a picture of the present

Courses have officially begun. I like the commute into and out of the city; besides giving me time to psych up for and decompress from the day, the DART takes me through a bit of country, out to the coast, into suburbs and finally into Dublin itself. From the train, it's about a twenty minute walk to the building where our studies are held. It's located in the inner city, among public housing projects. We walk past a demolition site and rows upon rows of apartments with drying laundry spilling out of the tiny balconies. Next to one apartment complex, there's a large sign that says ABSOLUTELY NO BALL PLAYING OF ANY KIND, placed near an incredibly inviting stretch of open grass. A few doors down is our building, looking quite shabby and unassuming, but sporting a bright red door. The building itself is very old - it dates back to the 1700s and as such has many idiosyncrasies (like - uneven floors, steep and narrow stairs, small hallways, and lots of twists and turns, the full effects of which make me feel a little bit like I'm on a boat). There's a kitchen in the building where all the students crowd into and grab our cups of tea and coffee before class and during breaks, and where we'll probably be making lunches for the next three months or so.

This afternoon we walked all over the city and ended up at a little Italian restaurant. It felt so good to sit and be still.