Go West & Introduction

Dear friends,

Time is going really fast here! I am now in Dublin for almost three weeks and next Monday my classes are about to start. Last week was the Orientation Week and the week before I made a trip to the west.

First something about my trip. Wednesday, September 15, early in the morning I left for Limerick, together with two other students from Tilburg University (Thomas and Eduard). We wanted to see something of the Irish countryside before the lectures were starting. We traveled by bus, which is by far the cheapest way of traveling in Ireland. There are also many trains, but they are quite expensive to travel with and the bus network is more extended than the train network. In the afternoon we arrived in Limerick, which is located at the west. Our expectations about the city were high, because Limerick is one of the bigger cities in Ireland. We didn’t book a hostel in advance, but it turned out that Limerick was not what we expected at all and there were even no hostels (any more). We ended up in a hotel, which was a good solution. After we had checked in the hotel, we went to the city centre to discover. The city centre was quite small and industrial, but it was nice to see some other ‘more Irish’ city than Dublin. After we had a lovely Irish meal in a pub (stew!), we went to our room.

The next day, we wanted to do ‘something cultural’. We went to the Hunt museum. We expected it to be a museum about hunt, but in fact it was a private collection of arts and utilities from many many years ago. It was collected by some family called Hunt, so that’s how the museum got its name. It may sound a bit annoying, but we had a lovely guide and so it turned out to be an interesting morning. We skipped the famous castle in Limerick, because there are so many castles in Ireland and we wanted to go to our next destination: Cork.

Thomas and I took the bus to Cork, while Eduard went back to Dublin, because some friends of his were coming that day. When we arrived in Cork, we inmediately noticed how friendly the city looked like! It looked a bit mediterranian, and we had a perfect blue sky at that moment. Perfect! After we checked in our hostel, we went to the city centre to do some sightseeing (again!). Like Limerick, Cork also doesn’t have some main attraction, but the atmosphere was great and there were many lovely churches and pub. We also went to see University College Cork (UCC), which is located in a kind of forest, a bit outside the city centre. Really, UCC has the most beautiful campus I have ever seen! After that, we walked along the riverside and had dinner in a nice pub with live music. Later that night, many international students from UCC came to the same pub and we had a nice evening together with them.

Initially, our plan was to stay in Cork for a couple of days, but after 1,5 day we had seen everything and had a good impression about the city. There are many things to do in the county around Cork, but we didn’t had transport to get there unfortunately. I recommend everyone who’s thinking about traveling to Ireland: rent a car! I myself will rent a car later on during my stay here, I first want to get used a bit to driving at the ‘wrong’ side of the road. We took the bus and 4,5 hours later, we arrived in Dublin.

Back in Dublin, I went to some parties and watched a movie together with my roommate. On Sunday, the final of the Gaelic Football cup took place. Gaelic football is the national sport in Ireland and is a kind of combination between soccer, football, rugby and some other sports. I still don’t understand its rules, but you can search for them on Google. ;) We went to watch the match in a pub, which was really nice!

Last Monday (September 20), the Orientation Week started. The orientation is totally different than at Tilburg University! There are no buddy groups and you really have to make your own friends. Which is also nice, but totally different. About 16% of all students at Trinity is international, so quite a lot! The introduction is mainly focused on the study itself and on all societies here. The introduction week consisted of many information sessions, which were usefull and not boring at all, since the Irish have a lot of humor and are really good speechers. Besides that, we also got many tours, like a campus tour, a library tour and a sports centre tour. I didn’t remember everything, but it was nice to see something of student life and the campus. Trinity has over 100 societies and you could meet and join them at an information market. I joined four societies (international, volleybal, business&economics and dance), but their activities will start in the upcoming weeks, so I don’t know many members of them yet. There were also a lot of parties last week, but since there are 5 (or more, don’t know how many exactly) universities in Dublin, it is sometimes a bit confusing, since they all have their own parties and activities, but all students are allowed to participated in the activities of most other universities as well. Most of them use facebook for communication, but it is still a bit confusing.

I met some nice other students and together with them I joined the societies and went to some parties and celebrated Arthur’s Day last Thursday. On Arthur’s Day, they celebrate the birthday of Arther Guinness with a world wide toast at 17.59 o’clock. This year was his 251^st birthday, so not so anything special at all, but there were many acts and it was a real happening! Very nice! :)

Next Monday, my lectures will start. Next week is still a kind of orientation week, because you can attend all classes you want and after that week, we have to hand in our final choices. It may sound a bit strange, but I am looking to have lectures again and of course to meeting my fellow students!

Take care!

Love, Charlotte

PS: I will upload my pictures to http://picasaweb.google.nl/110111446223550966554/