We’ve done so much in Dublin, I cannot believe it has only been five days since we arrived! We landed on Friday morning and were exhausted because most of us had been traveling through the night. We spent our first day settling into our new apartments which are located in a residential area about a 25 minute walk from the city center.
The first weekend in Dublin was busy! We had orientation with our program on Saturday. Then, on Saturday night, we explored the Temple Bar area of Dublin. This is a portion of the city filled with different pubs and restaurants and it attracts many tourists every night. It’s a really fun atmosphere lined with cobblestone streets and filled with lights.
The next day, we walked around the city trying to get to know our new home a little bit better. We made it a point to look around our new school, 
Trinity College, first. The campus is an impressive place with large stone buildings. The college was founded in the 1500s, making it the oldest university in Ireland. A lot of the very impressive stone buildings on campus were built in the 1700s. I’m very excited to spend a semester at this school. It’s right in the center of Dublin, but it is still very much a campus atmosphere because the campus is fenced in from the city.
We have spent the first part of this week in orientation at Trinity with all of the other visiting students. There are students from all different schools all across the country. We have also met some students from Australia and Canada in the program. The orientation is called the “Semester Start Up Program and we have spent time in lectures learning about Irish history, architecture, film, and literature. I enjoy the lectures because I want to learn more about the place where I will be studying. I feel like I’m already learning a lot more about Irish culture than I ever knew before. We got a chance on Monday to tour the campus and see the Book of Kells. The old library and the Book of Kells are spectacular historical elements at Trinity and I’m excited that as students, we can access them at any time we choose throughout the semester. The old library and “the long room” are not really used for reading. It is more of a museam and tourists come frequently from all over the world to see it. We learned that the room has been used in filims like Star Wars and Harry Potter. I think whenever I need some inspiration or I’m having a bad day, I will go there and take a walk through
With Trinity’s orientation, we have done a few trips around Dublin to get to know the city a little better. On Monday night we did a “Literary Pub Crawl” where we went to visit pubs where famous writers like James Joyce used to spend their time and do their best thinking. While there, actors acted out scenes from these writers’ works in private rooms for our small groups. It was very interactive and interesting. Another trip we did in Dublin was one to Croke Park. This is where Gaelic Football and Hurling are played. We got a tour of the stadium and learned about the sports. The most striking part about the men and women who play the sports is that they are not professional athletes and they have regular jobs, leading regular lives. Some of the best Gaelic Football players are teachers in their local schools or own businesses in their county. The manner of the sports appears professional and the stadium is massive, seating about 80,000. However, the players play for the Irish county in which they grew up. You can tell how much pride the players and spectators have in the place they live.
So far Dublin has been amazing. Tonight we have going to see a play at the Abbey Theatre! I can’t wait to explore more of my new home.
Location: Dublin, Ireland
he old broken down stone buildings. 
called the Wicklow Gaol. This was a very old jail that now is open as a museum to the public. It is supposedly the most haunted place in Ireland! It was very creepy to walk around inside, but it was also very interesting to learn what life was like for the inmates there.
or sights in Dublin. You can get off and on as you please and the buses run all day. Since our tickets were valid for Saturday and Sunday we took advantage of that to see a few sights. On Saturday we went to the Guinness Storehouse and on Sunday we visited the National Museum of Ireland. The bus also went past some places like St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Phoenix Park, and Kilmainhem Jail. We took lots of great pictures and saw the outside and we have plans to go back and see them. 