First days in a new life

When you just moved to a totally new country, to a different society and culture than you are used to having around, you don't really comprehend the weight of the change. I have been here in Ireland for four days now and I could not wrap my mind around it yet, I think. It feels so not real. Like... somewhere between a vacation abroad and a funny realistic dream. Some things are already familiar like my bedside table or the kitchen or the route we need to take to the campus. But mostly, everything is new and exciting. And since I don't yet have a sense of settling in here, I don't feel homesick or out of place either. This is really just a holiday as for now.
But not going into detail about that now, since I have A LOT to share about these past four days already! :)

My bags before leaving

First, 'Do you have any kids?' aka my flight to Dublin

I just realised I might get older than I realise. There was this girl on the plane sitting next to me and she turned to me before take-off and asked me a simple question: whether I had children. I got so taken aback I had to ask her to repeat the question - and yes, I heard it right. She supposed I had freaking KIDS of my own. I told her I only had two brothers and was only 20 years old and since she cast me a weird look her mother explained to her that I might not even be married. Which is true - I am not. Not even engaged. And I don't really want to be either. I mean, yeah, okay, maybe in a few years time. But I am not THAT old, am I? Should I already have kids? I am just doing my BA degree, for Merlin's sake! Ridiculous, right?
Other than that, the flight was okay. It was my first time taking a bus to the plane from the gates since when we went to London and back, we just had to walk out of the plane and that was that. Now I could experience what it feels like to actually climb the stairs to the plane just like in the movies. It was fun but the bus was really overcrowded.... Also, this was my first time ever peeing on an airplane. Until now, I did not have the courage to stand up and walk around while in the air but now I got braver - or I just really really needed to pee since the flight took 3 and a half hours, and add all the waiting at the gate and before take-off. It was not THAT horrifying tho, even kinda fun compared to train toilets.
And right before we reached Ireland, the clouds below disappeared and I could take a look at the ocean (or sea or whatever, that huge body of water near the coasts) and you could really see the waves moving and the ships and all, it was amazing. And a few smaller islands, I haven't even known there were islands there. Such an awesome view! It was well worth sitting at a window seat - even though I had this slightly annoying but friendly small girl next to me all the time.
And finally, when we landed in Dublin, everybody was clapping. I knew from movies and from my boyfriend's strories that it is a thing but on my two previous flights nobody did so. :D

Landing at Dublin

With the small girl on the plane

Taking the bus to Limerick

So after we landed and finally got off the plane, and also reclaimed our baggages, we fought our way out to the parking lot. There were just so many buses and companies and all, it was really hard to find the right bus stop. But then we got lucky and coud catch an earlier bus than we were supposed to take - even though our tickets were not for that one, they let us board. With that, we could catch an earlier bus to Limerick as well, so we were one and a half hour before ourselves by the time we left Dublin. With our freaking heavy baggages and tired bodies, we just lay back at the back seat of the bus and tried to sleep. I could not doze off with my mind abuzz with all the happenings so I just ended up trying to take pics of the cows outside. There were SO MANY cows it was crazy. Cows and cows and cows everywere. And green grass all around. Wonderful sight, believe me.

So many cows!

Arrival

But like this, by the time we got off the bus I was so exhausted I felt dizzy. It could be due to the flight or because of the two painkillers I have previously taken for my headache, I dunno, but I was really tired. But then we had to unpack our bags and we had tea and a nice chat with the landlady and she also took us to the local Lidl to buy some basic grocery stuff. After that, we went to the Stables, the pub located on campus. I had my very first Guinness there and we danced a bit - or rather, the others were dancing and I was mostly just watching as I have not drunk enough for dancing but I did not want to spend more money on drinks when they cost so much and I haven't even gotten my scholarship yet. The party was really good though and the place is big and properly lit, as opposed to our campus pub at home, which is really just a dark pit. What surprised me is that the party ended at midnight and the Stables closed. In Hungary, a party just STARTS at midnight and lasts until the first buses come and take you home in the morning. Strange. But I was grateful for the early finish because I was really tired. So we took a taxi back to the house (it does not cost that much if you share the price but still.... I will try to stick to bikes I think).

My first Guinness

Day one!

Which brings me to my next point, my first whole day in Limerick! It was a nice Thursday. ;)
The house I am staying at and renting a room is a bit far from campus so I can't simply walk there, I need to ride a bike. Which is not a problem, really, I have been riding bikes all my life. :D But the bike I got seems a bit unsafe and gave me a really hard time the first day. We cycled to campus and back twice this day, and since the saddle was too low for me, I could not straighten my legs and was also unable to put in enough force. By next morning, the landlord raised my saddle so all is well but Thursday was a nightmare. Also, the first time riding that bike I had problems with the shifter, it would just not move properly or do anything really, but I checked out some videos on the internet and the second time we went to campus I managed to make it do what I want it to do. :D
At campus, we had an introduction to Irish language class, it was really fun!! I was 100% sure I would take the class anyways and this session only strengthened my determination. Gonna be hard but really cool! :) And later, in the evening, we had a free dinner at Stables! I was so surprised, thought it was going to be just a slice of bread or something, but they actually had a few options you could choose from and they also gave apples and brownies. So nice and okay, it did not taste that good, but hey it was for free and it is really nice of them.

During the day I also realised how freaking friendly and helpful everybody is. The people at the International Education Division are just sooo kind and efficient at the same time, I was awed. And even random people in the supermarket or on the streets, or our landlady and landlord, they are all unbelievably nice and great

As I did not get a lot of sleep the previous night, I went to bed quite early and slept tight.

The creepy statue in front of the main building

Second day, starting to get used to stuff

And Friday came. We had to get up and go to the university in the morning to take a placement test for our EFL classes - turned out the cert we had from the online Erasmus language assessment was perfectly enough so we just had to write on a paper that we took that test and put down our results. According to that test, I am a C2 level speaker or English (ha-ha, no way, I am only C1, but okay, fine).
Cycling is much better and less exhausting with the saddle raised. Or maybe I am just getting used to it? :D Just like I am getting used to the traffic and don't always expect cars from the other direction....
This day I saw freaking seagulls strolling on the grass at campus. Even without seagulls, the campus is awesome though. It is so HUGE we even have a river going through and the bridge that takes you to the other parts of campus. This bridge is called The Living Bridge and you can actually feel it moving under your feet while standing on it! Not to mention they have free wifi in all buildings, not even protected with password. Just there for the taking. So cool!

Yes, the grass is this green, even on campus

The river on campus, from the Living Bridge

Third day we went to the city centre

We got buses taking us into the centre of Limerick, which is not that close to campus and even further away from the house. We visited the Milk Market which is really fun and it took me a lot of effort not to buy anything but I really did not need any of that. At least that's what I keep telling myself. They don't just sell food but also books and clothes and accessories and really anything you can imagine from saws to mirrors. Sweet chaos.
As the girls I am hanging out with seem to adore Primark we went to Penneys which is the equivalent here. That shop is AMAZING, they have everything from clothes to toys and they even have a Harry Potter themed collection! Pillows, blankets, sheets, PJs, mugs, notebooks.... It was so hard for me not to buy any of it. Or rather, all of it. Once I get my scholarship I am going back and buying myself a few gifts. And maybe for some friends too... :)
Apart from shopping we didn't really do much, not just because we did not have much time but mostly because it started raining. Strangely enough, it did not rain at all on my first (full) day in Ireland. I suppose I just got extra lucky to have nice weather for a whole day. But this luck only lasted for a single day, so we had to hurry with the bikes from the university so that we would not get soaked up. But the visit in the city was all worth it, not just for the Penneys and the Milk Market but also for the street performers! Irish people seem to have a very good musial talent AND good voice. Blimey, even little kids did play some music and a small girl (I think she was arounf 4 or so) danced to it. True street performers, so young, so great! Our hearts melted.
I also bought more food in Lidl and cycling now feels almost fun... :)

I need a bed like this

Long day spent discovering rocks

And so we came to the last day of this week: Sunday. Today, we had to get up kinda early to catch the bus at the university that took us on a bus trip! It costed 30EUR so I was not sure whether I wanted to join in but then I did make up my mind and buy the ticket and I say it was really worth it! Even though the weather was not ideal for sightseeing.... And despite the fact that we almost suffocated (or melted away) in the heat on the bus in the first half an hour before someone solved the problem and we could get the heating down a bit.
First we had a stop at a beach where you could actually smell the salt in the air coming from those big waves. Surfers dotted the water in spite of the bad weather and we could walk down the sandy sea shore close to the edge of the water without getting our shoes soaked up. It was really nice but we only spent there a very short time, like 15mins or so.
The next stop was the Cliffs of Moher. First we were really disappointed because the fog was so thick we couldn't see shit, let alone the cliffs.... But then the sun started to break through the clouds and the wind blew away some of the fog so we could finally take a look at that magnificient sight! We also walked along the edge off the cliffs for a while but it was really muddy and slippery, so freaking dangerous for my knees. I did my best not to dislocate them and I succeeded but I still shiver at the thought... And the view was all worth it. I even took some pictures before the fog crept back and hid the cliffs again in its thick blanket.
After that, we stopped once at a rocky-cliffy sea shore which looked amazing, especially since the sun started shining and the clouds drew back for a while. Then we stopped at a bay and did basically nothing but used the toilet in a tea house and sat there watching seagulls. For the last stop, we went to some kind of ancient stone statue, basically a few big stones erected in the middle of a rocky field. It was kinda nice but since we had already seen so much stone earlier today we couldn't realy appreciate the sight. But the landscape was absolutely breathtaking all the way there and back - though I dozed off in the bus on the way back, being totally exhausted by now.
By the time we got home we were starving, so first thing was to gather in the kitchen and eat. One of the girls (Eszter) offered me to eat from her mushroom soup and it was really tasty. Apart from that, I only had toast and veggies. I really need to start cooking. Actual cooking, not just the soup powders I used so far.

Finally got a view of the cliffs!

Just enjoying this beauty

And tomorrow we have the first day of the semester, classes and all, so I just hope we can find all classrooms in time and also have fun at the classes.

Some random crazy shit

• First things first, Ireland is really just SO GREEN. Vivid green. Everywhere. Crazy.
• They sell really fat carrots in Lidl, they are so thick I couldn't believe it at first.
• They don't have one single tap for water, they have two: a hot one and a cold one. It seems sooo not practical. Why then?
• There is a DJ at Stables who is like 60 or 70 years old and has a big belly and it's just so weird seeing him doing all this disco music.
• Not as many redheads as I thought they had but the kids are mostly actually redheads. They are so cute. But I have no idea what happened that their parents do not have red hair. Do they grow to be brown and blond or what?
• No gates seem to be closed. And there are stone walls everywhere which is on one hand really fancy and on the other kinda unsafe as they are so low. Is there no robbery here?
• Also, most of the houses seem to have their own names. And also roundabouts. Isn't that crazy?
• Irish people will ask you 'How are you?' all the time. They never actually want to know about it, and never wait for the answer. I kept answering for days before realising this is just their way of saying 'Hi'. Now I just say it back and they seem much more pleased with it.
• The houses are really similar to each other by the way. There is not much diversity neither in shape nor in colour. It is so strange to see these uniform homes. But it has its charm.
• I have seen no rainbows yet. Maybe because I am not looking at the sky all the time, but it is always wet and often sunny, yet there are no rainbows. So how the heck should I find the leprechauns and the pot of gold?
• Finally, I could see no real forests or old shitty houses on the countryside. Is it possible that they only have new or renovated houses? And just grass and those miles long stone walls with a few trees but no actual forest?