Dublin through the eyes of a tourist. Soon to be a resident.

First weekend at UCD, the day back home when I knocked off everything on my to-do list. And what does it lead to..of course a day where everything I planned is foiled at every turn. So apparently, it's not weird here for everything to be closed on Saturday. So apparently, that translates to every single UCD building is closed on Saturday/Sunday. So that means I got to spend some time walking around campus snapping some photos of the foliage. Classic Mwiti Murungi, I know.

Anyways, after failing to meet up with my roommates with BC for the 3rd or 4th day in a row, I ended up taking a trip to City Centre, which is about 20 minutes away via bus. There was a guided tour earlier in the day, but I decided to sleep in and take a self-exploration trip instead. There's something exciting about the prospect of dropping yourself in a city, and wandering around until you can find your own way back. It's like Lewis and Clark on their expedition out west!

except this is the largest beast I run into.

So, I got dropped off in St. Stephen's and started walking through the park on my way to O'Connel street. (for those of you follow at home, here's a good reference). I basically wandered northwest from the green following the shopping centers and the bohemian street performers who didn't care really if you paid them or not. They seemed fairly happy with the performance they were giving, and in multiple cases there were people not even taking money. I stopped by a couple of poster sales around the city with a big smile on my face, with the only thought being

I''m in Dublin. I'm by myself. And I have yet to die*!

*let it be known, this may be the most optimistic way I could phrase this after my arrival. I don't feel like a subsequent explanation is necessary.

I picked up a Dahlik poster to remind me of home England David Tennent Sophomore year.

After meandering through the city for a while, and picking up a tin flute (all the folks die for it here, apparently),  I went back in through the blistery cold and came back to my room. I had some time to kill, so I examined the mold collection that was growing in our kitchen and found a way to exterminate some of that problem. Apparently our roommate came in over the weekend and never cleaned up afterwards. So, I mopped, swept, and washed in true domestic fashion, and took care of that problem. So now, we can actually access our mutual living area.

I met up with a friend named Patrick from Catholic afterwards, who has the novelty of counting his drinks while we're here in Dublin. I won't go into detail, but I'll mention he's only been here a week. We watched the 49er's-Saints game (really, it's been a horrible week for Louisiana) while I met the other kids in his program who are studying through Arcadia U in philly. There were about 5 or 6 including a girl named Gretchen (we're climbing a tree tomorrow. We're really close.) who's really interested in AT hiking and I had a good conversation with about tripping around Europe. The other really good convo. I had tonight was about music philosophy with a girl named Julia from Arcadia. It's good to see that music is pretty universal. At least from a national sense.

Got to catch up with a couple friends from home after I got back, which reminds me. My Skype username is N_Thompson90, so if you want to see my smiling face instead of reaching me here, just let me know and we can work out a time! I'm keeping Facebook pretty updated with photos.

Wrapping another full day from Dublin, wishing the best for everyone and thinking about you all back home!