Bonjour!

After all of my flights, the bus over, and my check-in process, I passed out- for about 16 hours. Then I woke up at 5am got ready, and passed out again...until 9:30am when a giant, and I mean giant, lawn mower passed by my window and scared the bejesus out of me. I had planned on taking a 10am bus to the city centre so I rushed to the Global Lounge (about a 10 minute walk). When I got there, with five minutes to spare, they said we wouldn't be leaving until 10:30 at the earliest. While waiting for the group to leave for the bus stop, I met a French business student, Margaux. I met a few more of her friends from a French business school in Toulouse. We all went on a double decker bus to Dublin around 11. They were very cold in their big winter coats in the 40 degree weather, but I was fine in my light jacket.

We found a small store on the main pedestrian street in Dublin to buy groceries at. Wow am I American. I got the largest milk I could find, half a gallon, a dozen eggs, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and greek yogurt for 12euros. One of the French friends with me, Audrey, got lettuce and apples. They said they usually only buy for one day or maybe two. I have never walked out of a grocery store with just one bag before today. I did not find any gluten free specific food items in the small (and very expensive) grocery store on campus or the one I visited. By the way, if you are a smoker coming to Ireland at any point, stock up- they are 10euros here, the equivalent of $11.77. The French people I was with purchased some and had them twice today. I'm promising myself that I will not come back to the states with a smoking habit and I think that will be pretty easy considering the cost.

When we got back, we went to a campus cafeteria. I met another one of their friends from their home college, there was now a total of 6 of us. Before I could say hello, he kissed both of my cheeks, la bise, and then realized I was not French when I laughed. They were impressed that I knew what it was and they are trying their hardest to speak English around me. I got chicken curry because I assumed it was gluten free...and it was, thankfully. I need to push myself to actually ask in the future because I may not get that lucky every time. I felt really pressured to keep moving though because there was a long line forming behind me. My experience with waiting so far is that it doesn't happen, unless it's for a bus. The buses and cars do NOT wait for you to get across the street. The line at the grocery store was similar to an Aldi's, in that you bag up your own items. I was just being handed a bag by the time another person's groceries were being sent in my direction.

I found a couple brochures in my lobby area. I plan on taking a Game of Thrones tour in Northern Ireland and going on a tour of the original Jameson Distillery in Dublin. The French people I spent the day with got a head start on drinking at the pub on campus already. I had to drop off my groceries, so I'll be meeting up with them soon. There is a pizza party tonight at 6pm; hopefully I'll find something to eat there.

My campus ID is really versatile; I used it to pay for lunch today. I loaded money on it from my checking account at home and paid in US dollars online. I can use it for vending machines, cafeterias, swimming in the olympic sized pool, the gym, laundry, etc. This way I can avoid an exchange rate fee that might happen with my American debit card.

P.S. Thank you Grandma for teaching me to have a sense of direction. It saved my but in the airport trying to figure out what buses and trams to take to get to the right terminals. It made my flying process much less stressful.