moving at the speed of awkward

To recap: Last night was the first “International Student Night” and the International Club set up a meet-and-greet event… in the form of Speed-Dating. For those that don’t know, “speed dating” is a special kind of torture for the Single species. Luckily, I am currently involved and have never had the opportunity to be victimized in this manner when I was single. I was one of the fortunate few last night.

I fell back on the tried-and-true method of “I can’t participate because I’m documenting this with my camera” method. It has worked wonders at weddings. At any rate, I did take part in a few rounds. The footage, or carnage, can be seen here.

Good times. After a few rounds, I decided to walk around the campus. I wound up running into my orientation guide, Steven, and his housemate, Kevin. Coerced back into the fray, I found myself having great ‘craic.’ Craic, pronounced “crack” is a word for ‘fun.’ Irish students are big on craic. Yeah, I’ve already misunderstood it as a horrible drug habit, and had plenty of laughs over the confusion. Now you can too.

After we left The Stables, which is one of two pubs located on campus, my friends and I decided to head to The Lodge, a nightclub we’d heard was great craic. It was something. A nightclub themed to look like a lodge, replete with log-shaped foundations. It was as though I had fallen into some classic fairy tale scene where The Seven Dwarfs might be DJs or Hansel and Gretel emulate The Chemical Brothers. I expected a remix of “Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It’s Off to Work We Go.”

I’m not a ‘clubby’ person, but I did attempt to dance, only to be reminded that I have no sense of rhythm despite the obvious, thumping bassline. Ah, well. Snarky comments aside, I actually had a lot of fun.

Have I mentioned my new friends yet? I’ve met a nice little group of American students in addition to the slew of Irish. First, there’s Anthony. He’s hilarious and always manages to be met by interesting characters, without going out his way to meet them. We both go to Northeastern, but I didn’t know him before this trip. Then there’s Maureen, who is a pistol, in her own right. She joined the softball club, and I’m looking forward to hollering my support at her first game. It turns out that Maureen and I grew up in the same suburban region of Illinois. I particularly enjoy her bluntness and sense of camaraderie. Randi is a sweetheart from Penn State, studying Comparative Literature and she seems to exist in an alternate universe where manners and femininity count, and drinking doesn’t exist. I like her universe and I like her. She’s different. Last on the roster is Sarah, a conscientious, intelligent, funny, and insightful young lady from Aurora, Illinois. I feel closest to Sarah, although we hardly know each other. Maybe it’s because we both did Speech Team. That extracurricular is the sort that stays with you your entire life. Or maybe it’s because Sarah knows how important a hug is.

Well, it’s Saturday night, and one of the 6 days that people go out and party. Maureen, Randi, and Sarah decided to come over to my dorm instead. We watched television and chatted, and I had a fantastic time with them. We would have baked cookies, but were deterred by the lack of necessary ingredients. Like baking powder. Another night, perhaps…