Jet Lagged but Joyous

I have now been in Ireland for approximately 40 hours and I've experienced the weather of three different seasons, being drunk on the bus, and a plethora of Irish eye candy...so I'm thinking that's a pretty solid nutshell of what this year is going to be and I'm so excited. I am here to pursue my master's degree in creative writing and I am hoping to use this website as a portfolio of sorts. If you've followed any of my travel blogs in the past, all inactive due to loss of interest or loss of password, you're aware that I frequently promise that this will be the adventure I finally chronicle and I always break that promise. But here it is again, friends. I promise (fingers crossed, both for good luck and also because I might be lying) that THIS is FINALLY the blog I will actually stick with. So here goes the chronicling...

I arrived yesterday in the early morning. As we were landing, I took in my first views of Ireland through the window and was greeted by a patchwork of farm land, so basically I felt like I was landing exactly where I had taken off from in upstate New York. After collecting my luggage (soaking wet from sitting out in the rain), I took a taxi to my new house (more on that in a bit) and unpacked my bags. Anyone who knows me should be shocked by this. I'm historically awful at unpacking in a timely manner. When I was living in Australia in 2014, I went to New Zealand for a week in April and didn't fully unpack until I had to repack to return to America in June. Most recently I lived in Thailand for seven months and never completely emptied my suitcase the entire time. 

I'm renting a room in a townhouse in the south side of Dublin. I have yet to meet my housemates, as they've been on holiday in France for the past week, so I've been able to settle in to my new home without feeling like I'm stepping on toes and having to fight my jet lag in order to make a good first impression. There is currently a housing crisis in Dublin, so some of my classmates (whom I met today) still haven't found accommodations. The more I've talked to people about my situation and explored my area, the more I'm realizing how incredibly lucky I got with this set up. I had spent weeks applying to every listing on rent.ie and daft.ie and only heard back from maybe five renters, all saying the same thing: "Sorry, the room's been taken." Eventually I got a message from this couple seeking someone to rent the extra room in their house. We've skyped twice, a grand total of maybe 15 minutes, and I will meet them in person tomorrow morning. I am loving this house so much already and I am so excited to live here for the year.

Today I had my orientation at the school I'm attending. It all seems very personal and informal, which I love. The "orientation" was so disorganized but I felt like I was part of a conversation rather than being lectured to while riding a conveyer belt, which is pretty much what the entire four years of my undergrad was like. If the rest of the program is a similar dynamic to the orientation, I think this year is going to be pretty incredible.

My schedule has me in classes only two days a week, which leaves me plenty of time to get a part time job as well as continue boxing training, a venture I started a few months ago. My goal is to be fight-ready in a few months. Super glad my student insurance includes dental coverage in the case of an injury!

Signing off now. Exhaustion is kicking my ass. Tomorrow is going to be a full day of meeting my new housemates and experiencing an entire year's worth of weather every 20 minutes!