Ireland is not America

Hey everybody!

Sam and I decided to start this blog so that everyone at home could keep up with our adventures :)

Travel Day: Getting through the airport was exciting on the first day. We were sad to leave our family and friends but we were so happy to start our semester in Dublin. We had 2/3 very long flights but in the end the longest part was yet to come.

Day 1: (Monday) When we arrived in Dublin, it took us 2 hours to get through customs, get our bags, and get on the bus to UCD. The bus trip was nice and we met a group of boys from St. Mary's in Maryland who were also going to UCD. We got dropped off with all of our bags outside of campus and quickly realized that UCD is A LOT bigger than St. Mary's haha we walked about a mile to check in and made friends along the way as we all sweated and hauled our bags. We eventually made it, checked in, and lugged our stuff to our new home. Here we discovered that there was absolutely nothing in our rooms; not even toilet paper. After we found the store (Centra) on campus and got a few essentials, we began to unpack and make a list of what we were going to need to buy. Then, we caught the bus (after getting exact change) to Dublin City Center. Sam had heard from a friend about a store called Penney's where we could get house stuff for cheap. We got some supplies, new Ireland "smart" phones (they aren't all that smart lol), and some groceries so we had food (although nothing to cook it in). It took us awhile and a couple different tries to figure out how to get back to campus but we eventually figured it out, unloaded our stuff, and settled in. After a simple meal of sandwiches and bananas, we called it a day. At this point we both needed to Skype our moms because the day had been a bit overwhelming haha The day ended with a cold shower because we had no hot water in the apartment. Ireland is not America. It was a bit of a rough day but Sam and I got through it and decided the best thing to do was get a good night sleep.

Day 2: (Tuesday) Tuesday was a much easier day to handle because there were lots of activities planned for International Students. We went on a shopping tour to find out where the nearest grocery store is within walking distance. Tesco is about a mile away from campus but it is a real grocery store like we would have at home with plenty of selection, reasonable prices, and items we could actually save for awhile like soup, rice, and oatmeal. After spending way too much money on groceries, we had to share the weight of our giant bag between us by each grabbing a handle. Sam and I make a great team :) we eventually made it back to our apartment but we missed our shuttle bus to IKEA. Luckily, we made it on a open bus tour of Dublin in the afternoon. It was an abnormally beautiful day for Ireland so we really enjoyed seeing the sights and learning a little bit about where we are living. When we got back to campus, we went to Tapas Night at the Global Lounge and had some wine and appetizers while we met people from all over the world and from close to home. We also met all of our roommates and got to know them a little better. They all seem really nice and luckily they brought stuff so we can cook now! It was a much better day since we got more settled, met people, and got hot showers :) We hope everyone at SMC had a great first day of classes!!

Day 3: (Wednesday) Today, we planned out our lives and scheduled all of the activities we are going to go to for the next couple days. We haven't done much yet but we are planning to go check out our classrooms, meet with people from the International Student Society about trips around Ireland this semester, and I am going to pick up an audition form for choir.

We will try to post at least once a week and put up pictures so you can see what we are up to.

Love and Miss you all!

~Sam and Emily