Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Dublin town and moving in!
Hello there, fair readers, how I love you so,
I have been in Dublin for a week now and I have forgotten to get my camera out on almost every significant occasion, of which I can assure you there has been many.
To begin with, I got to know the city a little over the first three days before moving to the UCD residences, which was very nice really, especially considering the weather was so pleasant (blue skies and all!). Since then, I have moved further south of the Liffey, and safely into Belgrove Residence, Belfield, with a Canadian exchange student, Christy, and Deepika (Dee), from Singapore. Together we have brought our wrath, promptly, upon the International Exchange Office, who have managed to exclude us (and every other international student) from almost every course. Still, the past few days have been really fun and I have met lots of people from lots of different countries...sadly, there have not been many Irish people around as yet, because classes do not start until Monday. It has been grand going into the city though, and hearing that accent all about - it still makes me swoon.
The campus is very lovely and also very big, and our house is pretty good too, although we have had to do a lot of shopping because there was literally nothing here when we arrived. And so, it has been quite an expensive first week, but I think we will all scrape through.
Anyhoo, I do hope you are all enjoying Sydney Festival, and every other festival that is going on (there are so many of them)...please remember Homebrand on the 25th of January - an event by Trademark Projects, which is Tim Appleby and Me! All the info is here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=56726782088&ref=mf
and you can buy your tickets here: http://www.annandalehotel.com/anh/eventdetails.asp?id=1913
It's bound to be grand!
- M
I have been in Dublin for a week now and I have forgotten to get my camera out on almost every significant occasion, of which I can assure you there has been many.
To begin with, I got to know the city a little over the first three days before moving to the UCD residences, which was very nice really, especially considering the weather was so pleasant (blue skies and all!). Since then, I have moved further south of the Liffey, and safely into Belgrove Residence, Belfield, with a Canadian exchange student, Christy, and Deepika (Dee), from Singapore. Together we have brought our wrath, promptly, upon the International Exchange Office, who have managed to exclude us (and every other international student) from almost every course. Still, the past few days have been really fun and I have met lots of people from lots of different countries...sadly, there have not been many Irish people around as yet, because classes do not start until Monday. It has been grand going into the city though, and hearing that accent all about - it still makes me swoon.
The campus is very lovely and also very big, and our house is pretty good too, although we have had to do a lot of shopping because there was literally nothing here when we arrived. And so, it has been quite an expensive first week, but I think we will all scrape through.
Anyhoo, I do hope you are all enjoying Sydney Festival, and every other festival that is going on (there are so many of them)...please remember Homebrand on the 25th of January - an event by Trademark Projects, which is Tim Appleby and Me! All the info is here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=56726782088&ref=mf
and you can buy your tickets here: http://www.annandalehotel.com/anh/eventdetails.asp?id=1913
It's bound to be grand!
- M
Sunday, January 11, 2009
New York Novelties.
My final days in New York were jam packed with the many tourist attractions I had missed since I arrived on the 30th. Of course, most of these attractions were in fact food, but worthy nonetheless. Though a wee bit disappointing I must say - for example, the long awaited New York Cheesecake simply did not meet my standards...I mean, the bottom of it was like a sponge cake (I know, a let down right?!) and the top was lacking the hint of lemon I was so greatly looking forward to. Also, the hot dogs - not big, not the size one expects to purchase when in New York, city of the hot dog.
But oh, enough with the complaints about bad American food - it is all part of the experience, and I like it for that much at least. Besides, what they lack in food they make up for in view - on Friday we climbed the Rockefeller Centre to look over New York and gosh, the city really is amazing! From this high and chilly point we could see the entire stretch of Central Park, The Empire State Building, The Time Warner Centre (ie. home of Batman!) and pretty much everything else on every corner of the island. Brilliant!
Then, on Friday night I saw a Broadway Musical for $27 and it was awesome - I went with 'Gypsy,' which had been recommended to me by Paul, and a very good recommendation indeed, because it was exactly what I look for in a musical: super lame humour, a wee bit of nudity, and 'neat' music (the Americans say 'neat' all the time - I have decided to adopt it).
And that pretty much concludes New York. I left on Saturday night, in the snow, after 4 hours delay at JFK airport while our plane was 'de-iced.' But I was upgraded to Business Class! Super leg room!
And now I am in Dublin and it is very lovely indeed. I have a lot to sort out in the next couple of days but then it should be straight on to meeting the Irish at the pub and things!
Meanwhile, add me on skype: meaghanvierboom
But oh, enough with the complaints about bad American food - it is all part of the experience, and I like it for that much at least. Besides, what they lack in food they make up for in view - on Friday we climbed the Rockefeller Centre to look over New York and gosh, the city really is amazing! From this high and chilly point we could see the entire stretch of Central Park, The Empire State Building, The Time Warner Centre (ie. home of Batman!) and pretty much everything else on every corner of the island. Brilliant!
Then, on Friday night I saw a Broadway Musical for $27 and it was awesome - I went with 'Gypsy,' which had been recommended to me by Paul, and a very good recommendation indeed, because it was exactly what I look for in a musical: super lame humour, a wee bit of nudity, and 'neat' music (the Americans say 'neat' all the time - I have decided to adopt it).
And that pretty much concludes New York. I left on Saturday night, in the snow, after 4 hours delay at JFK airport while our plane was 'de-iced.' But I was upgraded to Business Class! Super leg room!
And now I am in Dublin and it is very lovely indeed. I have a lot to sort out in the next couple of days but then it should be straight on to meeting the Irish at the pub and things!
Meanwhile, add me on skype: meaghanvierboom
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Comedy New York, and other things...
The past couple of days have been quite busy and we have seen many great things.
Bec (a friend from uni) arrived on the fourth and I moved with her and two others to a hostel on Broadway...and my, it is small! Since then, we have been to a comedy show where we saw lots of funny people, including Jack McBrayer from 30 Rock (are you jealous Matt?) and some girl from Saturday Night Live - it was very funny indeed and best of all, it was free!
Also, last night we saw the Late Show with David Letterman, live on Broadway, again for free (Matt, jealous? yes?), and ate lots of New York pizza, which really is quite an experience. Then we went drinking and had a lot of that too - maybe a little too much in fact. Amongst all of this, I was able to catch up with Josh and Sam (Detour Boys) who are in town for a bit and Sam bought 'nachos with trimmings,' which we soon found out was just corn chips and a shite-load of cheese...tip: do not buy nachos in New York! Also, do not buy coffee here - even the best of it is terrible (and I mean terrible in the same way drinking dish water is terrible...it really is very bad).
Tomorrow is my last full day here so I would like to do a little bit of shopping, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, find the best New York Cheesecake and eat it, and hopefully see a show on Broadway...quite a lot yes.
But for now, it's noodle time!
Bec (a friend from uni) arrived on the fourth and I moved with her and two others to a hostel on Broadway...and my, it is small! Since then, we have been to a comedy show where we saw lots of funny people, including Jack McBrayer from 30 Rock (are you jealous Matt?) and some girl from Saturday Night Live - it was very funny indeed and best of all, it was free!
Also, last night we saw the Late Show with David Letterman, live on Broadway, again for free (Matt, jealous? yes?), and ate lots of New York pizza, which really is quite an experience. Then we went drinking and had a lot of that too - maybe a little too much in fact. Amongst all of this, I was able to catch up with Josh and Sam (Detour Boys) who are in town for a bit and Sam bought 'nachos with trimmings,' which we soon found out was just corn chips and a shite-load of cheese...tip: do not buy nachos in New York! Also, do not buy coffee here - even the best of it is terrible (and I mean terrible in the same way drinking dish water is terrible...it really is very bad).
Tomorrow is my last full day here so I would like to do a little bit of shopping, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, find the best New York Cheesecake and eat it, and hopefully see a show on Broadway...quite a lot yes.
But for now, it's noodle time!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Plane movies, Manhattan, Happy New Year & Paul.
Since arriving 2 days ago, I have seen quite a bit thus far, and think it is time I wrote some of it down.
A minor detail, yes, but nonetheless, one that simply must be mentioned: the movies in flight were a truly fantastic selection that I could have sworn was hand picked by my Sydney housemate Gavin, or at least, that he would approve of them terribly. Indeed they included Brideshead Revistied, Wall-e, and Mamma-Mia! Fantastic!
Anyhoo, New York is gorgeous and I am in love with it already. It is truly cold though - I am the coldest I have ever been in my life...last night for example, was -20˚C with the wind chill. And that is very cold. Oh, and also yesterday it snowed - the first time I have ever had it snow on me and it was amazing. But just to stress once again...cold.
I have been with quite a few Australians, which has been very nice over New Years and all. For the past couple of days I have been staying with Paul - a living godsend who has been so lovely to let me crash at his place, especially considering I only knew him very briefly before coming here. Also, I have been spending much of my time with Tim Appleby - whom we all know and love, and last night we both met up with Rowan - a lovely Australian guy I met on the plane and who is now my facebook friend. Yay!
New Years was really great - entirely different to what I had expected, but a very good way to spend the night...Tim and I attempted moving towards Times Square, though we were unable to get so close because of road blocks and other various complications. And so we ended up drinking in a pub with the locals, caught some fireworks in Central Park (which, by the way, is even bigger than imaginable), before meeting up with Rowan and some of his friends in the East Village, where we continued drinking with the locals for quite some hours. It was very lovely indeed.
I am finding out about more and more people I know that are in New York or will be before I leave, so there should be plenty of gossip to spread soon. But until then, fare internet, I think it best I cease writing this post - because no one likes to longer post.
But they do like photos......
Times Square 31/12/2008
Alongside Central Park 31/12/08
A minor detail, yes, but nonetheless, one that simply must be mentioned: the movies in flight were a truly fantastic selection that I could have sworn was hand picked by my Sydney housemate Gavin, or at least, that he would approve of them terribly. Indeed they included Brideshead Revistied, Wall-e, and Mamma-Mia! Fantastic!
Anyhoo, New York is gorgeous and I am in love with it already. It is truly cold though - I am the coldest I have ever been in my life...last night for example, was -20˚C with the wind chill. And that is very cold. Oh, and also yesterday it snowed - the first time I have ever had it snow on me and it was amazing. But just to stress once again...cold.
I have been with quite a few Australians, which has been very nice over New Years and all. For the past couple of days I have been staying with Paul - a living godsend who has been so lovely to let me crash at his place, especially considering I only knew him very briefly before coming here. Also, I have been spending much of my time with Tim Appleby - whom we all know and love, and last night we both met up with Rowan - a lovely Australian guy I met on the plane and who is now my facebook friend. Yay!
New Years was really great - entirely different to what I had expected, but a very good way to spend the night...Tim and I attempted moving towards Times Square, though we were unable to get so close because of road blocks and other various complications. And so we ended up drinking in a pub with the locals, caught some fireworks in Central Park (which, by the way, is even bigger than imaginable), before meeting up with Rowan and some of his friends in the East Village, where we continued drinking with the locals for quite some hours. It was very lovely indeed.
I am finding out about more and more people I know that are in New York or will be before I leave, so there should be plenty of gossip to spread soon. But until then, fare internet, I think it best I cease writing this post - because no one likes to longer post.
But they do like photos......
Times Square 31/12/2008
Alongside Central Park 31/12/08
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
