Rainy Day

Today's a pretty shitty day. It's been raining a lot. I haven't even been outside, and i don't plan on. Last night was Kathia's going away party; she's leaving tonight. aww... i'm gonna miss her around, that crazy girl haha. I also went to the cinema yesterday with Zosia. it was free, because she works there, so she got me free tickets. yehhhh.! we saw Jindabyne. it was good, and i think it was made in Wales. basically about these 4 men who went on a fishing trip and found a dead girl's body. they left it there, and the town basically turned against them because of it. it's kinda weird how the film was shot, but in a good way. i love seeing foreign films. after too many American films, it gets a little boring. i still need to visit the Irish Film Institute someday!

yesterday was also Joie's birthday. i didn't end up going out with her and others at the bar, since i was tired and stayed home for Kathia's party instead, but her and Ray showed up at my house after anyway! it was pretty cool that i actually got to see her at the end.

anyway, since i haven't uploaded any pictures recently, i just did a bunch for your viewing pleasure. enjoy!

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KATHIA'S PARTY AT ZOSIA'S FLAT (May 25th)


(me and Daniela, getting ready)


(Julien, me, and Eric, Kathia's brother, on the rooftop balcony)


(me, Eric, Kathia, and Daniela)


(me and Zosia)


(me and Caroline, the girl whose bed i replaced at my flat)




(me and Ray, Mr. Vancouver himself)


(Peter, a cool Polish guy who i might travel to Poland with.... hopefully!)



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USIT SOCIAL TO WICKLOW AND GLENDALOUGH (May 26th)


(April, Suzi and myself, at Dublin Bay)


(i'm impressed Ray made it, seeing how drunk he was the night before, haha!)


(Bono's house, and Enya's castle)


(coffee and scones with my fellow Canadians)


(where Guinness comes from)


(view from the bus)


(a break for pictures.... beautiful views!)


(USIT Globetrotters!)


(at Glendalough... touching this is supposed to bring good health)


(gorgeous views from the monastery)


(playing with my digital macro)




(chillin at the pub at Trinity College)


(Kathleen, Ryan, Pete, and i.... chillin on my bed)


(playing around on our cameras)


(Yay for clubs and backrooms! haha kidding...)

Canon

so today i had my "interview" with the people from Canon. it went well. i took the Luas. the Luas is like a cross between the subway and the RT. but better! anyway, i got lost going to Canon, and i had to go in a random business building to ask for directions. and then it started to HAIL. i would never in a million years think that Dublin would hail. it was kinda weird. i mean... it rains all the time, it never snows, but it hails? hm.

so anyway, i was lost, wet, and cold. but i finally made it there, and honest to god, i met two women there, and all they wanted to know was how long i was staying in Dublin and when can i start, and whether i can start on thursday. of course i said it was fine. but i was somewhat disappointed. i actually kind of prepared for this, and was hoping this meeting would be longer, since i travelled all that way. oh well. so i start work on thursday, and i have no idea what i'm going to do for the next two days. probably hang out and read. visit st. stephan's green, since i only passed by it and never really went in. and visit the library. haha. we'll see.

anyways, i'm bored now, so im going to go watch The L Word. it's supposed to be a really good show!

PS. thanks for the comments! Mrs. Rowe: i'm definitely gonna try a lager and lime next time (hey that rhymes!) but i tried a Guinness last night, and it's actually quite good!

USIT Social

My job on Thursday went super well. worked for daft.ie, a website for selling, renting and other property related issues in ireland. i actually have an account on daft myself! the actual work was pretty boring. all i did was help them put together these folder packages for their conference the next day. i finished the first part pretty fast, and was literally sitting there for maybe over an hour, since no one would give me something else to do. i even started texting Suzi and complaining about how bored i was. but despite that, the people i worked with were really friendly and nice, and now i kept in touch with Angela, the girl who helped me get started that day.

friday night, went to Zosia's new flat for a going-away party for Kathia. it was super fun! i got to meet a lot of new people, mainly french and polish. haha. but there was one Aussie guy, and 1 Irish guy. i also met some SWAP people! it was grand. (ps... i am starting to use Irish lingo haha weeeeird) anyway... yeah, it was a fun night. Kathia got sooooo schmammered hahahaha!

yesterday was our USIT May Social! yeeaahhh!! when i got to the meeting place at 8:45am, almost everyone was like, "bllleeuuughhh.... i almost wanted to keep sleeping!" haha it was so early. but honestly, the entire day was awesome. the weather was perfect, and the views were exceptional. we first drove around Dublin and had a small city tour. then we drove to Co. Wicklow, took some pictures by the bay, drove a bit more, stopped by a valley for more pictures, then drove a bit more. we stopped by this pretty horticulture garden place for coffee and scones, and their scones were sooo good. haha pricey, but worth it. i can't believe how lucky we got in regards to the weather. :) :) i met some pretty awesome people as well. mostly people from Canada and USA. haha so sad. anyway, we eventually drove to Glendalough, a monastic cemetery full of gravestones, 6thC churches, and fantastic views. a little personalized tour from our bus driver, who, by the way, was perfect for the role. haha he was personable, friendly, and informative. then we got some time to ourselves to explore a bit, which was nice. i mainly just hung out with Suzi, April, a girl from California, and Joie. i forgot where she's from, but somewhere in the US i'm guessing. we bough some amazing ice cream cones there as well. haha

after we got back to the city, a bunch of us ended up going to the pub at Trinity College just to hang out, talk, and such. it was nice. but then it starting pouring haha bad timing, but at least we were indoors.

that night, i hung out with Kathleen, Pete and Ryan. Pete and Ryan are some guys i met at the Social during the day. they all go to UofWaterloo. haha it's funny to think... i came all the way to Ireland just so i can hang out with people from WATERLOO. hahaha but we had fun.

and i'm tired right now. i gotta go shower, then do some grocery shopping. going to Killiny later with Kathia (my flatmate) and some of her friends. Should be lovely, to see the beach and get some fresh air. anyway.... i'll post some pictures later. it will take too long to upload right now. toodles!

Pub and Apt

last night, Suzi, Kathleen and i went out to this nice pub near the USIT center (Messrs Maguire) and made buddies with the bartender, Derek. he was cool, but he probably thought we were annoying tourists. ha. i tried one of their home-brewed beers, Weiss, which was good, but had a weird aftertaste. but i got used to it. we asked Derek why they weren't playing Irish music, and he said that Irish people think that Irish music is annoying. as if playing Spice Girls and TLC isn't. ha! and then we got some delicious Irish chocolate for free, that were meant to be for customers who ordered coffee or cappuccino. haha oh well. after we finished our pints, Derek asked us if we wanted another, but we thought he asked if we wanted more chocolate, so we said yes! he came back with two Weisses, and we were like, "uhhh...... i thought you meant if we wanted candy!" haha! he gave us a look and poured the two perfectly tapped beers down the drain. we felt soooooooo bad, so we left a nice tip for his troubles. haha.





this morning I finally moved in to the apartment! Susan is super nice to me now, haha. i think the first time she saw me she was just upset because of the drama between her and Kathia and the other girls who lived there before me. i don't know. anyway, all is good now. i bought a new duvet cover for 6 euros ($9)! yay! they're pretty :) i'm living with an Italian girl (Daniela) and a Swedish girl (Klara).

today, i tried going to the social welfare building again to get my PPS # (which is equivalent to the SIN number in Canada, for work). apparently, the utility bill i brought in as proof of my address wasn't good enough, since the bill wasn't in my name. it sucked. now i have to go there again tomorrow. bah.

in the afternoon, i walked by Trinity College again, and took some pictures. found their soccer field and saw some students playing cricket! i've never seen cricket in real life before! it was cool. had an amusing conversation with a woman sitting on the bench where i was, while watching cricket. and then La Creme called me for a job tomorrow! yay! but only tomorrow. haha.. damn. but better nothing!







just before wandering back to the apartment, i came across this little indie cinema called the Irish Film Institute. yeah! I LOOOOVE indie movies! (Princess Cinemas in Waterloo?) anyway, so i took some brochures and hopefully I'll have some time next week to see something good.

anyway, us 3 (me, Daniela and Klara) hung out for a bit once Klara moved in. Daniela cooked us all dinner. mmm pasta! it was really nice of her, and delicious! now, Klara's out at some concert with her friends, and Daniela and i are home just hanging out. well.... i'm blogging. haha. but yeah, i'm gonna sleep soon. i have a bunch of errands to run before work. so.....ta-ta!

Job Int

it went great today, i didn't do too well on the Microsoft Excel testing, but i'm pretty sure i'm still getting a job. Caitriona, the woman who interviewed me said she'll forward my CV (resume) to Canon. whoo hoo! and when she finds a job for me she'll give me a ring (a call). oh, and whoever invented high heels is crazy. i don't know how business women can wear those all day. i wore little heels today for about 5 hours and my toes were all squished!







ps: regarding saturday when i went to Oleg's house, i know it wasn't the best idea, but it was for me at the time, so.... don't worry!! i'm fine!!

Drama

oh my god.. the past couple of days have been absolutely full of ups and down. and i'm not meaning the weather, although that was pretty messed up too. friday was my last night at the Kinlay House hostel and i couldn't book anything for Sat. night, so i was pretty desperate to get a place. got a hostel for sunday. friday evening, this girl, Caroline, called me and said she needs 2 people to fill their place immediately. so only i went to see it. it was awesome, right at the temple bar! so i agreed for both Suzi and myself. next morning, saturday (the CRAZY day, and you will soon see) at 10am, i showed up at the apartment, and of course, she wasn't home. i called her sooo many times, and no answer. finally after 30 minutes, she called me back and told me she wasn't home, and would be back in 1-2 hours. oh, AND that now she only needs one person instead of two because she accidentally gave the other bed to someone else. so i'm not living with Suzi anymore, she was ok with it though. so i found some little rotunda/park place nearby and hung out for 2 hours. i felt like a bum. so i cried a bit, cuz being a bum is so not cool. it was pretty shitty. and then it started to rain. :( finally got into the apt after 2 hours, and everything was fine. went out and did a tour of Dublin Castle, which was beautiful!
















(this is the moat, with a little arch for boats coming in)

around 6pm, i went back to the apt. to shower and get ready to go to Erin's house. Erin is this girl i met through SWAP. she's been here for a while. i met her and her friends on friday night, and they seemed like a good bunch. she was having people over for homemade Irish stew. :) best meal i've had in a while! after that, a bunch of us went to The Celt, for some drinks, good convos and some Irish music! i drank water, because i'm a loser. and poor. haha.



ironically, Erin couldn't even make it, cuz she was feeling sick, so she stayed home. the pub was good times....until a HUGE fight broke out. of course, our group chose to sit at the table closest to the window and the fight outside, so we had like first row seats. ha. but it was really scary! it's actually the first fight i witnessed! i usually avoid situations like that. it was intense! i don't really know how it got so big, but i think it started with some guy getting kicked out for being too drunk. but whatever... it's not a big deal. minutes later, 4,5 guys were full out fist fighting! it ended up with one of the guys lying on the ground unconscious for a while, with blood pouring from his head. i thought he died! he came around after a while, and tried to stand up. he was staggering a LOT; bleeding head + really drink + thinned blood due to the alcohol. anyway, the second guy (ripped shirt) called the police (garda... garda = police) and the ambulance showed up not too long after. third guy was also beat up, but i don't really know how he got into the fight. anyway, he was staggering a lot too. at one point, i THINK he got pushed or something, and he was falling back. i thought he was gonna hit the ground, but he fell on a car, which held him up. but i guess because he was a big guy, and he fell backwards really hard, he actually dented the car! all in all...it was just crazy. well, a bunch of us left the place right after all that drama was done.

but WAIT! my night of drama wasn't over yet.

by the time i got back to the apartment, i realized i forgot my keys!!!!! ok, shit. i kept calling Zosia, this girl who lived there and was moving out the next day. she's super nice. but she turned her phone off, and there was no way i was getting in. at this time, it was 1:30am. luckily, the Indian restaurant two doors down (yep, i'm neighbours with an Indian restaurant! awesome!) was still open, so i sought refuge in there for an hour and a half. the people working there were really nice about it. i left after 1.5 hours, and went walking to find a hostel to stay at. nothing. everything was full. i even started going into the nicer, more expensive B&B's. all full. by that time, i was pretty desperate and in a REALLLLY bad mood. i had absolutely nowhere to go. and i was cold. so i went into a McDonald's (i guess this one was open 24 hrs) and sat down at a table. two guys sat down at my table after a few minutes, since all the other tables were full. i didn't care. i was all antisocial and completely ignored them. after a few minutes, i left and went to the bathroom to call Jimmy, a good friend of mine in Toronto. i just started crying and complaining and venting. it was nice of him to listen to me bitch about stuff. and he was super supportive. it made me feel better. after the call, i went back to the table, and pulled out a sudoku book, to kill time, since i had nothing better to do. i'd rather be sitting in a warm place than wandering the streets. one of the two guys was in the washroom, and the other guy saw me doing sudoku, and started asking me about it. apparently, he did so much of it that he doesn't like it anymore. haha. anyways, it was cool. we started conversing. they are from Lithuania, but the guy i was talking to was Russian, but lives in Lithuania. and he's been working in Ireland for 10 months. anyway, he wondered why i was randomly doing sudoku by myself at a McD's at 3am on a saturday night. so i told him my situation, and after more conversing, he offered to let me crash on his couch. it was kinda weird at first, because we both acknowledged the fact that we did not even know each other, but he said he felt bad just leaving me. now, i know you all must be thinking i'm crazy, going to some random guy's house. but i am actually glad it was him, and not some other person. mainly because he WASN'T drunk, as opposed to EVERYONE else there and on the streets. and he seemed like a decent person. not a thug or anything like that. so i took on his offer. we left McD's and met up with some of their other Lithuanian/Russian friends and hung out by the river for a bit. met some Irish guys and had some convos. i think one of them was trying to hit on me, so i just stood up and walked over to the Russian guy. haha. anyway... by the time we started walking to his house, the sun was coming up, and it was only 4:45am. sunrises are early here, i guess?
the walk took about 1 hour, sooo long! but it was good, i got to see other parts of Dublin that is not the city center.

next morning, i called Zosia again, and she apologized for turning her phone off. i bussed home pretty much right away. when i got there, i hung out a while, and suddenly, the woman who's name is in the lease burst in the room and started yelling at me. she thought i was already living there. well, we lied and said i wasn't. apparently, the lease starts on the 23rd of each month. and i guess before i came along, they were having problems with her. anyway, she really shocked me with her outburst and rudeness. anyway..... i convinced her that i am not gonna live there and i'm living in a hostel. after more drama in the house between that landlord woman (Susan) and on of the other girls who lived there (Kathia), i got some time to talk to her. she apologized for the outburst and said it was okay that i lived there, but i can only move in on wednesday. i said okay. sooooooooo..... now my luggage is at the place, and i am staying in another hostel. it's kind stupid of Susan though, i think, because honestly, no one is sleeping on that bed, and i'm wasting money on 3 night's worth of hostelling. *sigh*... anyway. it's alright.

to conclude my too-long entry, i have a job interview tomorrow, which i'm super excited for! i really hope i get it, even though it's gonna be a shitty job. i need disposable income! or.... just income in general! i need food. haha. alright. anyways, i'm getting kicked out of here soon (hostel lounge....getting kicked out? weird) so i'll just post later!

Of Education, Beer, and Politics

Yay so my pictures uploaded! now i can write an entry with visuals. haha...
so yesterday, Suzi and i pretty much spent the whole day looking for a place to live. We walked a lot, but saw a lot of cool places too! and you'll never guess what i found!!



YES!!!!!!! TIM HORTONS IN DUBLIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sadly, they did not sell Tim Horton's coffee, only donuts. it still got me excited though!!!!! i almost had a heart attack!! haha kidding.

we decided to walk to Trinity College, to see if there were any board postings about student sublets. the campus was very pretty! one weird thing though... no was one allowed to walk on the grass. what kind of university campus won't allow people to go on the grass?! there were also a bunch of statues of smart people, haha.


(trying to look "smart")


me and a smart statue!

the campus also held the Book of Kells. I actually just learned what it was yesterday. basically, it is this really famous medieval book written by monks or gospels with religious passages and pictures. unfortunately, the exhibition wasn't open that day, so we decided that we will go again another day to check it out. walking around more, we came upon this man drawing on the street, it reminded me of the people drawing on Young and Dundas.





Anyway, later on that night, i went on a walk by myself to see if there are any "For Rent" signs. there were none, but i eventually walked by the Guinness Storehouse. it was situated in a pretty sketchy-looking part of the city. I had no idea where i was. oh well. here are some pics.








(i don't know what this building was for, but wouldn't it be funny if this was the building people go when they've drank too much? haha!)

anyway, i also suppose it is almost time for people to vote. for something..... i don't know what. but there are posters of politicians ALL OVER the city. mainly on light posts.








!!!

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anyway, in other news... i miss Toronto. my hostel is great, and i haven't gone out at night at all. stupid jet lag. coffee is STRONG. haha there's this one brand of coffee, it's called "Insomnia"... very rightly named! haha! good and strong. um... what else? oh, traffic here is crazy! not as crazy as NYC, but still! i never know what street i'm on. the street signs (if there even is one at that particular location) is on the wall of some building, but not on all buildings, so it's really hard to see. the roads are not neat grids, it goes many different ways. so if you're lost, locals are more than willing to help! but i've noticed that they give really vague directions. they'll tell you where to walk and where to turn left, or right.... but they don't tell you which STREET to turn on! like, yesterday, Suzi and i were trying to find this street, and we asked this cute old man on the street, and seriously, this is what he said: "go up this road, and turn right. keep walking and turn left at the traffic lights!" hahahaa oooooh man. hilarious. we eventually found our way by looking at a map. haha. oh well.

anyways, this post is long enough. i'm going to go get some food. toodles!