Weekend Update

Some highlights from the past week:

Weds: I participated in a tournament poker game run by one of the student organizations.  I bought in for 5 Euro and played for about six hours.  We had about 40 people with about 68 buy-ins.  Once the field whittled down to the final table of eight, we left campus and went to a small casino at the top of Grafton Street.  The place was empty (to be fair, it was 11:00pm on a Weds night), but the casino generously provided us with a casino table and a dealer.  Overall finished 5th and won 25 Euro.  The club runs a tournament every Weds night, so I will be back.  I also tried a new gelato flavor: stracciatella.  This is basically the Italian version of chocolate chip vanilla, but it's done with thin strips of chocolate rather than chunks.  Result: heaven!  I also sampled the caramel which seems very promising.

Thurs:  Set out around 8pm to go to the Oktoberfest celebration in the Docklands with my friend Andrew.  Upon arriving, we discovered the line to reach the tent area in the center was over an hour long.  Instead, we sampled the food and beverages from the booths circling the central area (conveniently with no wait).  

 We then enjoyed a quick pint in the Pav, the campus pub.  The crowd was fairly young and not recognizing anyone else we knew, we headed off.  We made our way towards Temple Bar and ended up at a place called Fitzsimmons.  As the weather was nice (it's been 50-60 here since arrival), we headed for the rooftop terrace where we noticed the playoffs were on.  We decided to join three older British men in an attempt to talk sports with them.  They didn't know the first thing about baseball (they also held a firm belief that Americans ate nothing but popcorn and hotdogs), but were spectacular company for the next few hours (even buying Andrew and me a round).

After a short stint on the dance floor, we called it an evening.

Fri: I went to my second week of dance classes where we did about an hour of the waltz and an hour of jive. The waltz was a breeze as I have some experience with it, but the jive is a killer with it's quick pace.

Tame weekend but I'll be going to my first hip-hops class in months tomorrow.  Should be interesting to say the least.

And We're Back!

Quick hits:

1).  LLM classes should be a breeze.  All of my exams will be pass/fail oral or written exams.  There is no required reading/books.  The profs hand out excerpts from articles/books and read them to us in class (I'm pretty sure we've eviscerating a small forest in the first week) and we discuss our opinion on them.  I honestly don't know how to take notes on what we go over.

2). Other Botticelli flavors are just as good as pistachio.  Had amarillo gelato which tasted like generic delicious (maybe birthday cake?).  Can't wait to return.

3).  The gym is far too small.  The school size is about 3x Emory's size with a gym half as big as ours. :(

4).  People in the LLM programs seem to cluster with people from the same country.  Not an absolute rule, but a somewhat unfortunate fact of life.

5).  Went to a dynamite pub tonight called Cobblestone.  They had traditional Irish music and singing.  It's only a few blocks away and easily the most enjoyable experience I've had so far.  This is what you would picture as your typical cozy/warm/joyful pub (sadly it's not typical at all).  Can't wait to return!

6).  Pro tip: whatever people are drinking at a pub, you should drink the same.  This was discovered the hard way when a group of us went to a trendy bar where most people had beer in bottles (this is a bad sign).  When in Rome.....

7).  I want to go to Disney so bad I'm going to explode.  I literally think about it everyday; it's becoming a problem with only one solution (not Disneyland Paris)

8).  Things I miss: Publix, my car, Mega Taco, humongous dryers which de-wrinkle clothes, Montana Freedman, Tuesday night trivia, going to hockey games on short notice, being able to go to Harvest  Moon Ball (as Antoine Dodson), fam & friends

Things I love: being able to walk anywhere, the roommates, new peeps, gelato, Guinness, the sense of adventure. 

Love and Rockets,

Douggie Fresh

Weekend Update

Went to an Australian football game on Saturday.  It's similar to rugby and HUGE in Australia.  Colette's boyfriend Ender played and his team the South Dublin Swans won!  Great success!!!

I spent the remainder of the afternoon enjoying drinks and grilling at the clubhouse.  Had their equivalent of hot dogs, and their sausages put anything we eat to shame.  

Went to a mini orientation for international students today (800 new int students this year).  Interestingly most of the people naturally congregated with people from their own countries.  Also perused the clubs/society booths today.  I'll let you know which ones I joined soon (there will be a few surprises).  

New Music Alert:  Witnessed the crowning of a new champion on the UK show "Must Be the Music."  The singer/songwriter goes by the name Emma's Imagination and her most popular song can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSrIQhGh9lE .  Enjoy!

9/16/10-First Real Night

Went out with Fergal, Collette, and her boyfriend (who play Australian rugby).  Met up with some of their friends and went to two separate pubs on the night.  Hands down the best bar night ever.  People are wonderful to talk to.  Can't wait for what the months ahead hold.  I'll be going to the Irish championships in Australian Rugby on Saturday. Pics and story to come!

9/15/10- Uncle Pennybags Strikes Again (plus food reviews)

Walking up and down the main street in front of Trinity, I had seen lines streaming out of a storefront.  I checked it out a few days ago and saw it was a Fish and Chips place (Leo Burdock).  Fergal highly recommended this place, so I went for lunch.  

For roughly 9 Euro I had a piece of cod and chips (fries) expertly cooked by three older gents.  The check-out guy offered to put on salt (yes) and vinegar (no).  Everything was piping hot out of the frier wrapped with large amounts of paper to soak up the grease.

      Pros: generous portions, fresh, expertly cooked, dynamite chips

      Cons: lack of flavor, too pricey compared to other lunch possibilities

The fish (cod I'm guessing) still had skin on it, but tasted fine.  Overall bland (perhaps I should have had the vinegar).  Any type of sauce would have greatly improved the meal.  The fries were crispy and tasty, the best I've had in a long time (I don't eat fries often, however).  Glad I tried it, but perhaps I'm just  not a fish n' chips kind of guy.  Won't be returning.

Afterwards I went to the Dublin Museum of Archeology and the Dublin Museum of Natural History.  Neither were terribly interesting and each took about 30 minutes to view.  This may seem morbid, but the only saving grace of the archeology museum were body parts preserved thousands of year by bogs.  Very Bones-esque; worth a quick visit if you're into that thing.  Both museums were free, but there's no point in going back.  

After registering at Trinity (my ID photo is on par with a glamour shot), I visited what may, in fact, be my favorite place in Dublin.  If I come home a fatty, this will be the culprit:

Gelato from Botticelli's.  About seven years ago, I went to Italy for a week with my high school Latin class.  I loved Italy and everything about it, but the highlight was the gelato.  I've told people (not jokingly) that I would commit misdemeanors for this stuff.  If you could take ice cream and make it 10x creamier and tastier, you would have gelato.  In particular, Italy put me on to pistachio gelato.  I have since scoured the US for something remotely close, only to be continually disappointed (most pistachio ice cream in the US is average at best, often bad).  Finally, my search has ended.  This scoop set me back 2.7 Euro and I would easily pay 10 for it.  It might not have been as good as Italy's, but it's damn sure close.  After I had a few bites, I went back into the store to complement the workers.  As I walked the streets outside, I thought to myself, "If I were to die right now, I would die a happy man."  I will be back and anyone who comes to Dublin must visit the store.

On a final note, I was taken aback by an unusual sight on the river Liffey:

Someone in Dublin has apparently decided to sell some waterfront property.  Both houses and hotel rooms are available.  Contact this man for further enquiries:

9/14/10- I belong in the ZOO!!!

Went to the Dublin Zoo today (a 30 minute walk in Phoenix Park).  12.50 Euro for about a 3 hour viewing.  While it's not world renown, it's better than the Atlanta Zoo.  Not too much to say, so I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Argus?

Mr. Penguin was very photogenic

9/13/10- To Aurthur!!!

I intended to visit the museums today, but thankfully Colette informed me they were closed on Monday.  Instead I trekked to the Guinness Storehouse.  Aesthetically the storehouse is much more appealing than the Jameson tour.  The Guinness tour, however, is self-guided, which just isn't the same.  The storehouse is around seven stories with admissions on the ground floor and a gravity bar on the top floor.  Each floor has a different theme, but floors 3+ are almost a waste of time.  The tour also feels more like a Guinness promotional tool than an actual tour, not even close to the authenticity of Jameson.   I took enough picks to bring the tour to you!