My First Week!

My first week in Dublin has been very exciting! There is so much to say! I slept for most of the plane ride except for when they woke me up to eat (if you want good food, don't fly Delta!) I was ridiculously excited when we landed in Dublin at 6:45am (which is 1:45am in Rochester).

When I got off the plane, I met my program directors Don Niall and Brian Doherty. Brian took me to DCU and showed me my room. My room is nice, I have a double bed, a nice desk and a TV! Most people only got a single bed and no TV!



I also got a really nice bathroom, it's very big!



I share my apartment with 3 other people. An American boy, Patrick, is right down the hall. Across from his room is a room with an Irish girl from Belfast, Tamara. Then my neighbor is Andy (he is also from Ireland.) Andy, Tamara and Patrick are very nice and fun, so its nice sharing the apartment with them. We each have our own rooms and bathrooms, we just share the living room and kitchen!



After I was settled in, we went through orientation and then the directors organized a bus tour of Dublin for us. It was a lot of fun! I definitely recommend anyone who comes to Dublin to take the bus tour! Then, the next day I took the regular Dublin Bus to the center of the city and met my group in front of Trinity College for a walking tour. Everyone in Dublin was wearing green and all of the businesses in the city were displaying the Irish flag because there was a rugby game against Italy that day. It was really great to see all the Irish people excited on their way to the game.

On the walking tour we went to St. Stevens Green and there was a beautiful arch and we also walked over the River Liffey.



In the center of the city there is a tall stainless steel spike that is called the Spire. It was built in 2000 and replaced a statue of an Englishman that was destroyed during the Rebellion. We also learned all about how the center of the city has many bullet holes in the buildings left over from the Irish Rebellion.


After the walking tour, a couple of us Americans decided to stay in the city to get something to eat. We found a pub that was showing the rugby game and had great food.



Most of my friends ordered Fish & Chips, but I got Bangers and Hash, which was a great choice! It was so good!!

Other than all of that, I have signed up for all of my classes and I only need to go to class for 2 hours once a week!

I have had a little bit of difficulty with my chair... it won't charge! The man I talked to before I left said I would be fine, but turns out he was wrong! However, Don and Brian are doing absolutely everything they can to help me and will hopefully have a solution tomorrow!

Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well in America!

oh, and I do love mail! So if you'd like to send me a letter, my address is:

Ms. Stephanie Woodward
Room WG14C
College Park Apartments
Campus Residences Ltd.
Ballymun Road
Dublin 9