Obama is Irish

   Or at least his great-great-great grandfather or something was. But the Irish love him.  And I am currently sitting in the basement of our Dublin youth hostel watching inauguration with the people in my group, and some random foreigners.  Aretha sang to us all on TV.  She wore a great hat.

   I finally got to meet all of my group when three of them rolled into my room at about 8:00 AM on Sunday.  Once I really woke up, I got to meet them and eventually the six others, making us Limerick folks a group of ten.  There are also four other girls going through orientation with us who are going to Ulster University, in Northern Ireland.

   We got started with the mass amounts of orienting later that Sunday, by going to lunch with the Arcadia staff.  Lots of jet-lag + meeting people = weird conversation.  

   Then we hung around the hostel talking some more.  Then all fourteen of us met up and tramped out into the Dublin streets and invaded a tiny restaurant called O'Shea's, but which was run by a little Indian woman.  Something tells me that she was not an O'Shea herself.

   Then we found a pub called Fitzgerald's where we watched the NFC Champ game because a lot of the group are from the East Coast, and one, Kristin, is from Philly.  So we all hung out there, and some of us got our first pints of Guinness.  And I know Temple Bar is an expensive area, but really, I think €4.60 for a beer is a bit much.

   The next day we were dragged out of our tightly-cramped hostel room early and set off for our first real day of orientation, which took place at the Arcadia Dublin office.  It's housed in the building where Samuel Beckett once lived. You quickly learn that just about everything here has some sort of historical significance.

   Afterwards, at about 2:30, we were released and provided with tickets for a bus tour where you "hop-on, hop-off" to the different destinations they bring you to.  It was great to see a bit more of Dublin.

 

The Dublin Castle

Christ Church Cathedral

   Then we made our way to the Guinness Storehouse! And on our way, what did we see?...

Ahhh, globalization.

   It was a really interesting place, you really big and full of information on the brewing process. You worked your way up through the levels, and then finally reach the "Gravity Bar" at the very top. It had an amaaaaaaazing view of Dublin and we all got our free drink!

   Today we had more orientation, then we were taken to lunch at a place where we felt way too underdressed, and then more orientation.  Finally we were released, have been watching inauguration, and in about an hour we're being taken to go see a play.  Then pubs? We'll see... It is our last night in Dublin, after all. 

-B