New roommates and two trips are booked!

Yay! Last night's entry was very short, I was tired and it was approximately 3 AM. I'm a night owl now, by the choice of my roommates. So I definitely have 2 trips booked, 3 countries (France, Ireland and Spain) in one month isn't a bad start! And these trips are actually affordable. For instance, a roommate and I are flying to Dublin on Thursday night, spending all day Friday and 1/2 day Saturday and flying back to Grenoble around 10 PM for $105 USD for the plane ticket. We booked a hostel (scary) for the first time, and they're super affordable too. For two nights it is 32 euro which includes your linens and breakfast (most places don't include that stuff, it's generally 5 euro to rent linens for your stay, and about 5 euro for breakfast each morning). 32 euro is approximately $48 each for 2 nights stay--sounds good until you hear that there's community bathrooms and 7 strangers sleeping in a room with 4 sets of bunk beds. You know, it's all about the experience (or so I tell myself that so I don't freak out) so I'll try out this whole sleeping with strangers thing. It's pretty common here so it must not be too bad. While in Dublin we plan to visit the Dublin Castle (that was my idea, I'm all over the castles in Europe idea... and for all those non-computer people you can click the underlined word to see the castle online or you can wait until I post pictures next Saturday. I'll be your up close and personal tour guide of Dublin... maybe we'll even get some video footage on here). Other attractions up for debate include the Custom House, the Viking Adventure, the National Botanic Gardens, and St. Patrick's Cathedral (FYI, most of these have websites if you google them. If you're wondering why we chose these sites, its because they're FREE or really cheap, under 3 euros... what can I say, it's a college student's budget!) And of course we'll have some wonderful (hopefully) Irish food... if someone can explain what exactly "Irish" food is... okay, so maybe I'll just eat a potato, isn't that what people know about the Irish? And that they like "Lucky Charms"? Some of you may also be wondering "Why Ireland? Why Dublin?" and again, my answer would be "It was the cheapest flight we could find for less than 14 days notice, so why not? Can't beat $100ish plane fares!" So that my friends is how I ended up booking a trip to Dublin. We really don't have any set plans besides the flight and hostel, so it will be a truly haphazard adventure of a lifetime. And I have more good news--they speak ENGLISH! That makes me very happy (another reason to go there, if you think about it). Moving right along, after I get back from Ireland, I have classes on Tuesday and Wednesday (9 hours total, and a CEA office party Wednesday night... more details later) I get on a bus to Madrid. Totally cool. It is a 12 hour bus ride, but its a trip organized through GEM (my school) so it's all international/French students (English speaking French students) going. It costs 112 euro for the bus, 3 nights in another hostel, and breakfast every day... I don't know about this whole hostel thing still. We basically have 2 full days to explore Madrid however we please. I haven't really researched it yet, so if you have any suggestions, let me know! After I get back from Madrid Sunday night, I also have Monday-Wednesday off... I'm thinking a trip to Paris might be fun. We'll see, I'm so ready to go to Euro Disney. Enough about the trips, now it's time for roommate introductions. First off we have Lisa. She and the other new girl, Vanessa, came together. They're both 19, from Ohio, and on the Intensive Language Program. They've both had several years of French and I believe they're both minoring in French or something to do with history/the French language. Jeff also moved in yesterday. He is 20 years old and from New Jersey, but he lives super close to NYC. He is also in the language program. He definitely walks around the house speaking in French, and always wants to strike up conversations with the locals to practice. He is also a great chef; he made a pasta tonight with this creamy cheesy sauce that had peas, carrots, red peppers, and chicken... everyone went back for 2nds and 3rds.

So those are the new roommates in a nutshell. As for my schedule, I'll have to tell you all about it tomorrow, because it will definitely be a long entry. (It's the most bizarre school-issued document I have ever seen!)