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.