Welcome Returns

It can be a challenge getting back in the groove. I've been in Ireland now for five days, and I am getting adjusted once again to life across the pond. Last time, I spent a semester at University of Ulster in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. During that semester I blogged occasionally (you can find it here: http://semesterinnorthernireland.blogspot.com), but this year I hope to be a slightly more faithful correspondent. This time around, I'm studying for my MA in Creative Writing from University College Dublin, and I should be here for about a full year.

I landed in Dublin on Sunday morning to find an array of American flags and red, white and blue balloons; despite the notoriously warm welcome of the Irish people, I quickly learned that the patriotic bunting was not for me, but in honor of the Notre Dame – Navy football game, held right here that very day. It's been sunny and warm here, though I've been warned not to get lured into depending on this idyllic Irish-style Indian Summer.

After a night's stay in a hotel on the south side of the city, I arrived at my university-owned accommodations in Blackrock, a charming town at the southern edge of Dublin. It instantly reminded me of Portrush, on the Causeway Coast of Northern Ireland. You can arrive in so many new places in Ireland and still feel as if you've only been away for a short time.

I'm in the middle of the necessary but sometimes grinding first week. It's a flurry of open suitcases, signatures, bus timetables, and € leaving your wallet. My classes don't begin until 17 September, so aside from a few orientation activities (graduate students' orientation itineraries are noticeably lighter than anyone else's) I am trying to occupy my time by getting out on foot to familiarize myself with my environs. 

And beautiful environs they are. From the promenade near the train station, one gets a panoramic view of the whole of Dublin Bay, with the harbor of Dún Laoghaire (pronounced "dun-leary") to the South and the peninsula of Howth to the North both stretching outward and around to embrace the Bay.

Despite the natural beauty surrounding you, it's easy to feel a bit lost or untethered at the beginning of an experience such as this. I've gone through it before, but it doesn't lessen it this time around. I've got more responsibility and independence this time around, and supposedly more maturity. "I'm a grad student;" I have to say, it rolls off the tongue easily. Finding out what that means will undoubtedly be a different story. For now, during the limbo of adjustment, I'll have to try not to worry too much in unoccupied moments ("Should I be doing something important right now?").  Okay, I'll admit it: I was feeling a bit lonely – until I walked five minutes up the avenue from my flat and passed by a large white house named Leoville; it's adorned with white stone lions and a plaque reading "IN THIS HOUSE LIVED JAMES JOYCE." I think I'll start feeling at home shortly.