Hello everyone in the states!! I’ve made it to Ireland with all of my luggage, and not enough sleep. When I got off the plane and went through customs, Don, the CIEE director here in Dublin was there waiting for me. Out of the 5 girls in my program I was the first to arrive. The next girl to arrive was Lexi. Don then put us both in a cab, and sent us off to Dublin City University. When we arrived on campus, Martin, our teacher, was there to greet us. Martin then proceeded to show us to our dorms, and take us on a quick tour around campus. It didn’t feel like I was in Dublin yet, because DCU looks just like any other college campus. Once the other 3 girls in my program arrived Martin gave us a brief introduction about what we were going to be doing the next month, and a few tips for getting around Dublin via the Dublin City Bus. At this point it is about 1, and the one tip Martin gave us was to stay up, and push through being tired, because it will help you get on Irish time faster, and not be extremely jet lagged. Us girls decide that the best way to stay up is to go into town. Navigating the bus system for the first time wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be, but we still didn’t know the correct stop to get off at. We decide to get off at the stop where we saw a ton of people in Football (soccer) jerseys. The rivalry Football match was that day, so all the Irish were out getting drunk. Naturally we decide it is only fitting to join them for a beer. This entire time all of us girls thought that we were in City Center, which is down town Dublin. Later we find out we were nowhere close to City Center. One of the girls in my program, Tricia, who is from Tennessee, and I decide to go get groceries. Finding the grocery store was very difficult, but after about an hour of wondering around Grafton road we finally found the super market. By getting groceries I mean buying the cheapest food to sustain life. Tricia and I realized early on, that if we wanted to drink the way we do, we had to sacrifice nice food. Even though none of us had really slept in almost 24 hours, our adrenaline kicked in, and we all rallied and went out to Temple Bar. Temple Bar is a touristy location, but it was a good starting point to ease us into the nightlife. Our adrenaline didn’t last for long though, because Tricia and I fell asleep in the cab ride home. I was apparently in the front seat snoring, and our cab driver was laughing at me…..stupid Americans! The main thing I though was going to be hard adjusting too was going from a city to Dublin, which before this trip I definitely thought was more like the country side, than a big city. Being in down town Dublin is different than Portland, but wandering the streets with all the hustle and bustle gives me the comfort of feeling at home.
On Monday we didn’t have class, but we did meet at 9:30am, which is when we would normally meet for class, and Martin gave us another short orientation about what we were going to be learning in our class on Contemporary Irish culture. After class every day we go on little field trips with Martin. The first day we took a field trip to the shopping mall in Dublin…(how exciting) so we could all buy cell phones (Its disgusting how dependent we are on technology). After going to the shopping center, Martin took us on a walking tour of down town Dublin to help us get our bearings. All of my expenses so far, have been a phone, some groceries, alcohol (naturally), and bus fair. To take the bus from DCU to City Center is costs me 1.65 euro each way! Since we were already in City Center touching mummies fingers, and we new we wanted to go out later that night, Tricia and I decided it would be a great idea if we just stayed down town, and didn’t go back to DCU, because we didn’t want to pay the bus fair. The other girls decided to go back to DCU, which might have been the smarter decision, but never the less Tricia and I still had a great night. We went back to Temple bar, bought a Guinness, and enjoyed some live music. To our surprise all of the bands we heard played only American songs, and Galway girl. We stayed at Temple Bar until pretty late this night because we were enjoying the music and the company of our three new Italian friends who continued to buy us drinks. :]
The first day of class was a complete blur. We were all still exhausted, and Martin attempted to sum up approximately 800 years of Irish history in 3 hours. Needless to say I absorbed next to none of it. We then went on a field trip to St Michan’s Church, which is Dublin’s oldest north side parish church, founded in 1095. There is a crypt underneath the church where you are able to see mummified bodies, and even touch the finger of a mummified knight, which supposedly brings you luck. After our field trip we all ventured back to DCU, ate some dinner, and went out for one of the new girls in our programs birthday. It was fun going out with all the other students in my program, but we quickly learned that a few girls from session 1 had quite the inappropriate crush on our teacher Martin. This was interesting to me because I see Martin more as a stand in, disapproving, older brother…who obviously thinks were great! We went out to a few bars, but one bar, Dicey’s, was particularly fun. Dicey’s was very big, very crowded, and it was very difficult to keep track of 13 other people. Tricia and I got split up from the group, and after circling the bar for a while we give up looking and decide to enjoy the rest of our night.
We had our second class today, and Don was teaching it. Between his heavy accent and how fast he talks, it made it difficult to understand him. After class we met Martin at Trinity College in down town Dublin. We then walked to and toured St Patricks Cathedral, and Chists Church Cathedral. Both were absolutely breath taking. After our field trip today, the original 5 of us wandered around Dublin, and window shopped (because I have no extra money for shopping). Then we made our way back to DCU, changed into PJ’s and planned our trip to Galway this weekend.
Some things that are different/ interesting and have surprised me about Dublin, is all the American music I’ve been listening too. The way the toilets flush. How much people like to buy Americans drinks. How the Irish fit the stereotype of drinking way too much. How wrong I was about what Dublin looked like. How much everyone hates Bush, and loves Obama. Obama even has a burger named after him at the local fast food restaurant. How much people curse. If someone gives you a hard time when they first meet you it means they like you, and if they are being too polite it probably means they don’t like you. And lastly how expensive everything is.
Some interesting phrases that people say here are:
Glad rags, which means dressing up to go out. You would hear it in the context of “Im wearing my glad rags”, or “Im going to put on glad rags”.
Asking for a ride means asking for sex, so you always say, “can I have a lift”
Craic, its gaelic, and its pronounced crack, and it means fun. People would ask “are you having craic” or you could say, “I’m having a lot of craic in Dublin”.
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