After a five year sabbatical, I'm finally back in Ireland. I got in yesterday and was completely wiped out. I only slept for an hour or two on the plane. So what did I do? I went to UCD to check in to my room. I think I arrived around 9am. It might have been earlier, since my flight got in early and that was at 7:35am. Naturally, check-in wasn't until 3pm. So I dropped off some of my stuff at reception and figured I'd go get my readers tickets from the three major archives I'd be using in Dublin.
First I went to the National Library. It's a really nice building, right next to Leinster house on Kildare Street. So I went there and poked around a bit. I found out that if I want to look at the manuscripts collection I'd need a passport photo because they make a real-deal badge for you. I had kicked around looking at some of their manuscripts, but honestly, I hadn't hoped to find much there. I might still go back and do so, but we'll see what I have time to do. I'm more interested in their newspaper collection anyway.
Next, I went to the Dublin City Library and Archives; probably a 5-10 minute walk from the National Library. The folks there were very friendly and I talked at length with one of their archivists, Andrew O'Brien, who is interested in the First World War in Ireland. He gave me some good ideas for places to look. I also saw they had access to a number of Irish newspapers online, which is very helpful, especially for the larger-run, national papers.
So after spending sometime at the city library, I went off to find the National Archive. Street signs in Ireland are few and far between, and many streets change names in the course of a block or two. Needless to say I probably didn't take the most direct route to the National Archives. I got my readers ticket there and looked through some of their finding aids briefly, but I was really too tired to do any real work. I figured I'd leave it for another day.
Then I set off to find my way back to UCD. I wandered through one of the trendier parts of town and found a restaurant to grab a bite to eat. This was probably about 2pm local time and I hadn't eaten since breakfast on the plan. I scarfed some fish and chips and then went to find a bus to take me back to UCD. The problem with streets signs reared it's ugly head again. This, however, was exacerbated by the lack of route maps for the buses. Everything in Ireland seems to be intuitive and if you're not familiar with the system it takes a bit of trying, luck, and common sense to get it down. Since I wasn't sure what route the bus took to UCD I set off to find out. Needless to say, I walked most of the way to UCD before finding a bus. The college is about 2.5miles south of the city. By the time I found a bus (or did the bus find me?) and got back to the reception it was past three and acceptable to check-in. After unpacking a bit, and trying to get the internet to work, which was a trying ordeal (iChat and Mail still don't work, neither will Skype - this is some kind of hackneyed network here) and fruitless at the time, I went out to get a bite to eat. This was probably around 5:15pm. So I go to what is apparently the closest bar for a pint and some food. It's not the best place, but it's the best place around. I go there, and order a Smithwickes, and drain a glass for the World Champion Detroit Red Wings. The bartender informs me that food isn't served until 6pm. Poop and pee. Since it was a bit past 5:30 at that point I decided to wait it out. I got another pint and some food before going back to UCD (the exchange rate is killing me here - almost $7US for a pint!). I mill around for a bit before falling asleep. I get up, shower, and fall right back asleep.
This morning, I got up and the clock said 7:35am, or thereabouts. In fact, the time was 10:30ish and I had intended to wake up at 8:30 to be back to the Dublin City Archive by 10. I have no idea how a clock can loose 3 hours over night. Perhaps it was jet-lagged too? I got to the archive about 11:15am and spent the day going through the online newspapers. When I went to plug in the power adapter (not the converter, mind you, just the adapter) I was greeted with a pop and a green spark. Now aside from the fact that green is my favorite color, nothing good came of the spark. The adapter has a fuse, which clearly had blown, and was rendered useless. Hooray for me. So I spent the next 6 hours traversing Irish periodicals of yore. At closing time I inquired about a hardware store to get a new fuse, and there happened to be one just down the street. At the hardware store, the guy told me he didn't have any, but informed me of a place up in Parnell Square that could help me out. Having a vague recollection of where Parnell Square was, I set out to find the store. Once I got to O'Connell Street I couldn't find the store
I was told to use as a landmark (Penney's) until I had already given up and gotten on a no. 10 bus back home. Naturally, I had gone much further than I needed to go to find the store. Upon my return to UCD, I deemed it necessary to procure some groceries because based on the accounting of the previous days two meals, I couldn't even afford those. I inquired about a real grocery store, since they always referred me to the little stop-and-shop here on campus. I told them I wanted a big grocery store, one that their parents would go to. They kindly gave me directions to Tescos where I was able to procure milk, cereal, PB&J fixin's, cutlery, plates, a bowl, and some decent TP. About $35 worth of food should be enough to feed me for a 3-5 days at least. Victory for me. I might head back there Saturday or Sunday to procure some beer and quesadilla fixin's. Now that's diverse cuisine! After meeting one of my suitemates, who was kind enough to help me get my internet configured - nice folks the Austrians, I spent the rest of the evening in my room going through the Irish Times' website, which helped ease the defeat felt this morning because of the alarm issues.
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