Dublin: Good "Craic"

So, my trip started out with an orientation in Dublin (Baile Átha Cliath). We stayed in a hostel right on the River Liffey (An Life) , next to McConnell Bridge, which is on (from what I could tell) was one of the main streets in Dublin. Right across the river was the Temple Bar (Barra an Teampaill) area, which is full of kind of more upscale restaurants, pubs, and bars. It's a little more touristy, but was always full of people and fun to walk around.

The first day in Dublin was kind of worthless--I was so tired from the plane rides and my lack of sleep (I got into Dublin around 5 AM) that I could barely eat and fell asleep at about 7 PM--there was definitely minimal walking around the city. But the next day, after we had a few hours of orientation, we took a Hop-On/Hop-Off bus tour, where I got to see a lot more of the city. We walked around Christ Church Cathedral (a big Anglican church), some Dublin city gates, and then took a tour of the Guinness Factory at the St. James's Gate Brewery! I discovered that regular Guinness is pretty much one of the most terrible things I've ever had, but the Sky Bar up at the top of factory had an amazing 360-degree view of the whole city! There were a few other things on the tour that I never had the chance to see, like the jail, so I know that I'll want to come back up to Dublin for the weekend or something later in the trip. The next day was full of more meetings, and then we went out for New Year's Eve. Dublin was really packed--sometimes they even sell tickets you have to buy at least the day before to get into certain pubs because it's so crowded. Because Ireland already has a pub culture, something big like New Year's just means that even more people will be out on the streets. It was really fun to just be in big city to celebrate! New Year's Day was much quieter. We had another meeting in the afternoon, and then Arcadia took us to the theater to see "Great Expectations." The next day we headed off for Cork.

As a city, Dublin was a great place to visit. Everyone was friendly and the whole place seemed outgoing and beautiful. But I'm glad that I decided to study in Cork because it seems smaller and less touristy. Starting in Dublin was great, though, because it meant that I got to meet everyone else on the Arcadia trip. Overall, even the meetings in Dublin were really good to go to--we even got to learn a few surprising things about Ireland. I thought they were interesting--hope you do, too!

--People in Ireland refer to things as "good craic" (pronounced "crack"). It means fun, but if you don't know what it means and someone talking to you in a meeting or on the street says "there was lots of craic there" or asks you where the craic is, it can be pretty funny. There are a few other funny translations, too. If you're going to "meet up" with someone, you say you're going to "hook up" with someone. If you make fun of someone, you're "slagging" them.

--Ireland is not a tipping culture. You don't tip your bartender, waiter, hairdresser, taxi driver--anyone. If you have an exceptional experience, you might tip, but you would give them only a few cents up to one or two euro. Which is nice, because the exchange rate kind of sucks!

--Ireland is a very, very small country (about the size of Maine or Indiana). There are only a little over 4 million people. Which means that a lot of people know each other, or if they don't, they know someone who does. Apparently, it's almost like they play a game of Six Degrees of Separation each time they meet someone new. It's also sometimes a way to find out if they might somehow be related to each other. So instead of asking what you do for a living, like in America, they like to ask each other where they're from and where they went to school (because it's usually in the same place). They tend to do this to Americans, too. I met someone who, when they found out I was from Ohio, told me that they knew/were related to someone in North Dakota. Which I'm sure is a nice place!

--Gas here is quite expensive. Although it's measured in liters, when translated, the Irish pay roughly $6/gallon for gas--and they have the cheapest gas in Europe! Which means that instead of heating the whole house, they tend to only heat the room they're in at the time, and usually not as warm as we're used to. And showers can run out of hot water very quickly because they only heat so much for the day. So we got a talk at orientation about not wasting heat and water like us Americans do in order to keep our Irish flatmates happy by keeping their bills down! Thank God it's not quite as cold here!

After a four hour bus ride through what reminded me of the Midwest, except for more sheep and less corn, we arrived in Cork. We've mostly been settling down in the apartments and shopping for things like mobiles. I'm living with two other girls on the trip, and one other roommate. Whoever they are, they're probably Irish, and most likely won't get here until Sunday because school starts up for the spring semester on Monday.

I've had a great time in Ireland so far, and it should be really interesting to get into the swing of the European way of college. And then next weekend is our homestay in Co Kerry. Apparently the accents are even thicker there than they are here in Cork, which should be fun to try to understand. And it'll be a chance to experience country life here!