time to go through my pictures (1000+) at the moment but I'll upload some video that I took.

Class, Finals, and London

Today is the last day for lectures and tutorials at UCD. In approximately 2 1/2 hours I will be walking into my last class, a seminar on designing a research project. Although it's the last day of lecture, school won't officially end for me until May 12th at 8pm. That is when I will have finished my last final.

Finals are spread across 2 weeks here, from May 3rd - May 14th. Some people can have a Saturday final, luckily I don't. I only have 4 exams because I have final projects for my other 2 classes.

I've been working a lot on one project that is due next Wednesday because I'm heading for London tomorrow and won't be back until Tuesday. I'm hoping to get my paper done before the end of tonight. I'm about a 1/3 done so I have hope. With this project out of the way, I will be able to relax and enjoy my time in London.

Next week is the reading/study week. The purpose of the week is to give students the time to catch up on reading and prepare for exams. My first final is one of the first exams this term (9 am on the 3rd).

Taking exams here is different then back home because most of the finals are held off campus.  I'm not sure the purpose for this. I think it's to curb cheating or maybe the university doesn't have enough room on campus. Whatever the reason, I'll have to wake up super early to catch the bus in order to take my exam.

I'm excited to have most of my finals in the first week. I have a week between my 3rd final and the last final. In between that time, I plan on going to Belfast in Northern Ireland for a day and spending another with my older sister when she comes.

I'm looking forward to my Mediterranean vacation but first I must finish my project and study for exams. Until next time!

P.S. I've been slacking on posting more trips because of school but I hope to include more pictures and write about my various trips after my finals are done.

Approximately one more month of school left

There's approximately one month of school left for me. 9 more days of lectures and tutorials and then it's time to read and study for exams. I'll be done with exams on May 12th. After that I get to go on a crazy Mediterranean adventure through Greece & Italy with two of the most amazing people that I know (my sisters. =]). I'm quite excited for our little adventure.

I'm back Stateside on May 26th. I can't wait to go home to SGV and gorge on banh mi, pho, dim sum, Alberto's burritos, etc.

Being abroad has been a great eye opening experience. Before I came here I didn't know what I was going to do after I graduated and what not. I'm still not completely sure what I want to do but I've started to think about my future.

I didn't think about going to grad school but now I'm considering coming back to UC Dublin in a year or two to get my master's in Geography here. I haven't really looked into it but the program here seems like a choice I should consider when thinking about grad school. It's a one year program and one of the tracks is in Urban Studies which is something I've always been interested in. I have to look into programs back in the States but it's an option to keep in mind.

Answering questions part 2

I received some more questions via e-mail. Below is my response.

1) Do you know any old Irish traditions or Gaelic words?

2)From your point of view what food do you think is the most popular and delicious??

3) How is your first (and probably) only St. Patricks day in Ireland? How do they celebrate there? What are some traditions and rituals, if any? Is it as big a holiday as we in America think it is over there?

Study Abroad To Do List: A March update

Tumblr Blog: Simple way to view places I visit

I know I tend to write a lot when I blog. For those who just want to see pictures of places I've been to, I created a tumblr dedicated to just pictures.

The tumblr won't be pictures of me and the place. Instead it will be photos of my pink bunny and the place.

The pictures are a fun and silly way for me to document my travels.

Now I hope people continue to read what I write because pictures don't completely illustrate or describe my study abroad experience.

Enjoy.

http://pbandgbtravel.tumblr.com/

School & Classes: UCD vs. UCLA

This week marks Week 8 at UCD. With almost 4 1/2 weeks of the teaching term left, I should mention the courses that I'm taking here. I'm also going to highlight the differences and similarities.

West Coast of Ireland: Cliffs of Moher & The Burren

This past weekend my sister came to Dublin. She's currently on her spring break so she flew from Florence to Dublin to visit me. We took a bus tour to the west coast of Ireland with my friend Emma and her friend, who is also on her spring break from her university in Rome.

One of the most common comments I got from Irish people was that I had to get out of Dublin and go to the west coast in order to experience the true Ireland. They were right. While the bus tour was long, I enjoyed the sites I saw and was happy I went on it. The Irish countryside was beautiful and experiencing it with my sister was an added bonus.

We decided to do an overnight tour with The Galway Tour Company. First we did the Cliffs of Moher and Burren tour on Saturday and then the Cong and Connemara tour on Sunday.

I'll talk about our Cliffs of Moher and Burren tour in this post and Cong & Connemara in the next post.

Study abroad blues

If there is one advice I can give any person who is thinking about studying abroad is to do it before your final year or to do a program where all you need is for the credit to count. The reason I say this is because I am currently feeling very stressed out.

Being in EAP means that I am also enrolled at UCLA. Unlike most study abroad students, my grades at UC Dublin will affect my final GPA. Most students are in programs that will transfer the credit only. This means that the grade won't affect their GPA but they will still earn the credit to complete their degree. I chose EAP because it was the easiest way to transfer credit to UCLA but I do wish I explored different programs.

Studying during my final term freaks me out because what I do here will affect the outcome of my final GPA and what not. These classes are the last ones I will ever take as an undergrad (unless I decide to take summer classes) and if I do badly then my high GPA that I've worked very hard for at UCLA will go down the drain. Because of this, I wish I had study abroad earlier in my undergrad career. This way, if my GPA goes down, I have the chance to take courses back home to raise it up.

In no way am I trying to keep people from wanting to study abroad. It is a lot of fun and I have met so many new people and seen so many pretty places. I just wish I had gone earlier in my undergrad career so I wouldn't be so stressed about doing schoolwork right now. The combination of senioritis and being abroad is not good. Well I'm off to get my schoolwork done before this weekend.

"Fear of Failure."

Spring Break

Since the 5th I have been on Spring Break. I don't have classes until the 21st. With such a long break (2 weeks) I decided to travel. From March 6th to 9th I went to Edinburgh and Manchester. I flew out of Dublin on the 6th and landed in Edinburgh, Scotland. The flight was only 1 hour. On the 7th I took the train down to Manchester. On the 9th I flew back to Dublin. The flight was also only 1 hour long.

I spent a day and a half in Dublin before flying to Brussels, Belgium on the 11th. There I met up with my sister, who is studying in Florence. We took the train and spent 2 days in Brugges and a day and a half in Brussels. I flew back on the 14th at night. It was great seeing my sister. I started to miss home and seeing her was sorely needed.

This weekend I will be going to Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. I'm quite excited.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day too so it should be a quite exciting day.

Sig Fest 2011: Gaelic Football

This week was the Sig Fest. Sig Fest is the week of the Sigerson Cup which according to the UCD website is "the premier Gaelic Football competition for Third Level Institutions, named after Dr George Sigerson, who was Professor of Biology in the Catholic University School of Medicine/University College Dublin." 

Gaelic Football is seen by some as the sport to play for Irish lads. There is a long history tied in with Irish nationalism and Gaelic Football. For a school paper I wrote about Irish nationalism, I ran into a lot of literature and readings that talked about how being a true Irishmen means playing GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) sports, one being Gaelic Football. Bottom line: Gaelic Football is an important and popular sport here.

Today I decided to go and watch the last game of the Sigerson Cup since it was being played at my campus. I'm not sure who the two teams playing were, I think one is UCD since the boys were wearing the school's colors but I got there late and didn't stay until the end of the game to figure it out.

Bray & Dalkey

About 2 weeks ago, I went with my friends Juleah and Alex to explore cities the south of Dublin. We decided to buy a hop-on/hop-off day pass for the DART (€8.20). The DART runs along the coast and reminded me of the train rides I would take from Los Angeles to San Diego. It was a beautiful sunny day when we first left for Bray. However by the time we go to Dalkey (located between Bray and Dublin) the sky had turned cloudy and it started to drizzle. 


I walked to the Booterstown DART station (25 minutes from UCD) and met Alex & Juleah at the Blackrock station since they live in Blackrock. We then took the DART to Bray in County Wicklow. Bray has a old-school boardwalk feeling to it. We walked along the beach, pebbly and not sandy, and then walked up a hill to get a view of the whole bay. The hill we were climbing is called Bray Head. We wanted to reach the summit where there is a large cross erected but I wasn't wearing the right shoes and the trail was too long. 


After we walked down from Bray Head, we found food a small Indian restaurant. We then took the DART to Dalkey. Dalkey is a small medieval town. The main attraction is the Dalkey Heritage Castle. Since it was too late to do a tour we decided to explore the area. We tried to find a way to the coast but it was getting late and cold so we got as close as we could before heading back home. We did find a cool Abbey on the way.

Howth

Several weeks ago, I went with a couple of my friends to the city of Howth (rhymes with both). We met in the city and took the DART to Howth. The DART is similar to Metrolink back in Los Angeles. The ride to Howth took 30 minutes from the city centre and a return trip cost €4.60.

Howth is a small town with a harbor. While we were walking around the town, a stray dog started walking ahead of us. Every so often, the dog would stop, turn around, and walk back to us if we were falling behind. We decided to follow this dog since he seemed like he wanted us to. After following the dog up the hill, he lead us to this unmarked path down the hill. We wanted to see the coast and heard the view from Howth Head was spectacular so down we went. The dog ended up staying with us until we went to a restaurant and had lunch. After lunch we walked to Howth Castle. Sadly we couldn't explore the castle as it is a private residence.

The Study in Study Abroad

One of the perks of studying in Europe is travelling around to places you've only either read about, seen pictures of, or heard about on tv. For instance, Ryanair has cheap flights to different parts of the continent. I mean whoever thought a round trip (or as they like to say here return trip) ticket to Scotland would only cost $50? Also, roundtrip bus to Cork cost me 2 euros (~$3). Amazing. However, a person must remember that studying must occur since it is STUDY Abroad and not Travel Abroad.

Answering questions from WHS students

Hi to all the Whittier High School students that read my blog. Ms. Cheung recently sent me some of the comments and questions you guys had. Sorry the comment box hasn't been working. I don't know what is wrong with it. Thank you for writing the responses. I enjoyed reading them.

Anyways, this post is dedicated to answering your questions.

Benjamin E. Gilman Scholarship

Most readers of my blog probably don't know the main reason I created this blog. Sure it is a good way to keep my family and friends informed about my adventure abroad but it was created mainly for my study abroad follow-up project as a Benjamin A. Gilman scholarship recipient.

This blog is my Follow-up Project. I created this blog in order to show students at high schools back home (such as El Monte High and Whittier HIgh School) the benefits of studying in another country. It is also to promote the Gilman scholarship and studying abroad in general.

What is the Gilman Scholarship?

Bucket/To-Do Lists

I like to make lists for myself. Whether the list is for school, shopping, packing or to-do lists, I always tend to write out (or type out) things I want to do. I enjoy getting to cross things off. Plus, to-do lists are a great way to organize and plan out things I have to do.

Before I left for my trip, I wrote a list of things I wanted to do and places I wanted to see while I was in Ireland. The only thing I really had on it was  see the Cliffs of Moher. While I haven't been able to cross that off yet, my list has grown quite a bit. With 3 1/2 more months (99 days) to go, I've decided to share my list so everyone who reads my blog can keep track with me.

Food!

When I first thought about studying abroad in Ireland I was hesitant because I wasn't sure what type of food I would encounter. I bought into the stereotype of everything being bland and tasteless. "Meat and Potatoes" is what people told me I'll be eating. I don't mind because I like eating meat and potatoes but bland food...now that's a different story. I love my spice. Luckily, I haven't run into any problems when it comes to food and eating. Granted I haven't had too many "traditional" Irish dishes since I have to cook for myself at my apartment and  I try not to spend too much money eating out. (I wish I could eat my way through Ireland but meals are a bit pricey here). Anyways, I have tried some Irish dishes and have posted them below (with some photoshop to make the pictures look cool).

Dun Laoghaire with Amélie

The first Thursday of school (Jan. 20th), my class was cancelled so I spent my free day in Dun Laoghaire (Dun Leary). It is a seaside suburb of Dublin, easily accessible by bus. Amélie came with me to explore the area. First we went to the shopping center and then walked around the town. We went up random streets to look at the different buildings, businesses and homes, and eventually made our way down to the harbor. We walked down the West Pier and made our way to the light house at the very end of it. From that area we were able to look out at the harbor and the entire town.

After stopping for lunch, we visited the tourist highlights of Dun Laoghaire (People's Park and James Joyce's Tower). We found People's Park easily but did not know where to find the tower. Luckily a nice woman told us where to go. Unfortunately, once we got there the tower was closed. Despite the setback we still took a picture with the tower. We then walked back to Dun Laoghaire and took the bus home.

Blackrock!

January 14, 2011 or as dates are written over here: 14 January 2011

School didn't start yet so I decided to visit Blackrock, where UCD's other campus is located.. It's a 45-50 minute walk or a 10-15 minute bus ride.

I met some friends (Laur and Amelie, both from France) for lunch before we took the bus to Blackrock. Once there we met up with my other friend (Juleah, who is in my program). We walked around a nearby park, found a path to the sea, and then went to the campus. We also walked around Blackrock Center which is an open air mall.  Juleah took us to the Blackrock campus where we met up with another friend, Alex. Afterwards we waited for the bus to back to UCD for the International Office's Movie Night.

After 20 days

Hello everyone. I've been in Ireland for 20 days and it was 20 days full of walking, shopping for apartment supplies, looking for cheap food, exploring the city and its suburbs and meeting people from all over the world.

My first few days were spent meeting other UC students at the UC EAP orientation. During the orientation we learned about how to deal with culture shock and other important things, such as transferring credit and all the school stuff (especially since STUDY is the main part of why I'm here.) We also went to Kilmainham Gaol (pronounced Kilmainham Jail). The jail was used to house many political prisoners. It's been used a few times for filming. 

Here are all the UC kids (and our orientation leader) inside the new wing of the jail.

We only had events scheduled for the day so at night we went exploring the city. It was a great way to get to know the other students who were also studying abroad. Not all the students are studying in Dublin. There are 2 who are studying in Galway (which is in Western Ireland) and some in Cork (in the South Eastern part of Ireland).

On January 10th (or 10 January as they write the dates here), I moved into my on campus apartment at University College Dublin. The main campus is no longer in the city of Dublin since it's expanded so much. It's located in Belfield which is about 4 km (2.5 miles) away from the city centre. Here's a picture of the sign at the main entrance. 

The first week was full of activities. We had a orientation at the school where we learned how to deal with culture shock some more and how UCD functions. I also took a campus tour but I didn't take that many pictures since the campus looks pretty dull in the winter. The architecture is post-modern with lots of rectangular shapes. It's also very grey. I'll post some up once spring comes since the trees will have leaves and what not. 

I also met other students studying abroad during this week. I've met people from Finland, France, Germany, Australia, Poland, Romania, Hong Kong, China, and American students. 

Classes started on January 17th. All my classes are in the same building since the university is broken up into different schools based on subject. The way the school operates is different then what I'm used to but I'll highlight that in another post.

Along with school, I still had some spare time to travel to other cities near Dublin. I've been to Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary). Both are coastal towns. There is an extension of UCD in Blackrock. 

Here is a picture of its library. 

This past weekend I went to the zoo and did a UCD organized walking tour of Dublin. Each will get it's own post.

I have a lot more to talk about but this post is getting long. 

Remember to leave comments and questions if you have them. 

Photos of first day in Dublin

First Day in Dublin

Today is my first full day in Dublin. My journey started yesterday. I woke up early (4:45 a.m) to catch my 8:35 am flight. I flew to Newark, New Jersey for my connecting flight to Dublin. I enjoyed the flight to New Jersey because I had a window seat and was able to take pictures of a snowy Colorado and Utah from the air. I also took one of UCLA. 

The flight to New Jersey was about 5 - 6 hours. I waited in the airport for 2 hours before my flight to Dublin. It took 6 hours to get to Dublin.

During my travel day, I've learned some important lessons.

Lesson #1, Once you land know the route to your destination if you are taking a taxi. If you don't know it (like me) you will spend 20 minutes circling the area and the ride will end up costing you more than you expected. I was hoping to spend about 30 euros for the ride, I ended up paying 50 euros since I did not know the exact location. Utilize Google Maps! I only found the location after remembering how the building looked like after searching for it on Google Maps. The internet is a helpful resource so use it. 

Lesson#2, Try to get as much sleep as possible on the plane ride. It's currently 10 am in Dublin and I'm super tired. I tried to sleep on the plane but I wanted to watch the in flight entertainment. haha. But seriously, try and sleep on the plane if you could that way you won't be as tired when you land. 

I'll post up pictures when I have the chance. My computer cables are in my luggage which is in the luggage room at my hostel. I got here too early and can't check in yet but I'm too tired to go out and explore the city.