9/12/08

Today I had to wake up at 8:45 am (the third day in a row of getting up that early) to make it to the IES center for 10 am. I had to be there that early because I am taking a class at the European Business School. Our orientation for that school was today. It is about a 25 minute walk from the IES center, but thankfully I can take the LUAS a couple stops past where I normally get off and cut it down to a 10 minute walk. Commuting to class is really proving to be a pain in the ass because I have to make sure to allocate enough time to get there. After our EBS orientation where we got id cards (I have way to many id cards in my wallet right now) and toured the library (it is a hell of a lot nicer then the one that IES has, think of IES like a closet and EBS like the first floor of a nice house). We (those of us taking EBS classes) walked back to the IES center because we had a follow-up orientation to supplement last weeks orientation at 11:45 am. All these orientations are a pain in the balls because they go over some of the stupidest things and are just a waste of time I can be using to sleep.
After yet another orientation, IES set up a scavenger hunt through what is known as the city centre in Dublin. We were in teams of four and we had a list of things we had to find and take pictures of or answer questions about. It was a really cool thing because it took us on a walking tour of Dublin that was fun (for example we awkwardly asked this red haired girl in front of Trinity College to take a picture with us because we got bonus points for taking a picture with a person with red hair). There was a hour and a half time limit so we had to hustle, but I had a great time, it was really interesting to see Dublin. We made it to the end point (a pub on Grafton Street) and had only failed to complete one of the tasks. With the level of success that we achieved we won 2nd place, and I won a cd! Not only that, but at the pub that marked the end of the scavenger hunt they bought us all a pint which is always a positive in my book.
After we finished up at The Duke (the pub we were at) Adam, Derrick, Jake and I headed back to the LUAS and headed back to our apartments. We got back and just hung out, I eventually made the same dinner as I had last night and tried to read some of the material that was assigned in class (it didn't go that well). After listening to my new cd, eating and just hanging out I went and laid down for a little bit. I came back to the living room after laying down and had a conversation with a certain special someone. I am now just hanging out in my living room, trying to rest up because I feel run down from the week. I am expecting big things this weekend so I need to have all the energy possible. Tomorrow I think we are going to a local music festival which should be awesome. I also found out last night that the Pogues were playing in Belfast early in December, so I think some of us from IES are going to take the train up to see them. After one week of classes it really seems like it is going to be an interesting semester.