First off, it is my sister's 13th birthday!!!!!! Wish I could be there. Well, I've survived orientation without much of a problem. It's been a busy couple of days, but I don't have a lot of great stories yet. I wanted to post a video blog a couple of days ago, but after a few failed attempts, I gave up and went to sleep.
I went on my first run in Ireland a few days ago. I learned a few important things. First: even if a road is not labeled as such on mapmyrun.com, be prepared to occasionally plan half of your run on an inaccessable, gated road. Also, the sidewalks are thinner to make room for bike lanes. They're a lot more bike friendly over here. I'm not exactly sure about runner's etiquette over here; for example, in the US, if a car and I reach an intersection at the same time, I consider it OK for me to quick sprint through (fellow runners, feel free to correct me if I am wrong). But what do you do over here? Mostly I let the cars go first, but I'm still getting used to opposite directions of traffic, so strange Irish driver, I apologize for Tuesday morning, that was my bad.
Orientation is pretty much only useful for students. It was entertaining at times. So far, I've been in the library twice and all the staff I've talked to has been really helpful! There's a great club here, the
International Society, that's putting together some trips around Ireland this semester for fairly decent prices, so I've got something to look forward to.
Ireland has certainly lived up to its reputation for precipitation. My clothes were soaked once, and I've since learned to carry an umbrella more often. Today was especially gloomy, very cold and foggy. Which was unfortunate, because today we went on a tour of Limerick. They dropped us off in the medieval district; it was really neat, but because it was hard to b
e outside for more than 10 minutes, I think I will have to visit again on a sunnier day to get a more accurate impression. I did see King John's Castle, though, which was awesome! My first castle--it was a momentous occasion. It's hard to describe the feeling when you stand next to something so old, thinking about everything it's gone through that happened long before you were born. We also visited Adare village, one of prettiest towns I've seen in Ireland. On the way in, we saw small houses with thatched roofs, which called up images of Hobbiton, followed by a beautiful city park. The fog was bothersome to be in, but it made some decent pictures! (not on my camera, 
but on other peoples'). Anyway, it's really late, but I'll try to post some pictures before I go to sleep.
I went on my first run in Ireland a few days ago. I learned a few important things. First: even if a road is not labeled as such on mapmyrun.com, be prepared to occasionally plan half of your run on an inaccessable, gated road. Also, the sidewalks are thinner to make room for bike lanes. They're a lot more bike friendly over here. I'm not exactly sure about runner's etiquette over here; for example, in the US, if a car and I reach an intersection at the same time, I consider it OK for me to quick sprint through (fellow runners, feel free to correct me if I am wrong). But what do you do over here? Mostly I let the cars go first, but I'm still getting used to opposite directions of traffic, so strange Irish driver, I apologize for Tuesday morning, that was my bad.
Orientation is pretty much only useful for students. It was entertaining at times. So far, I've been in the library twice and all the staff I've talked to has been really helpful! There's a great club here, the
International Society, that's putting together some trips around Ireland this semester for fairly decent prices, so I've got something to look forward to.Ireland has certainly lived up to its reputation for precipitation. My clothes were soaked once, and I've since learned to carry an umbrella more often. Today was especially gloomy, very cold and foggy. Which was unfortunate, because today we went on a tour of Limerick. They dropped us off in the medieval district; it was really neat, but because it was hard to b
e outside for more than 10 minutes, I think I will have to visit again on a sunnier day to get a more accurate impression. I did see King John's Castle, though, which was awesome! My first castle--it was a momentous occasion. It's hard to describe the feeling when you stand next to something so old, thinking about everything it's gone through that happened long before you were born. We also visited Adare village, one of prettiest towns I've seen in Ireland. On the way in, we saw small houses with thatched roofs, which called up images of Hobbiton, followed by a beautiful city park. The fog was bothersome to be in, but it made some decent pictures! (not on my camera, 
but on other peoples'). Anyway, it's really late, but I'll try to post some pictures before I go to sleep.
Vanessa, Ireland looks amazing, and welcome to the blogging community, I'm glad you started this blog to keep us updated. I hope you have an amazing time in Ireland!
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