Checking in from Dublin

Hi all,

I have finally found just a bit of time to sit down at a computer. I have been in Dublin now for 5 days. It has been a great experiance so far. I have gotten to meet many people from the program, altough I am still struggling to remember everyones' names.

There hasn't been too much of a culture shock yet, well except for the weather. I has been in the mid 60's since I arrived and has rained constantly since Saturday. Literaly, it rains all the time because it just mists continously. So while I have not experianced and Irish downpour, everywhere I go I just feel damp.

One of the oddest things is seeing everyone drive on the left (or wrong) side of the road. It makes crossing the street a bit more perilous. Fortunately, many of the crosswalks in the city center have "look right" or "look left" printed on them because you have to look the opposite direction for oncoming traffic. I have yet to figure out if this odd driving causes people to walk on the opposite side of a sidewalk, mostly because all the streets are very busy and no on seems to be divided up real well.

I wish that I could post some of my pictures but the computers at the school we are at now won't acept my camera. Hopefully when we move to Trinity College I can post a few. We were supposed to be a Trinity the whole stay but were moved to University College Dublin for 2 weeks. UCD has a nice campus but its about 3 miles out of the center so we essentially have a curfew due to the bus, unless I split an often difficult to find taxi (which are almost never called cabs here).

I took a trip this weekend to a 6th century monastary at Gledelock that had amazing mountian views. There was also a stop at Powerscourt, a huge mansion with acres and acres of magnificant gardens. Have to go get ready for a theatre (that's right- just how the Irish speel it) trip tonight.
Peace