Finally.

I went down this morning and played the only slightly bitchy American and explained that yes, I had tried swiping my keycard many different ways and no, my door still wouldn't lock and that I needed it to by 4:30 today. The lady was actually understanding and listened this time, and they came and fixed it while I was in class. My door locks, and now I'm on my way to register before we take off for homestay.
Love to all!

By the way, dear readers who are rather silent...I love it when you comment. Feel free to do so more often because I love you and want to hear from you. Emails are also acceptable.

Grr. Argh.

Apparently, whatever people have been saying about Skype "only needing an administrative code" to work was pure crap. Nothing but crap. The IT guy has just informed me that he can't do anything about it. It sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. He told me to try AIM, MSN and/or Google Talk, all in a very smug way. Jerk.
In short, those of you reading this, I shall endeavor to find a way of communication, but if not, then we shall have to resort to facebook and emails. Curse the crappy network at NUIM. I'm going to go have chocolate. Hopefully the new housemate we're supposed to get tomorrow is nice...

Happy, happy day!

I am literally doing little happy dances around my room. I have clean clothes. I have a closet (half) full and a drawer (half) full of clean, nice smelling, fresh-from-the-dryer clothes! Nothing has been pulled out of a suitcase and nothing has already been worn YYYYYYAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aside from my unreasonable excitement over the laundry, I'm on my way to get ready for a girls night out, since Gabby and several of us feel like we've been spending way too much time around just the guys. It should be a fun evening.

Holy shit is the only phrase strong enough at the moment.

Johnny, my lovely freshman flatmate, has decided to have a party in my flat. There are now 6 people in my room that are not me, only two of which were invited in by me. There are a least thirty people in here. I am so angry at him. I don't mind a party, but it would be nice if he at least asked/warned us. Grr. Ugh. Ick. I'm never going to get to sleep.

Edit: Two hours later, security came and broke it up. Sarah and I explained that we had nothing to do with it, and the guards seemed relatively understanding. The male one obviously isn't fond of people from Carrick, which Johnny is. Johnny still has a girl here, and they're talking rather loudly in the kitchen, but at least it's not thirty people anymore.

Maynooth at Last

I'm mostly settled into my flat now. I just have a few random things here and there that I'd like to get, as well as some more food. I have internet in my room now, though I'm having serious issues with Skype. I can't get it to work for the life of me, so I'm not exactly happy about that. I'm skipping a meeting right now because it's just the economics and biology departments talking about classes, so I thought I'd use this time for lunch and to figure out my time table for my classes. I'm also going to try and figure out Skype. Oh yeah, and I can't get my door to relock. We have keycards, and if you swipe them a certain way, it leaves it open, which I did last night when I was going in and out a lot, but the swipe to relock it won't work. I can use the deadbolt when I'm in here, but I want to be able to lock it when I leave. I have to figure it out soon. Maybe Anung will help me.

I've met three of my four flatmates, and we're waiting on the fifth. I'm really hungry, so I'm going to go make lunch and figure out my door, but I'll write more about them later.

I'm sitting in the little alcove of a pub right now, having an incredibly amusing conversation with three very precocious Irish children whose parents are in the main pub, watching the rugby game. I really want to buy a rugby shirt. They're actually kind of cute, and it would be fun to have. I should. These kids are very amusing. They're hams. There's a brother and sister and their cousin. 12, 10, and 9. At the moment, they're guessing my dad's age. Oh right, there's a 5 1/2 year old that's busy drinking his Sprite and not talking. I think he's shy. They're making me giggle a lot. Aww, there's a little black haired one with thick glasses. Apparently, she's developmentally disabled. She's absolutely precious, and very, very shy. Anyways, Daddy is bugging me because even after taking 25 minutes to type one email, it wouldn't send, and he wants to try it again. The children just ran away. I suppose I'll give him the computer again, despite the fact that he takes forever to get anything done.

It was so neat getting to see the McGowan house today. I mean, my great great great grandpa touched those stones and built that house over 100 years ago. SO COOL!!!!! The owners weren't at home, but we walked around the outside, took pictures, and made their dogs bark. Cute dogs.

We're in Portrush now, at another B&B. The man that runs it is uberfriendly, and I really like him. We've decided that tonight is a lazy night. We're just watching tv and I'm chatting with people on Skype. We'll get up early tomorrow and visit the Giant's Causeway and Dunluce Castle. It should be fun.

Clean and rested.

(This is from yesterday, but the B&B wouldn't let me use blogger there.)
I'm in a tiny little B&B in Trim, Ireland now, jus north of Dublin. It's a nice place, and we're jus getting ready to leave to go see the local castle We're then going to head up to Belfast to do family stuff. It's been fun so far. We met a couple of reall nice guys last night and chatted with them for a fe minutes after dinner. When we came back, I got to chat with Gina for a fe minutes on Skype, which was fun. I'd better go see what my dad is up to He's trying to find a B&B for us to stay in tonight and tomorrow night. Talk to you all later! (This keyboard is different. It's weird.)


And today, we're at a B&B about 300 yards away from Newgrange and Knowth. (Rhymes with south.) We had dinner at a pub last night, and I had my very first Guinness. Not too bad. He won't admit it, but I think Daddy finds it a little wierd to see me drinking. Oh yeah, and we didn't make it to Belfast. We spent so long at the castle that we decided to come see Newgrange and Knowth this morning and drive to Belfast this afternoon. I should actually go so I can take my shower before we take off. It's a bit chilly outside here where I'm stealing someone's wireless. I have no idea whose.

Finally.

I'm sitting in the Dublin airport right now, feeling completely disgusting and wanting nothing more than a shower, a change of clothes, and a cup of very hot, strong tea. (And suddenly, my jetlagged no-sleep brain is singing "A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love." Wow.) Daddy is checking and getting us a car and then I'm going to persuade him to find us somewhere to clean up. I refuse to go a whole nother day like this. Icky.

The flights went well. I slept a little on the one from Newark to Dublin, but it was hard. For some reason, Daddy and I didn't get seated next to each other, so I couldn't even drape myself over him to get more comfy. I was between two really fun, nice ladies though, so it wasn't terrible. I just don't want to be on a plane again for a good, long while. And did I mention, I really, really, really, really want a shower?

Off to see if we have a car!

We leave for the airport in...5 hours or so, and none of us have slept yet. This is going to be a fuuuuuuun day...

Testing, Testing!

At the prompting of my aunt, I started this blog so that family and friends can (sort of) keep track of me while I'm in Ireland. If you're already a friend of mine on LJ, I'll probably just cross post these entries there, so don't worry. You won't have to jump all around and try to keep track of all the different stuff.

And with that introduction, I'm off to pack!