First Official Week: Thursday and Friday

Thursday 1.16.2014:

Everyone got up super early this morning in order to make it to the another orientation meeting and our Business Advisory Meeting. Orientation was pretty basic and didn't really give us any new information. The Business Advisory Meeting was a lot better though. We met the Dean of the Quinn School of Business and the Business Study Abroad Adviser, Madeline. In the meeting all of the American students learned a lot about how to be successful in the school. We also played a game about perceptions that the Irish have of Americans and perceptions that Americans have of the Irish.

Americans:                                                          Irish:

      -lazy                                                                    -catholic

       -McDonalds                                                        -potatoes

  -cowboys                                                            -drunk

    -power driven                                                      -friendly

         -ignorant                                                              -always late

                   -timely                                                                 -starts lots of fights

       -selfish                                                                 -all gingers

          These are some of the perceptions that we listed in class. 

After this meeting we went to another reception where we ate some free food and drinks. During this reception we had a chance to learn some tradition Irish dances....despite the Cotillion m mom made me take I was still a horrible dancers. But unlike in 7th grade Cotillion class, I wasn't taller than the guys. Everyone decided to head home in order to make some dinner before heading back out to try out another pub. I made my classic pasta dish of noodles and sausage. Then a couple of us went to a pub off O'Connell Street (which is one of the main street in Dublin). 

Here's a very cold Spencer

Friday 1.17.2014:

Catie and I decided to sleep in. After our beauty rest we woke up and headed to campus to catch a bus tour of Dublin. The bus tour was very informational (Dad would be proud) but it was very cold. In Ireland, almost all buses are double-decker and this bus was an open top bus, so with all the cold air and wind we were very chilly.

Here are some of the places we saw on our bus tour:

Fun fact: windows 

River Lifey

St. Patrick's Cathedral

President of Ireland's home

After the tour we went home and relaxed a little before going a school organization Pub Crawl. The Pub Crawl was tons of fun. We got to go to 5 different pubs, which was a real experience. Below are a couple of pictures from the night:

Spencer's sick dance skills

Three of the roomies

Cheers,

Jenny