Day Three: Jetlagged Americans

Today was the day where I finally got to meet up with other people in my study abroad program as well as my host family. I said goodbye to Brendan and Catherine and caught the number 16 bus back to the airport, where the rest of my group was meeting. It was there that I met Dave Kilroy, our program coordinator, who made sure everyone in our group met one another. Having been in Dublin for two days, I was basically adjusted to the time difference, so it was funny to meet so many people who were completely thrown by it. Still, everyone was in high spirits as we all gathered together and boarded the bus that would take us to our college.

At the IADT (our college, and no, I don’t know what it stands for), we were picked up by our host families. Everyone kept referring to the experience as being back in kindergarten, where our mom’s were waiting to pick us up. Some also compared it to being “chosen” like an orphan in an orphanage. Regardless, we were all matched up with our host families, and whisked away to our respective home stays.

One of the most surprising things about the whole home stay experience is that is has completely blown the doors of what I thought an Irish home would be like. Neil and Ena (my host parents) have a house that would rival most American homes, and a yard that puts most I’ve seen to shame. Not only that, but they took on four Americans from my program (including me), a German student studying English at another school (Brenda), and Russian student on a 12 week program (Julia). The six of us, along with Neil and Ena and their two kids who live at home, means 11 people under one roof. With plenty of room to spare.

So the other three Americans (Andrew, Carolyn and Shelly) napped, while I chatted with Ena while she cooked, talking about America and my experience the past two days. Soon, though, everyone was up, and we all took turns telling stories about where we’re from and what it had taken to get to Dublin, including flight delays and long hours driving to the airport. Ena’s dinner, it turned out, was a beef stew with rice and mashed potatoes. The six non-Irish people at the table fought valiantly, but the meal defeated us. But Ena had made chocolate cake (of course), and we simply had to have a slice.

Stuffed, the Americans and Brenda decided to waddle down to the local pub to watch the US lose to Ghana in the first knockout round of the World Cup. We then walked back in the fading light, returning to Kilfenora* tired and happy, quickly falling asleep.

*Yeah, their house has a name, not a number.

Day Two Photo Supplement

This guy was playing the blues with a guitar made out of an oil can. Insert BP related joke here.

"Pow" indeed!

St. Stephen's Green. That little girl was eaten by those pigeons seconds after I took this.

No, I repeat, no fast dancing!

Door humor! Wonderful!

19th century nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell. Not actual size.

Beamish! Enjoyed in celebration of Spain's victory over Chile.

Day Two: What Do You Do With A Day Off In Dublin?

My first night sleeping in Dublin was an adventure unto itself. Jetlagged beyond belief, I finally couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, and tucked myself in at 8:30 pm. I awoke later, thinking I had slept, but saw on the clock it was only 10:30 pm. And I was wide-awake, naturally. I decided reading was the best course of action, and started in on Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. No offense to Mr. Chabon, but it took only five minutes of reading before I crashed again, this time not waking up until my alarm went off at 8:00 am.

The only reason I set an alarm was due to Brendan and Catherine’s fair but firm guideline that “breakfast is served from half eight to half nine.” And I was not about to miss out on a full Irish breakfast. For those unaware, an Irish breakfast consists of bacon, sausage, eggs, tomatoes and toast. It simple and hearty, and a testament to the strength of the Irish will, as they are able to fight through the sudden urge to take a nap after finishing this meal.

It was after breakfast that I realized my situation. I had done the two activities I had in mind for Dublin on the first day, completely forgetting that I had another day to fill. So I set out wandering, eventually finding Grafton Street. It’s closed off to cars, and is filled with people, shops, human statues, and buskers (street performers). It creates a very European environment, something you don’t find a lot of in the US. And at the end of Grafton Street is St. Stephen’s Green, a beautiful park. It was a nice stroll, but my feet were still extremely tired from the day before, and my internal clock was still messed up. But I found the solution: a movie!

I can now proudly say that I have seen a movie in another country. The film was not Irish, as the only Irish film at the theater was a documentary about the war in Afghanistan, and I didn’t want to be depressed. So I paid for my ticket to see Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans. The film was a blend of Werner Herzog’s insane direction and Nicholas Cage acting more wild and insane than I have ever seen him do. It was terrific.

I emerged from the theater, refreshed and suddenly quite hungry. I realized that it was the perfect time for this, as the World Cup matches between Spain and Chile and Switzerland and Honduras were about to begin. I walked into the nearest pub, which was reasonably quiet, and treated myself to a chicken and mushroom pie and a Carlsberg (a light beer that is quite easy to drink). I had positioned myself so I could see both games at the same time, but the Spanish game ended up being the far more interesting one, due largely to the presence of two Spaniards. Their unbridled enthusiasm for their team was infectious, and most of the crowd found themselves rooting for Spain, who ultimately proved victorious.

Day One Photo Supplement

When people ask, "What's the first thing you did in Dublin?" I now have an answer.

The library at Trinity College, Dublin. The Book of Kells is in that very building! You can't actually take pictures of the book, otherwise I'd post that too.

Yeah. A lot like UO.

All the doors in Dublin are this big.

Every different style of bottle that Guinness has ever used.

The lease that Arthur Guinness signed that granted him the ownership of the site of the Guinness Storehouse for 9000 years. So watch out for the year 10759 when it will finally be up for sale.

That pint was mine! All mine!

Proof!

That would be Dublin, with Trinity College in the distance.

Just in case you forgot that Dublin was all about old books and drinking.

Day One: 1200 Year Old Books And 250 Year Old Beer

The Marian Guest House (where I am staying for my first two nights in Dublin, until my study abroad program starts) is awesome. Located in a kind of run down part of the city, you really wouldn't know it was there unless you happened to walk right in front of it. Brendan and Catherine, the couple who run it, are the definition of gracious hosts. Every time I've seen them coming in or out of the building, they ask how I am. Catherine calls everyone "sweetie," and told me to "have a nice time today" when I left to go exploring. My room is small and smells like cigarettes, and the bathroom is down the hall in a room small enough for me to stand in the center and touch all the walls. But I don't care. I'm not spending much time there anyway.

I set out not really knowing where I was going, other than knowing more things would be happening the direction I was heading. As it happened, I ended up on Dublin's main drag, O'Connell Street. It's famous for the Millennium Spire, which Brendan described as "a waste of time and space," as it was meant to celebrate the turn of the millennium but wasn't built until 2003. It's really just a big metal spike.

After meandering down O'Connell Street, I headed to Trinity College, which really reminded me of UO, if UO had been built 300 years earlier. Most of the main buildings (the ones tourists visit) all make you feel like you're living in medieval times, even though this is still an active college. Part of the old feeling you get is due to the Book of Kells, a text written sometime in the 9th century. It's done with all sorts of colored dye and gold filigree on calf-skin pages, and documents four Gospels of the New Testament. On display when I saw the book was a random selection of the Gospel of John, and the first page of the Gospel of Luke. I don't think I've ever been in the presence of something quite that old in my life. Really cool.

After Trinity College, I found myself extremely tired. Maybe because I still hadn't slept yet. So I naturally decided to visit the Guinness Storehouse, because nothing would work in this situation besides alcohol! (Except sleep, which didn't sound as tasty.) The Guinness Storehouse is where Guinness was first brewed, and is much farther away from everything than everyone would have you believe. Granted, nothing in Dublin is all that far apart, but this was by far the farthest away.

The best way to describe the experience of the Storehouse is that if you didn't think Guinness was the best beer in the world when you went in, you KNOW it is when you leave. The first floor is dedicated exclusively to a detailed examination of all Guinness' ingredients, including a moving tribute to water. You then move up the building , which, as you realize when you reach the 5th floor, is centered around a giant pint of Guinness. Along the way up, they go to great lengths to explain the painstaking process by which Guinness is made. (At least, it used to be painstaking. Now they have machines to do it all) You even get to taste a roasted grain of barley which was actually quite good. And, of course, included with your admission, is a free pint of Guinness in their Gravity Bar. The Gravity Bar is a circular room that serves as the 7th floor, and provides a 360 degree view of Dublin. Yes, I drank Guinness 7 stories up, staring out over the city. Quite amazing.

Then I got some fish and chips in a tiny little shop, ate them, and then almost fell asleep while walking back to the guest house. Hooray Day 1!

Day Zero, Part 2: Philadelphia To Dublin

I did not sleep at all on this flight. Literally. It takes about 8 hours to fly from Philadelphia to Dublin, and I, for whatever reason, opted to stay awake the whole time. It ended up being okay, as I was far too excited to sleep, and I had too much adrenaline once I got here to fall asleep. Oh well.

This was largely due to the aforementioned GlU.S. Glairways' need to switch planes on us before we left Philadelphia. This plane was smaller, and while I fortunately still had a seat (some others were not so lucky) it was a middle seat rather than the aisle seat I'd reserved. I was far too tired and anxious to go to make a stink, so I decided to roll with it. I ended up being seated between a high school-aged girl who snored the whole time and a woman who looked like a cross between Skeletor and Cruella DeVille. Both were nice enough, but the girl was a loud snorer, and the Villainous Mash-Up wanted to talk the whole time until she fell asleep. GlU.S. Glairways made up for my previous flight's mistake by showing TWO films this time. The first was Invictus, which I've already seen, followed by Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, which I have also already seen, except when I saw it, it was called Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone.

The flight was uneventful, and really just consisted of me trying to will myself to sleep or distracting myself from thinking about not sleeping by reading or staring at either movie with the sound off.* All in all, it was just a placeholder until I could get to Dublin and start doing things.

*I must say, Percy Jackson was kind of fun with the sound off, as I imagined all the male characters talking like Tom Waits and the female characters talking like Carol Channing. Someone should make that movie. I'd see it in theaters. Twice.

Day Zero, Part 1: San Francisco To Philadelphia

The best part of my flight to Philadelphia had absolutely nothing to do with flying. I’d listened to the US/Algeria game with my parents in the car on the way over, and found myself wanting absolutely nothing more than to destroy all the members of that former French colony’s soccer team (normal behavior, I think). After saying goodbye to my folks and going through airport security (yeah, yeah, boring stuff) I wandered over to the airport bar, where I stood outside and watched with the assembled crowd. It was around 9 am, so naturally everyone was drunk. And when Landon Donovan jumped on the Algerian keeper’s mistake and pounded the goal into the back of the net in stoppage time, the room exploded. Everyone talks about how much American’s hate soccer, but in the San Francisco airport bar in Terminal B, near gates 20-30, we were all rejoicing.

I was joined on my flight to beautiful Philadelphia by a group of about 14 high school students on a trip to Israel. They were all quite nice, but enjoyed shouting at each other as we got on the plane. That was quite enjoyable, especially as I was trying to fall asleep standing up. Things settled down once airborne, and I (of course) found myself wide-awake. Chosen ways to keep me entertained on the flight: listening to the audio book Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, reading my Ireland 2010 guidebook, and examining farming patterns from an aerial view. I don’t want to mention my airline by name, so I’ll call them something else. GlU.S. Glairways. There. Identity concealed. Anyway, GlU.S. Glairways has deemed at some point in its past that 5 ½ hour flights across the country don’t need in-flight entertainment, which to me just reeks of contempt for passengers. By not showing a movie (or ANY TV entertainment, for that matter), GlU.S. Glairways has taken the one potentially positive thing an airline can provide and left it back on the ground. Oh well. Hopefully they’ll decide that an overnight flight to Europe is good enough for a 30-minute episode of Two And A Half Men.

Getting Started

Hello everyone!

This is where I'll be writing about my six-week jaunt in Ireland and the British Isles, as well as posting pictures from my stay. You can keep up with every little detail from my trip here, and keep in touch (somewhat) through the comments section at the end of each post.

I'm leaving in just a few days, so I'll start updating (hopefully) daily throughout my trip. Keep checking in to see what's new!