The view from outside.
My door and skeleton key!
The bathroom.
It looks worse than it really is.
My room.
No kidding.
Kitchen
Living room view 1
View 2
The view out our window.
The day I gave my deposit for the flat, I had an interview with a temp agency. It did not go well. They were impressed with my CV (resume in Canadian) and how I talked though it, but apparently my skills testing left alot to be desired. Specifically with Microsoft Excel, Powerpoint and Word. In spite of this, they did offer me a job the next day about 30 minutes outside of Dublin. Which was amazing, but I was moving into my flat that morning and checking out of my hostel. I decided not to take it saying that I would rather not risk showing up late. The woman appreciated this, but she didn't seem too happy. She sent me tutorials and retests for the Microsoft programs which I did the following day, but I haven't heard from her, which leaves me a little discouraged.
Swans outside the temp agency
I also went out to hand out resumes in person, but was quickly discouraged by people saying that they were not looking to hire (sometimes they were really rude in saying this) or not willing to hire me due to lack of experience. Its hard out there! I am feeling a little pressure, but really, I haven't been here that long. Something's got to fall into place at some point.
Moving out of the hostel has proven to be a little more lonely than I thought. I was starting to make some friendships there and now I am on my own again. Maybe I am feeling a little homesick as well, but not really. I don't want to go home, but I am missing a few more things and people than I expected to. Oh well.
A potential trip to Barcelona has presented itself to me this week. A friend of mine from Ottawa appears to be going there for a conference in a week's time. I was looking into airfares and it doesn't cost too much. If I don't have a job by then, it is definitely something I am considering. I mean, I am here to travel, right?
What else happened this week? I went grocery shopping finally! Just basics. Alot of fruit. I have tried soya milk for the first time as well and it is delish! I am still going out for a meal once every few days, though. Most recently I went to this place up the road called Juice! They had a menu where you could choose an appetizer and entree or desert for 7.95 (Euros). I had a glass of organic red wine and amazing noodles. The waiter was extremely friendly as well, asking what the capital of Nova Scotia was and telling me about all the places I absolutely need to go in Europe. I find that most people here are extremely friendly and are really curious about Canada when you start talking to them. I was in a cafe the other day and reading about the shooting spree that happened in England. The man who owned the cafe seemed extremely concerned in making it clear that shooting sprees are not common here. It was cute.
I spent Saturday mostly in St Stephan's Green. The day started out really nice, but when I got to the park and found a good spot on the grass, the sun had hidden behind the clouds. I read for a while and listened to the people around me. There was a group of girls next to me drinking Coke and speaking French. The park was really full of people. Many of them couples who were just so cute, it was a little hard to handle. Hahaha.
Pretty adorable couple who had a picnic.
Saturday night I decided to go on a literary pub crawl (www.dublinpubcrawl.com). They go to a few pubs where writers were known to go and some where other historical figures were known to go (Michael Collins!) and they would relay information through performance and general lecturing. It was pretty good. Maybe not exactly what I expected, but decent anyway. I met a group of Americans when I got there and we talked about funny place names (one of the girls was from Beaver Dam, home of the cleaning service “Beaver Cleaners”). When we paid the entrance fee I went into the special room set up for the people on the pub crawl. There I sat with a mother and daughter from Chicago, who were on a trip celebrating the daughter's graduation from college and a woman from England who was here for a wedding and going back in a day's time. The woman from England was a dead ringer for a friend of mine back home, right down to the way she smiled. I got her email address for when I go to England and she and I continued on after the pub crawl to Temple Bar. The mother and daughter were so alike, it was amazing. They were too cute and we all got too drunk. The whole evening cost me quite a bit of money, but it was a good night. And I lost my camera case! I am sad about it, but at least it was just the case and not my camera. I am going to go to the pubs this week and see if by any small chance, someone might have turned it in. Hey, you never know.
The mother daughter team.
All kinds of beer!
I also discovered just today that I lost a pair of socks that I loved! My giraffe printed socks! I remember having them and washing them in the hostel, so maybe someone picked them up and turned them in to lost and found. When I go to get my rent money today I am going to pop by just in case. But hey, these things are going to happen. I just need to roll with it.
So week two was not very exciting. I have been slacking off on the job hunting front, but that is something that absolutely needs to change this week. Apply to anything and everything, that is what will happen this week. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
UPDATE: I went back to the hostel just to see if they might have my socks. They did! Yipee! My roomate Marco thought I was silly for even going to look. As did the receptionist at the hostel. She said; “Who comes back for a pair of socks? Unless they are super special waterproof socks”. I do, clearly. But look at them. How can you resist???
-Denise
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