The Long Process of Getting Settled

Dear Friends and Family,

(Aaron's commentary in blue-bold)

Welcome to the Kopfs' journal of Irish adventures as we attempt to live abroad for a year. In the midst of composing an extra detailed e-mail to the parents about our current apartment situation and present location, we thought we would go ahead and make this our first blog entry since our housing has been quite an adventure in itself. We'll be posting our initial impressions of Leprechaun Land in a few days.

We arrived Friday morning after a long series of flights and a sleepy cab ride to our home at Number 4 Dartry Road. Traveling on Friday was incredible. No delays, no issues in customs, our cab dropped us off on the doorstep of Trinity Hall, and our planes didn't even crash! While in Orlando, we received an e-mail from a woman in the housing department telling us that there was a man currently living in our apartment who was refusing to move. We would find out later that he had requested to stay an extra few months in the apartment back in May, but never received a definite "no." (He never got a definite "yes" either!) The woman in charge of housing here called him "cheeky." He decided that meant that he could stay, and told his instructor that his thesis wouldn't be finished until November. Once his instructor found out that housing was essentially trying to kick this guy out (since we were on our way) he got onto housing and insisted that the man be able to live in the apartment at least until December, so he could finish his important thesis and have time to pack up.

So that left us homeless, but not really. They gave us a temporary apartment that's actually part of a suite of apartments. They traded out the two twins with a double bed and we have a kitchen across a hallway. Trinity Hall really tried to make things nice for us, considering the circumstances. When we arrived on Friday morning, they told us they wouldn't be able to give us any new information about when we would be able to move into Cunningham House (our intended apartment) until Monday.

In the meantime, we wandered the neighborhood, got to know the street names and the shops. We've figured out where to buy the cheapest bread, potatoes, pasta, etc. and have been using the kitchen to save money. Some shops sitting side-by-side sell the same things for significantly different prices. We walked up to the campus and were in awe of its magnitude! Yeah, it's big. We strolled down Grafton Street and had some good food in a pub. The weather's been rainy and cold and we started wearing our fall gear almost immediately. Hasn't been a degree over 65. I love it.

Saturday night, we ran into a guy named William (actually, I just suddenly introduced myself to him. I think I scared him a bit) who happened to be wandering around the same time we were, and who is also staying in the same building. He was incredibly friendly, and showed us where a rosemary bush grows on the grounds right next to Cunningham House. No, rosemary is not a code-word for marijuana. I will never purchase rosemary again! As we were talking, he suggested we look for cheaper housing elsewhere. So we did! We got on a website called daft.ie that he told us about and during our search, found a very clean looking apartment right across the River Liffey.

Dartry Road is off of a street called Rathmines, and it makes it about a 45 minute walk from the city center, which is where I would be having class. Public transportation (bus and tram) is available, which shortens the trip to 15 - 20 minutes. The apartment from daft.ie, on the other hand, is 15 minutes walking distance from Trinity. Even so, the walk from Rathmines is undoubtedly more pleasant. There are trees that line the street and we're definitely in more of a neighborhood here than a block of apartments like we would be in the city center. Yeah, the apartment in city center is "on the other side of the river" and the walk is a bit more... colorful. It's nothing too bad, just not the posh neighborhood over here on Dartry. There's pros and cons for both.

BUT LO! We were presented with a third option today, when housing lady Anne-Marie stopped by to discuss the situation with us. Yeah, Trinity totally sweetened the deal. This apartment is usually more expensive, but Trinity would let us stay there for the same price! She told us of an assistant warden's apartment in a different part of Trinity Hall. Having been intended for a handicapped warden, it's open floor plan, very spacious, and has a gigantic bathroom (showers in Europe are notoriously small but not this one!) Ever try to wash your back in a broom closet? It's on the top floor, with elevator access and has a nice view of the mountains south of Dublin. I'm a sucker for scenery. The cons on this one are that it's an apartment within an apartment, which means that we have to go through a hallway to get to it, off of which are 5 doors which will house six 18 year old girls.

So there you have it. Our three housing options at the moment. We have an appointment at 3:45 to meet with the agent in charge of the apartment in the city center, and tomorrow hopefully, we'll be able to meet up with Anne-Marie again to see the apartment we should have moved into in Cunningham House. Hopefully we'll be settled soon! I'm ready to make our place feel like home.

Essentially, we have a big choice to make. The apartment in city center is closer to Trinity and a bit cheaper (20 euro per month). The apartments here at Trinity Hall are in a MUCH nicer part of town, and we wouldn't have to deal with landladies or other things that come with adult apartment life. If we decide to stay here at Trinity Hall, we would need to decide between Cunningham House or the handicap-accessible penthouse with the view. I think we'll have a much better idea of what to do once we see the apartment in city center at 3:45 (9:45am Arkansas time). If it's a nasty pit, it will make our decision much easier. If it's clean and doesn't smell like feces, we'll have to decide which is more important: being closer to the school or living in a nicer part of town. 


We'll make another blog post soon to inform you all about our decision. In the meantime, please leave any suggestions or advice in the comments section below. Oh, and we finally have internet at Trinity Hall (no more internet cafes!) but until Lauren registers, we have to use it in the Reception lobby. Still, that means I can type up articles when there's nothing else to do and we can make ridiculously long blog posts. 


Thank you for your prayers! Being grownups is fun!