Finally, I'm here.

Hello everyone! As you have noticed from the title I am in Limerick and I know the post is a bit long, but I know many of you would like to hear about my travels and first day here.

I left Minneapolis around 1 pm on Tuesday.  Saying goodbye to my parents and Mark was really hard, but since they are now all coming to visit me at certain points throughout the semester, I feel a ton better. Plus, I know how much fun I'm going to have!  Anyways, I boarded my first flight (to Chicago) not feeling the greatest because of the food poisoning I got last weekend at Red Lobster while Mark and I were supposed to be having a romantic date. *Sigh*  But I got to Chicago and met an extremely nice girl (hey, Leslie!) who ended up chatting with me the entire flight there.  After Chicago, I had a 3 hour layover before I left for London.  The flight was about 7 hours and overnight, so I thought I'd try to get some sleep while I could.  Nope.   Just couldn't fall asleep.  So naturally I watched about 3 movies instead.

The layover in London was really hard.  It was nearly 5 hours and all I wanted to do was sleep, but it was 6 a.m. at that point and I knew it would really mess with my sleep schedule (something I really don't want to deal with).  So I stayed up and chatted with a few girls who go the U that I met at our orientation in Minnesota.  Eventually we were waiting at our gate to leave for Shannon when we realized the girls next to us were also studying abroad in Limerick and we started talking to them too; they were all from Canada and incredibly nice as the stereotype permits.

The flight from London to Shannon was pretty short, only about an hour.  As a tallette having the exit row was the highlight of this trip (so much leg room!) but by the end of the flight I was feeling pretty drowsy.  We had to go through customs afterward and grab all our baggage, but there were a few people I met that had their luggage get lost somewhere in transit.  I honestly think that would be the most horrible aspect of a trip.  I can deal with fat, sweaty, old men in the seat next to me and loud snorers, but deal me the lost luggage card and I'd just about lose it.  Luckily, they are supposed to be getting their luggage returned to them tomorrow. Yay!

So after grabbing all our things, we met up with the University of Limerick staff who were waiting for us at the front door.  We loaded all our things on the bus but I had to just take a minute to stand outside for a little bit, because....

....it was so gorgeous and sunny and 50 degrees.  No snow, no winter jacket, just my bare skin and a few moments of breathing truly fresh air.  It was beautiful.

BUT, it wasn't as beautiful as the drive from Shannon into Limerick.  It was honestly breathtaking.  At first I was talking to the girl in front of me but I let a lull in the conversation just fade into silence so I could stare, literally with my mouth open, out the window.  I knew Ireland was beautiful, but in my one day here I have laid to rest my expectations 10 fold.

My residence hall was first up, so I grabbed my oodles of stuff and was walked through the procedural sign in business and given my key.  My key is really weird and kind of makes me nervous about theft because it's like a computer chip thing (FOB, if you know what that means) that you just wave in front of a sensor on the door and it opens for you.  This is for both the front door and my bedroom.  Which brings me to the "house."  Basically it's about 5 townhouses pushed together to form each building, and there are 8 bedrooms in my house.  You walk in and are in this awkward little waiting room with stairs in front of you.  But before I could do anything I was semi pounced on by three of my new roommates.  Hakura and John are from (I believe) Japan and Amy is from New Jersey.  I found my new room (super small and sad looking but whatever) and shortly afterward met my other roommate, Kristin, also from New Jersey and good friends with Amy.  As of today I know of 3 other people I'll be living with but I haven't met them yet.

I set all my stuff in my room and basically spent the next few hours hanging out with Kristin and Amy, who are really cool and I think we'll be good friends. We all went to the equivalent to downtown Limerick (called the city centre instead) and did some grocery shopping as well as bought some sheets for my bed.  We were planning on going to shop for phones while we were down there but suddenly it was about 6:30 and apparently everything in Limerick closes about then.  So we went exploring for a little bit and managed to find a bus back to the University.

Once we got back, I started to really feel the 40 hours I'd been awake without any sleep and tried to stay up a little longer so I'd be able to get used to the time difference, but I really only made it until about 10, which was a well-welcomed time for sleep.

This morning we woke up bright and early to get to our orientation.  It was in the main students building and I'm guessing there are about 3-400 international students that were there.  Basically the whole day was sitting in an auditorium and having the study abroad team talk and give us information.  Afterwards, we split up into groups and had lunch, then took a tour of campus.  When I was looking at the map of UL back home, it looked so small since there are really only about 20 buildings, but  when I got there I realized that each building is HUGE and contains at least 4 blocs (essentially separate areas that cater to different departments).  Even still, it is way smaller than the U and I'm happy about the shorter walking time.  The only thing I didn't like about campus is that the buildings aren't clearly marked with the names.  In the U.S. there are usually signs outside each building with its name on it or the name of the building is just above the door, but there were a few buildings that I walked around 3/4 of the way and still couldn't find a name for it.  So, that'll be fun finding my classes.

Now, I've got a short break before all of us internationals are meeting at the Stables, the on campus pub, for dinner.  My room is a total mess and I have nothing unpacked so I'm going to sort it all out!

I'll probably post again in a few days when I'm a little more settled!