Almost a week in

I can't believe that i've almost been here a week already! It's been fairly fast-paced over the last five days; i've moved into my dorm, unpacked, been to two orientations, met people and even stocked up on groceries.
I don't know how into detail to go, but i guess i can start with my trip here. The plane left at about 7:45 p.m. from Chicago, lasted about 6 hours, and arrived in Dublin at 8:30 a.m. I managed to meet some students from the University of Minnesota on the flight, who were also staying where i was, so we all took a cab from the airport to Blackrock, a small seaside suburban village a few miles south of the Dublin city center. Blackrock is the second campus for UCD; the main one is 2 miles away (a 35 minute walk), in an area called Bellfield. I, as well as the rest of the students living in Blackrock, don't really mind the distance, because Blackrock is a cute town, and there are places to buy food or necesseties, as well as some nice pubs to go to on the weekends.
I have a single room, which is actually bigger than my single room last year at state. I lucked out, and ended up with one of the largest rooms on the floor :) My hall is almost completely made up of international students, so there are people on my floor from the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, and Holland, and then even more throughout the rest of the building.
I can't wait for classes to start so i can get into some kind of rhythm, and for the university-guided excursions to different places in ireland. I'm going into the Dublin city center today with some people from my floor to check out the different sights, and hopefully some shopping. I'll report back soon!