Of Marathons, Mountains and Moguls

I just got back yesterday from four days in Dublin. The city's clean, old and gorgeous, and the Mitchell Scholarship perks--such as the 5-star hotel, private tours and the reception at the US Ambassador's house--were nice, too. I was dumb enough to run the Dublin Half-Marathon without having trained for it, but still finished in under two hours. Needless to say, the hiking trip in the Wicklow Mountains the next day was murder on my legs, as were the stairs in the hotel.

I heard somewhere that the US dollar is at an all-time low, or at least getting there. Perhaps the only worse place for an American to be financially right now is the UK. I'm definitely taking a hit, but the scholarship gives a fine stipend. I just need to get over the fact that I'll have to spend money regardless.

My dormitory is enormous compared to most American dorms, and it has its own bathroom. I was telling someone this at the Ambassador's reception for the Mitchells two nights ago, and he threw his head back, laughed, and then said, "That's good to know, considering that I built them." I have his business card.

The downside to living in the dorms here is that it costs about $8.50 to do a load of laundry. I would imagine this might be because of energy/water costs or to discourage the squandering of environmental resources.....blah. But as I wash most of my clothes in my bathroom sink now for free and dry them on my room heater, I can't help be nostalgic for the $1.00 total cost of laundry back at Vanderbilt.

My classes start Tuesday the 2nd. I might try to take a day tour of the Hill of Tara and the ancient archeology sites in this area before then. There's also the possibility of something called the Moo-a-thon in northwest Ireland, Co. Donegal, in which the runners (of the half-marathon) must dress up like cows in order to run the race, which is supposed to be really scenic. I'll have to find a pair of horns somewhere.

Anyway, I'm settling in okay, after managing to sweet-talk the airline out of charging me for 175 pounds worth of luggage and learning the idiosyncracies of the grocery system here, in which you bring your own grocery bags. I'm in a battle with my university to allow Skype on their Internet network, as I have to go to an Internet cafe to call home, and this effectively mitigates the reason (cheap calling) for using it in the first place. If it works out, expect a call from me.