First full day: Orientation

So today, once again, I woke up at about 6am...I'm really getting tired of this jet lag thing. I miss sleeping in. Anyway, the lady in charge of the study abroad program is coming to pick the three of us up today at about 10 to show us around. Thank god. Because as much as I like walking, I think I'd rather know where I'm walking to before I get there. It's too cold to wander around. And, more importantly, we need a grocery store. I have to get shampoo and soap, and a toothbrush, because I apparently decided to leave my toothbrush and toothpaste in the hotel in London...Genius move. Oh, and a towel...That's an important thing.

I took these pictures standing outside waiting for the CEA lady to pick us up for orientation:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=184944&id=501203437&l=b2e50b0779

4 hours later...

I just got done with orientation. Everything seems pretty simple, and! The main quad looks like Hogwarts.

I was pretty excited...Haha. Aside from that, we took a tour of the campus, which is actually smaller than I was expecting, which will be nice. They have 2 bars ON CAMPUS. Just there, part of the school. Selling drinks all day, every day. Pretty cool (no Mom, I'm not planning on getting drunk and going to class). We found out about the trips that we'll be going on as a group. And, because I know you're all SO interested, here they are:
January 18: Beer tasting, traditional music and a meal.
February 20 and 21: Weekend #1. Tour of the Jameson distillery, trip to Blarney castle and the Blarney Stone, and trip to Cork Gaol (Old Cork Jail). There's a possibility that St. Finbarre's Cathedral will be added to this also.
March 12-14th:Weekend #2. School sponsored trip to the Ring of Kerry.
April 3rd: Day trip to Cobh and the Titanic Museum. Cobh was the last stop the Titanic made to pick up passengers.
April 24th: A possible boat trip or maybe a play. She wasn't sure yet, since the schedules for plays aren't available yet.
And finally, a farewell dinner in May after exams.
The CEA director person also took all 3 of us out to lunch. We went to this little restaurant across the river from our apartment. It was really good, and she gave us a lot of useful information while sitting there. For example; I could be fined about 2,000 euros for smoking in a building! Good thing I'm used to the smoking laws in America...
We also found out that Ryanair has flights from Ireland to pretty much anywhere in Europe for about 5 euros...So there may be some traveling happening on our own also.

Next on the schedule for today: Find our way to St. Patrick's Street (the main street through Cork) and get some living essentials. I need a towel and shampoo...I would like to take a shower, thanks.

OK. So we finally went grocery shopping, and let's just say it was an experience. First of all, shopping bags cost money, so you have to bring your own bags. It felt a little weird shoving ham and cheese into my purse...ANYWAY. We succesfully got about 40 euros worth of groceries and worked out a shopping schedule with one of the other girls, so it all seems to be working out. We also went to St. Patrick's street, where we saw lots of places from home. A few examples: The Body Shop, Game Stop, Gap, Burger King, McDonalds, and Claire's. I finally got towels, shampoo and a toothbrush (thank God), so now I can get all clean. Yay! I'll make sure and get some pictures of St. Patrick Street later, it was getting dark when we were there, so I couldn't. It's a pretty cool area though.