It's take-a-what?

Hi everyone!
I'm in Ireland until June 1, 2008, studying at University College Cork in Cork, Ireland.
I've decided that this will be a whole lot more fun, and a whole lot easier, then sending emails to everyone while I'm gone. Plus this way you can all see pictures and keep up with me :-)

I got into Cork January 2nd after spending wwaayyy too much time in airports, airplanes, and airport security lines. Only to find out...my bags hadn't crossed the pond yet. At least I had a change of clothes and my toothbrush, but hopefully I'll have luggage soon!

There were about a dozen other kids on my flight from London to Cork who are also studying at UCC this semester. Five of them are living in my apartment building too, so we took our first Irish cab together. We were quite convinced at several points in the 15 minute drive that our lives might be in danger, but of course we're still wondering why every one's driving on the wrong side of the road.

We ventured into City Centre as soon as we checked in to find a place to eat. And at a small sandwich shop called Murphy's we learned our first very important lesson. It's not carry out here, it's take away. It took the poor lady behind the counter a few tries and a little bit of charades to convey that one. We also learned that some Irish accents are stronger then others. We spent the rest of the day walking around, trying to find campus (which is about 15 minutes from our apartment going the short way, but about 25 when you try it our way). We successfully found the grocery store (note to self, bring your own bags!) and a few other places to shop in City Centre. I'd like to say we had a wild crazy first night, but jet lag caught up...we were in bed by 10 :-).

Day 2 was our first day of UCC orientation. We've been warned to never engage in a discussion of politics under Bush versus Clinton with a drunken Irish person in a pub. Apparently they'll believe they know more about American foreign policy since Vietnam then Kissinger. "In fact, just tell them you're Canadian, everyone loves Canadians". A few of us are going take Introduction to Modern Irish together. That's right, we'll know a little bit of Gaelic (the official first language of Ireland) when we get home. We did our first grocery shopping in Cork. We found a lot of the same things we'd find at home and a few things that we'll have to get someone to explain to us later. We also managed to make our first significant purchase in Ireland, cell phones!

And tonight, slightly more recovered from Jetlag, I think we're trying out the pub outside our window. Yes, I said it. I look out my bedroom window straight at the entrance to "The Fransiscan Well". Welcome to Ireland :-)