The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Traditions

I have to correct myself. The Irish are quite crazy people. In the first week, that is the orientation week, there were a couple of "games" conducted by the Students Union. Some really weird games. The first time, it was a Monday, we all met at the Hub. Thats kind of the entertainment center on campus. You have a bar (!!) there, pool billiard, video games, many couches where you can just sit and talk and relax. And on that Monday evening there was a party in the bar. Now here is a photo of a game they played.

Those two typical Irish-faced guys did a striptease on the stage, with some screaming women sitting on their chairs right in the middle, asking for more. And you see that white thing on the belly of that guy, yup, thats exactly what you think it is.
No, don't worry, just kidding. Its cream. Those women rubbed those guys up with that cream. Later, you don't see that on the photo, there was also an innocent banana involved...

Anyway, this was just an introduction to the general mentality of Irish people. The clichè is proven: They'd do anything for a pint of Guiness.
My first drink in one of those thousand pubs in Dublin was of course a Guiness. An ugly black mire tasting like some cocktail that went wrong. But as I'm no regular beer drinker, I didn't care much. Just gulped it. After all, its not just some beer, its part of the culture. You need to go through the good, the bad and the ugly traditions.

The place where I live is quite a grand place, a students residence named Shanowen Square. We have 12 blocks here, like A1, A2, A3, B1 etc. I'm in D2, apartment number 79. Now, since i've never lived in establishments like these, I wasn't quite sure what they would consist of, and when I reached here, I was impressed. I never thought that we would have forks, spoons, plates, microwave, toaster, waterheater, hoover, ironing machine, ironing-board etc. etc. The whole apartment is completely equipped. Only needed to buy food when I arrived.
I haven't made pictures of my room yet. Its small, but cozy. Only the bed is a bit small, as I was used to sleep in a big bed for the past 3 years. Now when I turn around I have to be careful that I don't fall from the bed.
The greatest thing about this apartment is not that its only 5 minutes away from my college (thats only the second-greatest thing), but that each apartment has its own bathroom. Anyone who was forced to do your very personal things in a bathroom where other people do the same know what I mean. Its a relief.

There are three other fellows in my apartment. Malte, the german, Angela (you pronounce it >>Ankchela<<) from Spain and Lorna from Ireland. Malte is studying business, speaks exactly the way you expect a german to speak, but is quite a nice guy actually (eventhough we are not of the same wavelength). He listens to metal music (that says it all I guess) and plays soccer. Now he is trying to talk a girl named Claudia around. Wishing him all the best.

Angela is a language student, trying to become an interpreter. In the first week I hardly saw her, as she way hanging out with the spanish people, trying to get used to the new environment I guess. Anyway, then I met her accidently in our kitchen (after all she must eat something), and talked a bit. Nothing really interesting as far as I remember. Somehow a dreary character. Unfortunately.

The first week we were only 3, only after that Miss Lorna from Mayo (that's a state in Ireland) arrived with her mother and food for 100 € from Tesco (I saw the bill lying on the table). She is studying nursing, 3rd year now. As I already wrote in my last (german) post, she has a great figure, an average face (the Irish are generally not very lucky with their faces. The guys all look more or less like Wayne Rooney) and good manners. She is very friendly and always speaks very relaxed.