"Laoghaire" rhymes with "cheery," of course

So you may have noticed the lack of pictures lately, due to the unfortunate incident of losing my camera uploader cable in an apartment that literally has two rooms. After concluding that it was nowhere to be found, I went by the camera store on Grafton, only to discover that a new cable would cost me 50 euros. I then did the next most logical thing: bought it on Ebay-Ireland for 5 euro. It should arrive via Royal Mail Air from the UK within the next few days (hopefully), and soon afterwards the larger accumulation of pictures on my camera can be loaded onto the interweb. Until then, you'll just have to use your imagination. Or look at other people's facebook pictures, that works too.

I haven't posted since classes started, so here are a few updates on my crazy week of navigating the Trinity course-scheduling labyrinth. I got up EARLY last Monday (I had class at 9:00. Meaning I rode a packed bus to school with all the business men and women who go to work at a normal time. That's early for a college kid). I sat through three Genetics lectures at 9, 10, and 11 (by that time most of my friends were waking up for their first classes at noon) and then decided I couldn't handle any more Genetics, so I sauntered over to the Physiology department, picked up a timetable, and started going to Physiology classes that afternoon. I have since taken only Physiology classes, which are much more enjoyable and relevant to being a Bio major/Pre-Med. Plus, I get to have TWO labs, which means more talking to Irish students, which is grand.

Two day trips and a 21st birthday party comprise the majority of the photos currently stuck on my camera card. While the Kilkenny trip didn't end up happening, I did travel to the small fishing village of Howth (rhymes with "both") instead, a week ago Saturday, just a 40 minute ride away on the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit - one of the few examples of successful acronyms). It doesn't take more than a few hours to see every inch of the town, but it has a lovely harbor and lighthouse, picturesque islands, and of course, fresh fish and chips, which we happily consumed at a pub called "The Bloody Stream," which rivals "The Bleeding Horse" for gruesome pub names.

On a completely different note, our microwave suddenly broke yesterday (i.e. the door won't close - kind of a problem for a microwave). And since this is Ireland, non-urgent maintenance moves pretty slow, so it could be a while before someone comes and takes a look at it (though I would consider a broken microwave pretty "urgent..."). However, we did finally purchase a drying rack, so now only half of our living room will look like a tornado blew through a department store, since our drying machine doesn't work either...

This past Sunday, I ventured to another coastal town, Dun Laoghaire (pronounced "done leary" - no idea how you get "leary" from "laoghaire"...), which is somewhat larger than Howth and full of beautiful seaside homes, including some owned by celebrities including Bono (main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band, U2). We crawled around the tide pools searching for snails and anemones, ate at a farmers market, and discovered a primary school which is literally a renovated castle, where one of my Physiology classmates went to school. So jealous.

Hope the fall colors are starting to show back in the states! Not a lot here yet, but the stores are all gearing up for Halloween ;) I guess it was originally a Catholic holiday... Can't wait to see what Christmas here is like!