Frisbee, Friends, and Fantastic Weather

Custom magnum ice-cream from the pop-up shop
in Arnotts

This has been one hectic week.

It started out on Saturday morning, early morning that is. I dragged some of my friends out for a walk to see the sunrise along the Clontarf seafront. There was just the right amount of clouds to make it an incredible, and worth the five-month wait.

On Tuesday I signed a lease. That’s right, I’m moving once again.

My residence in Whitehall really started to feel like home, and my roommates have become like my little family but an absolutely amazing opportunity popped up that I couldn’t resist. I’m moving into a newly renovated house with Lisa, my old roommate and best friend here in Ireland, and Rob, a new friend that I met on the zoo visit. The house is a dream and the five hours in Ikea and 4 hours building the furniture are definitely worth it.

football and frisbee

One of my favourite spots at DCU

The weather has also been pretty incredible this past week as well and my friends and I have tried to take advantage of it as 

much as possible. It's strange thinking that 20˙C here feels hot, when back home 33˙would be hot. The sun here is just sooooo much stronger!

We’ve been to a couple parks and have been throwing the football and frisbee around- usually ending with a few summer drinks.

I’ll officially move in to the new house tomorrow and start my next chapter of living in Ireland. Here’s to the new house and new experiences.  

xx kim

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I've listened to this so many times this past week. Please watch the visual album if you have a chance! I've followed him for years no and it's amazing to see how far he has come.

Straight Outta Oz

Favourite Song: Water Guns ft. Jordan Sparks

Easter Rising Centenary Event

I wish I elaborate on more amazing adventures, but honestly my life has been pretty mundane over the course of the past week. Not that mundane is bad in any way, shape, or form, but just in that I haven’t done much.

Between all the work that I was doing I managed to sneak out and join the Easter festivities in town. This year it was the 100^th Anniversary of the Easter Rising in Ireland so there was a three-day celebration honoring the events that happened a century past.

 At Trinity I was able to hear some live music from the Trinitones- the all male student society singers which gave me major yearning to be back at Wheaton College hearing the Gentlemen Callers again. And then I was lucky enough to hear the Trinity College Céilí Band playing some trad- traditional Irish music- before hearing the 1916 Proclamation read in both English and Irish.

Photo courtesy of The Irish Times

There’s still so much about Ireland that I have yet to discover. Not only is this the place I know live, but I have rich family history in this country so I really should open a book and to start to learn about my past.

Saturday night I went to a friends 22 Birthday and once again managed to stay up well into Easter Sunday. My sleep patterns are really suffering.

On Tuesday I went to Lisa’s to hang out and also get her old bike! So excited to be riding once again!

Other than that I was very ill on Thursday and Friday- symptoms including lightheadedness and a fever, yet somehow managed to get quite a bit of work done.

Here’s hoping that I’ll be able to get out more next week!

Xx kim

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Throwback time

Hootie & The Blowfish

Drowning

Readjusting

Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day/Moving Day

Everything over the past two weeks has gone by in such a blur. I've been absolutely crazed between moving, schoolwork, and life in general.

Luckily I found a new house to live and it's less than a 10 minute walk from uni! They only downside is that one Lisa and I realized how brutal it is trying to find accommodation this time of the year, so we decide to live in different places for now. Hopefully we'll live together in the future though!

My new roommates are a couple from Romania and then a girl from Africa, Malawi to be more precise- I haven't really had the chance to talk with her and she's moving out at the end of they month so.... I'll save about €50 a month and the rent itself is cheaper so I'm super excited.

Tuesday was a whirlwind of trying to pack and move. I'm still getting reorganized, but I'm slowly getting there. I've been here only five months and I still can't believe how much stuff I've accumulated. 

The beautiful dinning area.

Probably one of my favourite things about the new place.

One of the worst/best things about moving out is buying new bedding, it really makes your room so much more personalised.

I finally feel like I'm living more in my own house than another person's.

This semester is really looking up.

New Room!

Soon it'll be March and I'll get to see yet another Australian friend. Time really is flying by and I soon am going to get out there and look for jobs. The thought scares me half to death but I guess everyone has to suffer through it at least once.

Sorry for the mundane post, hope next week's will be a little more exciting now that I am settled into my new home.

Xx Kim

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Random weird tidbit, but the place I'm living now is the neighbourhood where Luke Kelly lived. He's a great trad artist- traditional Irish music- and I recommend him if you're into that sort.

Plaque for Luke Kelly

There and Back Again: Dublin Transportation

City Centre, looking at D'Olier St. and Westmoreland St.

I live about a 15-minute bus ride from my uni and about a 30-minute bus ride from Dublin City Centre. I love how all the buses are two levels, but I don't like the price to ride.

On my second day here I went into the main city and had to pay €2.80 each way, even with my student LEAP card I’m still charged €2.05. A great plus about having a student card is that it is capped at €5.00, meaning you cannot pay more than €5 a day no matter how many times you take the bus.

This brings me to my next subject…. bikes.

Everyone here seems to be active. If people are not riding the bus, then they’re walking, or riding a bike. Bikes are prolific wherever you go- I’m even thinking about investing in a secondhand one since my roommate bought one. It’s also not unusual to get your bike stolen in town so a good bike lock is a must!

One thing to note, if you ride a bike you will be expected to ride in the same lane as regular vehicles. Out where I live this idea doesn’t bother me much, but in city centre you have to be fearless. There are so many merging vehicles and huge buses to look out for, and helmets do not seem to be required here….

I love all the exercising now integrated in my day-to-day life, I just hope the weather continues to stay brilliant.

On another note, the fabric used to cover the bus seats here is the same as in Australia. A random observation yes, but I found it quite interesting. The longer I live here the more I see the similarities between here and Oz, and the more I miss it.

O'Connell Monument

One Week in and Weather Wonderful

There are so many things I want to write about: food, people, transportation, weather- I swear these are way more interesting than they sound- but the blog post would turn into a book. So I’m going to try and limit myself to weather and people this week.

River Liffey and those hovering clouds.

I honestly thought Dublin would be shrouded in mist the majority of time, however the weather has been wonderful the past week. Of course the only time it rained was when I tried walking home from Uni and then missed the bus and was forced to wait an additional 15 minutes for another bus… but I digress.

There always seems to be a constant set of clouds that hover over the city, but aren’t threatening for the most part.  It can be sunny and hot one moment, and then cloudy and windy the next. This is just like New England weather so I almost feel at home in a weird sort of way.

Okay.

Topic number two: the locals.

The Irish are so friendly and welcoming, and the people here will usually go above and beyond the call of duty if you need help.

When I first arrived I had some trouble setting up my phone. I had to go into the local vodafone store three days in a row and yet, by the end of the ordeal, the employee that helped me turned into a friend. 

I really love this country, I truly do. 

……

Seriously though, the people are wonderful.

And here's a picture of the moon from Tuesday 22/09/2015.