Weekend Without the Irish

Weekend without the Irish —

The Irish students were still on break as we moved into our flats at City Campus.
Also, they tend to go home on the weekends. So this first weekend our flats were relatively empty so all the international students banded together.

I have made great friends with a lot of them. On Friday night we went to Doolan's pub to see some traditional music. All together there are probably 40-50 international students so we tend to ravel as a big group, but it soon thins out as the night progresses as those who like the late nights stay out to drink but many retreat to their beds. My friend Agathe and I tend to be in the group that finishes out the night.

After leaving Doolan's as it was closing time we went back to our flats at City Campus. That night it was the birthday of Gael, a student form Belgium who lives in the flat below me. We returned to his flat and continued on our night. Agathe brought up her guitar as I told her I'd buy her a drink if she let me use it. I wasn't able to bring a guitar over for the journey it was too much hassle. Our friend Shane played first and he is a brilliant guitarist though is main instrument is the Double Bass. He was able to play Hotel California after just a minute or two of trying to figure out the song. Accompanying Shane was Thomas from Oklahoma on vocals so the thick accent worked well.

We finally left Gael's just after 5 in the morning.

Saturday I went to meet my friend Maggie, ( from Saint Louis but studying at University of Limerick) down in City Centre but we missed each other. To remedy the situation I went and purchased a mobile. There is a company here that is pay as you go and free calling between their companies mobiles so that all the international students buy them and we can call each other cheaply. Later in the day I was able to meet up with my friend down in City Centre after she finished the tour of King John's Castle. We came back to my flat and Maggie met my international friends. Then she had to depart to meet her flatmates. Agathe stayed to watch a movie with me so we watched 10 Things I Hate About You (popular in France apparently). Then we cooked pasta for dinner for a few of our friends and baked a chocolate cake for Gael.

Gael had another party at his flat but this time much larger. We learned a german drinking game involving dice and lying (similar to our card game B.S.)
Round 1 am we left from Gael's flat and went to a late nite pub that has very loud music and dancing so we all danced until they closed round 3 am. The music was mostly American, they really like Kings of Leon here and their new song Sex on Fire is very popular.

Sunday was Rugby Day. We Watched the match at Clohnessy's which is a pub run by a famous rugby player. Ireland is divided into 4 sections. Limerick lies in the section Munster. The Munster Rugby Team is the best team in all of Europe. We watched them play a French team, Mont Aubain perhaps? , and they won pretty handily. The match was the quarter final in the Heineken Cup.

Sunday afternoon we were all tired. We met our flatmates as they returned to school. My flatmates are grand. Fiona, Michelle and Emma. They are very nice, friendly and outgoing. I left them after a bit so I could return some things to Agathe as she had left them for the baking of the cake at my flat. I again bargained with her that if I returned her whisk we could play guitar again. So we did that as well, and it turned into a lot longer of a playing session then I imagined. We then invited friends over to watch a dvd as we were too tired to go out for the fifth night in a row. Agathe and I decided to cook for ourselves as well. However our guitar playing went long, and we began to cook right as our friends arrived. It also turns out that most of the international students came, so as we thought it would be only 5 or 6 friends coming, it became 20. Agathe and I made Rissoto with onion, tomatoe, zuchinni, garlic and sour cream.

We watched Oceans 11 and turned in for an early night as we had classes the next morning bright and early.