Hello Ireland!

I'm finally in Ireland!  (=  And so excited to be here.  After a bit of interesting travel, we got in at about 8:30 this morning, Dublin time (3:30am Ohio time), so we have been understandably tired for most of the day.  So, after almost losing an MBA student to a rapidly backing "Paddywagon", we boarded our bus and headed for Blackrock.  We are staying on the business campus of the University College of Dublin.  The apartments each hold 6 students, but I am conveniently located in the apartment that only has 4.  Also, we have the best view from our living area.  

The rooms are a little small, but I don't intend to spend much time in here, so it doesn't bother me at all.

I am, however, slightly concerned about the bathroom.  

The bathroom is quite small, as you can see.  And yes, that is the shower curtain hanging down next to the toilet.  And no, there is no divider on the floor at all.  So basically, the whole bathroom is the shower floor, the curtain just blocks the water from getting all over everything else.  It should be fun to use this for the first time in the morning.

We did take a quick tour around Blackrock after we found our apartments.  The city is pretty much everything you could want in an Irish city.  I really like the houses here.  They're all fairly neutral colored, with brightly painted doors.  I'm hoping to spend some time walking around to find some favorites to photograph soon.  We decided to grab some food and headed to a local pub, where I had my first meal in Ireland: Bulmer's and Irish Stew. Delicious.

On the way in, we ran into a man who stopped to chat for a while.  About 80% of his sentences either started with "You know what I love about America..." or ended in "...only in America."  It was interesting to get his rather blunt (but funny) opinion on the US.  Also, he said that with our accents, we could be married off to an Irishman in no time if we wanted.

On that happy note, I need to pack for the week's trip around Ireland and get some sleep.

Until next time!

KT