A Quiet Week

Happy Weekend friends and family!

Ok, well it is my weekend, I know it's only Thursday but I hope you have a happy Friday tomorrow!

Not too much has happened this week but I'll give you a little update!

If I recall correctly I last posted on Thursday. I woke up very early, before 7:00am, to go to Immigration to register as a student. Our whole group went together and we had to wait until 9:00 to even get in the line to get a number to wait in the next line. It's a new rule they have for students studying here, and these rules change all the time so it was anyone's guess what it would be. At 9:00 we all got up and joined the already really long line. Got a number, mine was 123 and sat down to wait for a booth to be open to speak to an immigration officer. When I sat down is was a little before 10:00 and they were at number 58. Clearly having a little time to kill Kate and I walked next door, got a Pringles snack pack, which they literally sell everywhere here, walked back and ate them. At this point we had made it all the way to number 74. Woo-hoo! Our group started with numbers around 88 and ended at 125.

When I was finally called I gave the man all my paperwork and he walked away for ten minutes. When he came back he said he had to call the department of education because I needed more paperwork to be able to work here. I reassured him all I was doing was going to school. He said that was great and handed me back all my information. Then when he was trying to scan my credit card the officer's wife called so he told me my credit card was invalid and that he needed a different card. In reality he just couldn't hold the card swipe still enough with one hand to get it to read. When all was said and done I had spent almost half an hour in the booth, on average everyone else spent less than 10.

While waiting for immigration to turn my passport and ID back over to me several of us sat and watched the news, read, colored and played cards games. Naturally, as my luck would have it I was the last person called pushing our stay at immigration to 1:00pm and thus nearly 5 hours in the lobby.

We were so thankful to get out of there we immediately stopped in a pub for a celebratory drink. Since it was such a lovely day we headed back to the apartments and sat on the porch listening to music and watching the sun set over the rooftops of Dublin.

The next morning, Claire, our head resident took us to a flee market hosted by a local pub in the back car park. There were several little booths selling jewelry, books, cds, clothes and baked goods. This is a picture of the cutest cupcakes they were selling:

Yep! Sesame Street cupcakes! There was also a Big Blue Bus where you could buy delicious pizzas and rent hookahs.

We sat outside enjoying the lovely weather, though it was a bit cold but I suppose it is January so I can't complain too much since it was probably nearly 30 degrees.

This is a picture of the gals, sitting around the heater, which is that giant pole on the side there.

Sunday was a quiet day, mostly homework and lounging. This week flew by quite quickly. This weekend is the traditional music festival in Dublin so hopefully we will be able to have a few pints and listen to some fantastic music. Aaron, my co-RA and myself have plans to visit Bray again this weekend with whoever would like to join us for the actual hike to Greystones, more lovely pictures to come!

Have a fantastic weekend. I am thinking of all of you often. Miss you lots!

Love,

Annie