It's a tad late for me, however, I just got back from my first bar experience, and I felt the need to explain what all went on today; and I'm also wide awake now that I'm in my nice warm bed.

After orientation last night we all decided that we were going to attempt the bus system this morning (Friday) and decided to meet at noon. We got a page that someone was at our door at around 11ish from one of the guys that's from Whitewater. He informed us that he was far too homesick and that he had booked a ticket home that night. We were all very saddened since he brings a lot to our group; not to mention he knows Dublin quite well.

So we headed over to the bus stop and managed to be on time and pick up the bus. It only costs 1.05 euro...so I figure I only attend school 3 days a week, so it will cost me 6.30 euro a week to take it to and from. Instead of spending the money for a weekly pass that costs 18 euro. Anyways, it was tons of fun riding the double decker bus to DCU. We then met up with our Australian friends, met some more from the Chek Republic and Italy. We picked up our DCU ID cards - in which they used my passport photo instead of the one I sent.

At 2:30, the university sponsored a bus tour for all the exchange students around Dublin. It was amazing, and all sorts of toursity stuff. haha. That lasted about 2 hours, and we had the best bus driver ever, who gave us a tour of the guiness brewery; even though that's not normally what the drivers do. It was a fun time, however, we were freezing because we sat on the top of the bus the entire time, and only the front part was enclosed...therefore, no heat!

So once we got dropped back off at the University, we went and caught the bus home and then came back and relaxed for a bit. We all planned to go out at around 10pm, so I took a shower and such and sat around till then. It was Adam's last night in town, so he said the first round of drinks was on him and that he wanted to take us to a special bar that he went to when he spent a week in Dublin over the summer.

We embarked on the adventure at around 9:30. With around 35 euro in hand, I was pretty much freaking out! I'm a planned out person and when someone doesn't know the time the bus is supposed to be there, where it's going, and how long it will take, I am not a happy camper. We managed to catch a bus to downtown and walk about 10 minutes till we found The Porterhouse; which is a 4 floor bar in downtown Dublin.

We walked in and it was PACKED. They didn't even check our ID's at the door. I had forgotten mine as we exited our apartments and had to run back...all that running for nothing! ha. It was: 4 girls from Whitewater (Myself, Becky, Melanie and Danelle), 2 guys from Whitewater (Adam and Nick), Vinny (from France), Joey (from Italy), and 2 guys from the Chek Republic.

We made our way up to the 4th floor and found a round table like thing and sat at it the rest of the night. It was a great location. There were windows all around so we could see out onto the street, and we could drape our coats over so we didn't have to deal with them. Adam went to go get our first round of drinks, and I ended up with a "Miami" which contained vodka, malibu, and pineapple juice. Not realizing it had malibu (which is coconut) in it, I tried to drink it down. I hate coconut. I originally asked for a fuzzy navel, but drinks are different here in Ireland.

Adam then procceded to pay for my next drink also (he was getting progressivley drunker as the night went on) which was a "Sex on the Liffy" which contained peach schnapps, some sort of raspberry liquor, and orange juice. So pretty gosh darn close to a fuzzy navel. A live singer then came on and started sining some American songs like Sweet Home Alabama and Wish You Were Here. We took a cab home. split three ways, cost about 6 euro, so grand total I spent about 10 euro the entire night. Seeing as each drink would have cost me around 8 euro...I think I did well!

It was a great time had by all and a great first bar experience! :)

Not neccessarily an entry I want Grandma reading, but nevertheless, I figured I needed to tell about it. I am off to bed and sleeping in. Hoping to catch the Ireland Vs. Italy Rugby game at 3pm tomorrow.

Good night! :)