The difference between traveling somewhere and living somewhere is that when you travel you don't need to get the day to day necessities of life. Groceries. Cell phones. Sheets. Hair Dryers. Those things are easy to bring with you or you don't really need them while you are there. Day 2 of Dublin was figuring out exactly how we are going to LIVE in Dublin.
The view when I woke up this morning, outside of my bedroom window.
Slept pretty well, woke up
occasionally but fell back asleep pretty quickly. My alarm went off at 9 am...got up, and took a shower. The shower consists of a curtained off 2 by 2 corner of the bathroom.
The dial is in Celsius (thank you America for preparing me for nothing). The water pressure is fair but the streams
of water seem to cascade all around me and not actually on me. Like I said, consistent bad hair days here in Dublin. I actually woke up to a somewhat sunny sky, which was nice. I did
n't have a hair dryer or couldn't manage to find one yesterday (and still unsuccesful on that mission), so I had to do the old hair gel and curly look.
10 am we had a study abroad welcome. The coordinator encouraged us to travel Ireland, travel Europe, be patient and talk with the locals. He told us about the interesting growth period Ireland has had in the last 15-20 years... from the 2nd poorest country in Europe to the 2nd riches and how that has all come to a halt, giving Irish people an opportunity to re-evaluate their values. Afterwards we had a little reception with tea & sandwiches. Given that no change in location can alter my opinion on tea, I stuck to the tray of sandwiches delivered to our table. Quite a variety of tuna, vegetable, ham, cheese & turkey options, I stuck with turkey....which was a little lack luster in flavor. Afterwards me, Stacy, Claire, Laura, & Jen (Claire's roommate from Vancouver) headed to the grocery. It was about a 25 minute walk...about 1.5 miles....to Tesco. We got some bare necessities.... I purchased ritz crackers, peanut butter, apples, a bag of pasta, a can of sauce, a frozen pasta dinner and some granola bars. Oh and hand soap. Tesco sells a random assortment of items, mostly groceries, but I couldn't find a hair dryer. They sell microwaves and TVs but no hair dryers.
Ireland is pretty environmentally friendly.. i.e. they don't have grocery bags. Therefore you must purchase a reusable
one or bring your own. Luckily I had my backpack, so I loaded that with my grocery and carried my bag of pasta. The walk home took us about 45 mins since we were loaded down with groceries. We only had a minute to drop off our stuff before we had to head to our study abroad meeting part 2. This time we analyzed Irish culture and what we know about it (Guiness, Leprechauns, Greenness) versus the American Culture we know (loud, fast, Natty Lite). After that I got a chance to read my email and talk to Brent for a minute, at 35 euro cents, but worth every penny to talk to my favorite brother.
We then went to the study abroad reception where we had more little appetizers...we passed on the sandwiches.. and had like sausage puffs and french fries on a stick. (Or I guess they call them chips here). We also had a glass of cheap wine and spent most of our time talking about tattoos and the differences in Irish, American, Australian, & Canadian cultures and sports. We've already come up with the list of things to do when we visit Laura in Melbourne dur
ing our winter and their summer....things like booze cruises and schoolies (which are end of the year parties).
Dinner ended up being peanut butter and crackers-- a little protein. I don't have pots or pans in my apartment so I couldn't make any noodles on the hob (stovetop).
About 7:45 we met up again and took the bus into the city centre. We walked by St. Stephen's Green again and down Grafton Street to the Temple Bar area. It's an awesome city, everyone is friendly and its so historical looking. People stopped us on the street, and we aren't yet sure if its them being friendly or the normally creepiness you'd find in an American city. We found the Temple Bar, one of Dublin's biggest landmarks and went in for a pint.
They have live music every night and tonight they played some American music... stuff like Hotel California & Stop and Stare. I wasn't up for the Guiness but Stacy & Laura both had a pint. Jen ordered Jameson on ice and I went for a pint of Irish Cider. 6 Euro for a pint is a little steep but it was our first night out. Temple Bar was everything you imagine pubs to be like.... friendly irish folk including a man at the bar who told us not to be alarmed if our pee turned black after a few pints of Guiness. Thanks for the heads up, that could be a little scary if you didn't know. Ofcourse a soccer match was on. We sat and enjoyed the music and drank our pints. Laura didn't much like the Guiness...it tasted like coffee to me. I can imagine its much better than the guiness you'd have in the US, very smooth, I just didn't enjoy the bitter taste. I liked the cider, it had a little bit of a sweetness to it. Definitely a relaxed environment which we have been told multiple times is the Irish way.
About 10:20 we headed out, stopping to use the bathroom. One thing is universal, no matter where you travel o go, you always have to wait in line to use the ladies room. While we waited for everyone we met 2 Irish men who must have known we were American from our accents. They told us about some local places to go... well one did, he wrote us a list, and then the other criticize the list calling some places "gay" or asking if we looked like 60 year old men.... They told Claire her hat looked like a "tea coozie", told Stacy she looked like an Irish farmer with her wellies on (rainboots). They said Jen's mittens looked like Martha Stewarts oven mitts... I guess when you're from the Yukon you have warm gloves. When asked to insult me, they said I looked Irish (a compliment I think) and told Laura they didn't know where to start with her Australianness since all of the British & Irish criminals were shipped off to Australia. They were super friendly, invited us to stay for a pint but we had a bus to catch so we thanked them for their advice and went on our way.
--That's me and Jen... Jameson Whiskey & Bulmer's Irish Cider at Temple Bar.
We headed for the bus stop after we stopped for snacks & change, and got on the number 10 back to campus.
It's about Midnight so I should go to bed, I have Business Advisor meetings tomorrow morning.
I learned the Irish way to say goodnight, but I do not remember at all. Everything is a blur.
I'll add pictures as soon as I can find a few moments where I'm not nodding off.-- Added a few.
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