First years and fire alarms

In the matter of two days, Corrib Village (my accomodation for the semester) has trasformed. Once a rather peaceful complex situated along the slow-moving river Corrib, the village used to be rather quiet and full of new students and even older tourists with their children and grandparents.

That was until the first years (freshman) moved in.

It all started when on Sunday night the fire alarm went off in our complex at 2AM. Someone had come into our building and smashed the fire alarm, waking everyone in our building and the building adjacent to us. It was actually quite funny - you could tell who was american and who was not. All the americans quickly got up, put on some shoes, and made their way outside and towards the parking lot, just as always practiced. I was on my way out as well until I was stopped byJudith, who after detecting no fire, simply called the security and waited inside for them to check it out.

But wait - I think it might have been earlier than that...
It probably started when our Italian roommate Elisa noticed that there were purple sheets on the bed next to hers (she has a two bedroom room). Then towels appeared in the closet. We had thought this whole time that it was just going to be the four of us - HOWEVER that was obviously not the case - someone was moving in.

It turns out that all first year students do not start school until the following week. So instead of the four of us sharing a refridgerator the size of a middle-school gym locker, we were adding on another! We all anxiously awaited the arrival of our new roomie - what would she be like? Was she Irish? Elisa said she had a feeling that she was Japanese...I don't know how she got that from purple sheets and stack of towels, but that was our only guess!

So we waited...all day friday...and saturday, sunday, even monday. Yet no one showed up (she missed the alarm - too bad!). Was this a practical joke? Judith began to be relieved - I think she was just as frightened of the thought of trying to make space for more frozen chicken as I was! Over dinner I made a comment about how maybe our new roommate was a ghost, or maybe invisible - and literally a minute after I said that - the door to our place unlatched and our new roommate (along with her parents) suddenly became very visible. A small, blond, 17 year old Irish girl named Fiona was now the 5th addition to our place!

However it did not take her long to become invisible again - she brought in her things with her parents, and said goodbye to her parents. It wasn't more than 15 minutes later she came into our living room and annouced she was going drinking! I was hoping to be living with an Irish student, and I think I got as true an Irish girl as I could ask for!

I went out myself, along with Judith and Julia, for a little 70s dance night, and then to a hole-in-the-wall place called just that - The Hole in the Wall pub. It was on our way back home that I noticed a small change in the Corrib Village environment - maybe crowds of people drinking cheap alcohol slyly in a circle outside (too young to go out to the pubs! haha!), the small girl puking on the backside of her apartment, or the fire alarm that was going off in another building (at least not ours this time!)- ahh yes, the first year Irish students had arrived!

So although Corrib Village is no longer a serene calm place to relax, I look forward an entertaining night culture at Corrib Village, which I actually think of as more humerous than annoying - lets just hope for no more 2AM alarm wake up calls!

until next time!

xoxoxo