wednesday, 8:45 pm, dublin

wow what a day! first, at 8 am the fire alrm went off and we were the only ones to leave the building-there was a small fire on the fourth floor-but smoke was like coming out of the windows. the fire brigade came and it was a cool thing to write home about. but all is well. then we went to class, walked home and got on the dart (dublin area rapid transit, like septa) and went to the cliffs of dublin. we walked along the cliffs (Where they had signs that said "warning, dangerous cliffs" the sight was beautiful-but i was exhausted. we started walking at 2:15 and didnt stop until 6:30. uphill and all-but definitely worth it. the cliffs was what we saw when we flew in-and the big lighthouse that is on the edge of the peninsula-i was right there. when we were walking up the cliff we saw a house that w.b. yeats once lived at. that was pretty cool. so i technically went to the beach! it smelled just like new jersey. the town that we were in reminded me a lot of avalon and stone harbor because it was more high class and not as crowded and very nice. my flatmate maureen is very outgoing-she likes to talk to the locals and ask a lot of questions, so we are finding out a lot about the ins and outs, im glad shes here. so then we rode on a thing called luas-whcih is like the train and the bus, nd its brand new so the first five days are free-so we took advantage. so today was a very good day! i wanted to ask you guys for a favor, i need some addresses for postcards. pop, aunt marie, meaghan, and if meg can get it maybe mr. rauscher. that would be great. also, have we heard anything about praxis results? this saturday it will be 4 weeks, so keep a look out. dad, on my long journey today they had houses that were named, like quinn terrace or kelly court. well one of them said st. josephs and i wanted to take a picture and tell you that yes they are hawk fans in dublin! but i couldnt. :( anyway, this will be the last post until probably monday because tomorrow we are going to avondale house (charles stewart parnells house, we are learning about him~) and glendalough. then we will leave tomorrow night for county cork and the blarney stone. we will come back saturday and then sunday is the hurling tournament. maybe i can give you guys a shout from cork-but they want us to tell our families when we are going to travel on weekends. so im going to cork this weekend just to let you know. i hope all is running smoothly-dad great job with qop! tell everyone i said hello and im having a wonderful, marvelous time...im so exhausted so we are going home and soaking our feet!...talk to you soon...love and miss you!
bridget rose
p.s.-sorry about the spelling, the keys are sticking.

tuesday, 8:45 am, dublin

good morning all! yesterday we started class-we had our introductions basically. i am more excited for literature because the lecturer (What they call professor) is a lot more enthusiastic and interested in what hes talking about. the history and politics seems eh, ok. its pretty cool though, we go from 9:30-11, have a tea and coffee break, then go 11:30-1. the subjects are going to rotate days, and even weeks if you can understand that. yesterday we did a lot of walking-my ankles are killing me! we walked 30 min to school, 40 min to the arcadia office to pick up riverdance tickets, 45 min home, 40 min to the restaurant to eat and 50 min home. im getting used to crossing the street and walking in pace with the rest of dubliners. we booked our hostel for this weekend in cork-only 16 euro a night, we have a 7 girls in a room of 8 and our own bathroom-so pretty decent over all. today we might go to the cliffs of dublin where we saw a lighthouse when we flew in. im excited to see some countryside though. here are some few things that i want to tell you all but keep forgetting-the irish dont use plastic bags, they charge 13 cents at the grocery store for one so we have reusable bags to shop with. the garda (police) are unarmed. and pedestrians dont have the right of way when crossing. they have ben and jerrys ice cream-but very expensive. the toilets dont flush well-you have to keep flushing before it goes down. and you have to heat up your water (at least some of us in the ghetto flats do)anyway, we learned we are going on a lot of excursions like today we are going to the parliament building. thursday we are going to glendalough. we also go the the dublin writers museum, joyce tower (where the first part of ulysses takes place) 2 plays at the abbey theatre and 2 acting workshops from the guy who once coached colin farell! yess. things are going pretty well here though, how about you? i am waiting to go shopping for anything but from what i hear you can ship stuff home lauren, but im not sure how expensive it is. but if you guys want to send something here!?! i live at 56 harcourt green, charlemont street, dublin 2. (since everyone here is getting packages) mom-did you sneak money in my socks and book?! i think you did, but i miss my notes in my luggage!! anyway, i will look into shipping some booze and maybe some gifts home, but first i need to work on postcards. wow i guess i had a lot to say today. dad-i went to a restaurant last night where they had keith richards pictures all over, but i forgot to take a picture. anyway, i hope all is well, i am running out of minutes on the phone card they gave us so either im gona buy another one or just wait for your call. i guess well see...keep posting!
love and miss you
bridget rose

monday, 9 am, dublin

hello again! i am at school right now getting ready for class. it took us 30 minutes to walk this morning-but wasnt really that bad. we took a picture with our roommates outside our gate for the classic "first day of school" picture. tonight we are going to pick up our riverdance tickets (for monday) and then we are going out to dinner with the staff from ipa. we are booking trains and hostels for this weekend-we are going to cork and kerry to kiss the blarney stone. we are very excited to start our ventures. thursday we are going on a school field trip to county wicklow and glendalough-they have beautiful lakes and scenery. (im not sure how it relates to literature or politics but well see) dad-thanks for the update on the hawks. meg-whats your email address? mom-i am writing in my journal on the days that i dont write here, so dont worry. lauren-this will be a test to see if you can resist ritas for the summer! keep things under control at kiddie academy for me. anyway, i gota run to class. keep posting!
love you
bridget rose

sunday, 7pm, dublin

hey again everyone! today we went to 12:30 mass at our lady of refuge church. it was amazing inside. then we took a cab to an old jail where they held and executed the men from the 1916 rebellion. it was long, kinda boring though. then we used our expired tickets to get on a bus home-but ended up walking about 30 minutes anyway. we made some gross pizza and watched saved by the bell, and i topped off my ben and jerrys ice cream!!! thank god they have it here. right now we are looking up train information to get around the country. the weather was cold today, and it poured for about 5 minutes. we have a friendly stray cat (that we dont touch) in our complex and we named him blarney-he always comes out to see us. last night we just hang out and played some rummy and really got to know each other. classes start tomorrow at 9:30-and we have a 40 minute walk ahead of us. other than that, we are all having a great time exploring and getting to know our new city. i added daddys and laurens email to my blog-dad i think thats what you meant for me to do. well, im sure nothings going on there sinc eyou promised me you wouldnt let anything happen! tell everyone isaid hello and i will be sending some postcards soon. miss you guys!
love
bridge

thursday, 5:30 pm, dublin

hello everyone! well since my phone card is not working you'll have to keep checking this site. i arrived safely this morning around 10:30. my cab driver was super nice and told me lots of ins and outs of the city. the hotel is average-right now i am rooming with alana and maureen. alana will be living with me in the flat. everyone is pretty cool, those that we have met. there is a lot of us to introduce, so hopefully tomorrow at oreintation we can meet everyone. the jetlag is killer, i almost feel asleep at lunch. we wwent to eliza blues restaurant, and i had chicken and mash. it was pretty good actually. then, in an effort to defeat jetleg, we walked down o'connell street to trinity college and just walked around. we didnt see anything special, and i still havent taken any pictures! dublin is a very very busy city, i hope by the end of six weeks i will get used to crossing the street. well, we move in our flats tomorrow at 2:30 and then we are free until monday morning at 9. i have no plans for the weekend yet, but im sure no time will be wasted. thanks for all your help guys-love you all and miss you already :)
bridget rose