day 3: the move

aaaaaaI think I can safely say, today was the first good day start to finish. Today was the start of the honeymoon period. Today was the first day where nothing could go wrong, even if everything went wrong. As soon as I arrived at the lab I met with Aoife so she could introduce me to the landlord at my new accomodations, Shanowen Square. (oh bee-tee-dubs, Aoife is pronounced ee-fa). So after a quick peak around, I signed some forms and paid my first months rent. As well, since I had some belongings with me, I started moving into my new place (or as I like to say accommodation #2). (Side note; when I said whatever belongings I had with me, I kept my camera and laptop on me at all times because I didn't want to leave them at accommodation #1). After walking back to the lab there wasn't much for me to do until after lunch.
aaaaaaDuring the lunch hour there was a presentation on something (I had no clue what the guy was talking about, nor was I really interested listening to what he had to say). However, by attending this little talk I was provided with free lunch, so I needless to say, I had definitely RSVP-ed. The presentation took up most the lunch hour. Once again, back in the lab, I finally had a chance to start running some experiments. I've also started to understand the project in more depth and even found out that the toxin I'm using is pretty intense (enough so that I have to double glove...apparently, unlike condoms, doubling up on gloves actually does work).
aaaaaaLater on, the UREKAs were taken out to dinner at a pub-style restaurant in Dublin's city centre, my first time going into the city centre (p.s. the city centre is awesome). During our little outing, we were given a chance to get to know one another in a less formal setting. As well, we all took the opportunity to have our first drink. Of course, I felt it was necessary to choose beer, but not Irish (I still can't do Guinness). As we were finishing dinner, the newest intern Luke (American) had joined up. Apparently, Luke was suppose to arrive in Dublin earlier in the week, but his initial flight a few days before was delayed and caused him to miss some of his other connecting flights. Now that everyone had eaten, it was time to wrap up for the day. A bunch of us took a cab back to DCU, from which I bused it to accommodation #1.

Clockwise: Atwait (Indian), Jussi (Finnish), Emma (Irish, Director), Ann (Irish), Me, Katie (Irish), Michelle (Irish), Luke (American), I think that was our waitress, Aoife (Irish, Director), David (Irish, the non-science guy), Marieke (Irish), Brianna (American), Stephen (Irish), Laetitia (French), Patrick (German), Claire (Irish, Organizer)

aaaaaaNow back at accommodation #1 I had to make a few minor fibs as to why I had to move, but the landlord(s) weren't too concerned about it. With all my things packed up, I grabbed my bags and caught a taxi back to accommodation #2, hoping that this would be the last time I'd have to move. Upon first inspection of the new apartment, I must not have noticed a lack of elevators and thus, had to walk up 4 flights of stairs with nearly 100 pounds worth of 'essentials'...not too much fun, but I was excited to be out of other place.
aaaaaaI was plenty tired from the night out and about. I briefly skyped with my parents, then went to stack some zzzzzzzzzzzzzs