Home

Advertisement

My time in Dublin [entries|archive|friends|userinfo]
DolanInDublin

[ userinfo | livejournal userinfo ]
[ archive | journal archive ]

13 March 2007 [Apr. 2nd, 2007|12:30 pm]
(I didn’t get to finish this entry, so here’s a brand new update)
JOURNAL ENTRY VII: 13 March 2007
There is exactly one month left in my time here, the program ends on 13 April. In this month I have St. Patrick’s Day (this weekend), a tentative plan to go to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher, as well as a trip to Northern Ireland. Once the program ends I’m planning on going to Scotland and London with Lauren and Tim, and then going to see my friend Shana in Perugia, Italy which is right near Assisi, as well as Rome before returning back to the States.
So, on to Barcelona. After we checked into the hotel we walked along the beach in search of somewhere to eat. At nine in the morning most places were closed so it was a bit difficult to find a place. Eventually we found one down by the Grand Casino and Olympic Village which had descent food for descent prices; I just went with a simple breakfast. After we ate we were all pretty exhausted so we walked back to the hotel to finish checking in and then took a brief nap. Once we woke up we walked down to Las Ramblas in search of somewhere for dinner. Las Ramblas is the main street in Barcelona. During the day along Las Ramblas you will find countless shops, people selling things on the street, and street performers. At night it has a much different personality though with people either trying to get you to go to different clubs or sell you drugs. Eventually we found an Irish pub (again, why we end up at these things everywhere we go I do not know) and got some food to snack on. After that we decided to meet up with some of the other IPA students who had been in Barcelona for their entire Spring Break. We were sitting at a Café when they approached us; it was very easy to spot them because they are very loud. That is one thing that we have noticed since we got here, us Americans have got to be the loudest people in the world!
Barcelona itself is gorgeous. It is much more a resort town than Madrid, which is neither a pro nor a con, but it is right on the Mediterranean Sea and the streets are lined with palm trees. The weather was perfect and we spent a lot of time at the beach both during the day and at night. The first full day that we were there we decided to go and see the Gaudi Cathedral. Gaudi was an architect in the 19th and early 20th Century. This Cathedral he designed and began building around 1895 or so and it is still being built today. It’s a colossal undertaking with different styles being used on virtually every wall. It has a very Tim Burton meets Dr. Seuss feel to it, so it is very bizarre. It was very interesting to see though and compare it to some of the nicer cathedrals that I have seen firsthand. His style is very organic and flowing with few straight lines. After we were done there we walked over to the Gothic Quarter and saw a Roman cathedral that was much more fit for my tastes. In front of the Cathedral was an antiques market that I wandered through for an hour or so, but didn’t spend any money due to how expensive it was. That night we saw a Flamenco show which was great and then got dinner at a Spanish restaurant. All in all it was a full, fun day.
The next day we spent quite a bit of time on Las Ramblas. We walked along the street going into different shops and picking up souvenirs. I got a Barcelona soccer polo shirt for €20 that normally goes for €50, I love the bartering system. Tim bought a glass keg/shot glass set which of course ended up breaking the next morning. That afternoon Tim, Lauren, and I spent a bit of time at the beach and dipped our feet in the Mediterranean. That night, the five of us made tapas and drank sangria at the beach for a while before grabbing dinner. After dinner I met up with Shana from Northeastern, who was just starting her spring break and is studying in Perugia, Italy, and showed her around the different things that you can do in Barcelona.
The final day we started out by taking the cable cars to the base of Montjuic and then climbing the way up. We could have gone straight up but Kevin did not believe my advice so we took a very roundabout way of getting to the top where we walked all around the mountain. At the top was an old military fort from the days of the civil war when Catalonia attempted to secede from the rest of Spain. There was an amazing view of the city which showed just how huge Barcelona is, as well of the mountains surrounding the area. After that we climbed back down and since we were tired and my back was killing me, Tim, Lauren, and I went back to the beach until it was time for us to head back to the airport and fly back to Dublin, which we were all very happy to return to even though we had an amazing spring break.
London was an alright time. It was extremely easy flying into Heathrow since there is absolutely no customs if you are flying into the United Kingdom from Ireland. I then took the Heathrow Express into Paddington Station and made my way over to the hotel. At the hotel I asked for Carlin but was told she wasn’t a guest there. Eventually I found out she hadn’t checked in yet, so I got myself a coffee and sat and relaxed until she showed up. Once she did we went out and got breakfast at Garfunkel’s (possibly related to Art?) and walked all throughout Hyde Park and over to Harrod’s and the shopping area. After we got back we took a nap and then went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant over on Queensway. That night when we back over towards the hotel we weren’t initially allowed to return because there was a man threatening to jump off the roof of the hotel so the entire street was blocked off by police. Eventually an unarmed policeman walked us back to the hotel so we could go, which was good because we were exhausted. The next day we walked down throughout Notting Hill before I went back to the airport to fly back to Dublin. Unfortunately the Underground wasn’t running the line that goes to the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey so I was unable to see any of that stuff while in London. Oh well, I guess I will have to return then.
LinkLeave a comment

8 March 2007 [Apr. 2nd, 2007|12:30 pm]
JOURNAL ENTRY VI: 8 March 2007
Not too much has changed over the last few days. I’ve been working in the Dáil the past few days. Mostly what they have me do is sit there and answer the phone, and when the phone isn’t ringing then I’m not really doing too much. Right now I am actually working on a newsletter about a building issue in Terenure. On the non-business side I forgot Michelle’s birthday unfortunately so I need to send her a card or something. This weekend I am meeting up with Carlin in London so that should be a good time, I’ll right about that when I get back. Now that you are updated on what I’ve been up to the past few days, on to Barcelona.
Link1 comment|Leave a comment

Madrid [Mar. 6th, 2007|09:38 pm]
JOURNAL ENTRY V: 5 March 2007
Just like the last few entries, I have again fallen a bit behind in my entries and will have to make up an extra page or two. Thankfully, quite a bit has happened since Amsterdam. I came back to Dublin and nothing too interesting happened. Mostly this period was taken up by studying for midterms which we had the week before Spring Break so on 19 and 21 February. The midterms really were not too bad. The first day we had two hours to write three essays and the essays that I wrote were on the Irish Travellers (Society), the reasons for the Celtic Tiger (Economics), and the character of Irish politics (Politics). I felt I did fairly good especially on the economics question but was a bit rushed during the politics one. On Wednesday we had to write two essays for History, one that I did was on the reasons for Ulster Unionists to be anti-republic and the other was whether the 1912-1916 period showed a turn from constitutionalism to militarism. For Literature I wrote on the use of violence in Irish literature and Cathleen ni Houlihann and whether or not it was propaganda. I felt very confident with all four of these essays. After the midterms Brandon and I were sitting on the couch at the IPA and a man came up and talked to us for a little while. He introduced himself as Brendan Tuohy and asked us how we liked Ireland. After a few more minutes of talking he gave us his business card, which identified him as the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Communications, basically the top civil servant in his ministry. We are going to have lunch with him sometime this week, he’ll be a nice reference to have. After midterms were ended we had one day of work at the Dàil, and then it was time for spring break.
So the final plan for Spring Break was to go to Madrid for a few days, then take a night train to Barcelona, stay there for a few days, and fly back to Dublin that Saturday. On Saturday we took off from Dublin Airport via Ryan Air for Madrid. It was a good group of my friends Tim, Brendan, Kevin, Lauren, and me. After we landed in Madrid it was already night so we headed towards the Metro to take that into the city. Their Metro is actually very impressive, there is no more than a 4-6 minute wait ever for a train, and most of the time it was less than two minutes. However on the negative side of the Metro, my friend Tim was on the train for not more than ten seconds when he realized his wallet had been stolen. He lost 100€, his credit card, his driver’s license, and his student card. Needless to say, the four of us were covering for Tim the rest of the time that we were there. This was not the only misfortune Tim would suffer. When we got out of the Metro and out into Puerta del Sol, we started across the street to go to our hostel and he tripped on the sidewalk and almost got hit by a car (still not the end of misfortune for him).
His mood improved however when we got to our hostel, Hostel Madrid (creative name, I know). They told us that we weren’t in the hostel building we were actually next door. There were two rooms, a two-person room and a three-person, Tim and I took the two-person. Our room ended up being the better of the two; it was up on the roof with a terrace, private kitchen, bathroom, living room, and two bedrooms. Not too shabby at all for only 30€ a night. So if you ever go to Madrid, ask for room 65 of Hostel Madrid. Kevin, Brendan, and Lauren were downstairs in the three person room with Brendan and Kevin in one room and Lauren having her own private room. The room was similar in luxuries but last some of the beautiful views and roof access of room 65. After we got settled in we decided to go out for tapas and followed the man at the desk’s advice and went to a place called Manas Pina. Tapas are basically like appetizers; they consist of a piece of toast like you would find with bruschetta, and then usually meat, fish, or cheese on top of that. You get a serving of tapas, good enough for about a piece per person of the five of us, for only around 2.70€. With that we got a two litre pitcher of Sangria for 10€. The food was absolutely delicious and we ended up going back to Malas Pina every day that we were in Madrid. After that we went out to see some of the night life of Madrid. There are all of these people in the streets handing out cards for bars and clubs and giving free drinks everywhere that you step. The night doesn’t even really start until one or two in the morning anyway. There were a few shadier places that we avoided. One other notable moment of the night was on the Metro when Tim noticed someone wearing a DePaul sweatshirt (the University that he goes to) and he realized he knew the girl. She is studying abroad in Madrid and agreed to take us out sometime before we leave.
The next day Tim and I got up about 10 or so in the morning. I went down and woke Lauren and the rest of them up and by 10:30 Tim and I were ready, while the rest had about an hour and a half still to get ready. So Tim and I walked the streets and explored it a bit which was pretty interesting. After we met up with the rest of the group we went to Dunkin Donuts for some coffee and a doughnut and headed over towards an outdoor market. At the market I picked up a pair of sunglasses for 6€, a Clash-Sandinista shirt for 10€, and a personalized bullfighting poster for 5€, as did Tim. Lauren got a personalized flamenco dancer poster for the same price, since I guess there aren’t too many bullfighters named Lauren. After that we walked through side streets, stopping to get tapas on the way, towards the museums. The first stop we made was in the botanical gardens which would probably be absolutely beautiful if it had been a month or so later but even now was impressive. We then waited in line to go to a museum but found out it was the wrong line, so we went over to the Madrid park which is huge and looks amazing. Unfortunately, shortly after we got there Lauren accidentally dropped my camera and it remains to be broken. We took a row boat out on the pond which was peaceful, then we headed back towards Puerta del Sol. We got dinner at a traditional Spanish place close to the Puerta. One thing that was great with restaurants is that for about 10€ you could get a meal with an appetizer, main course, and either coffee or dessert. That night we all got different appetizers and shared them (the paella was amazing), and then for my main course I decided to get ostrich so I could give it a try, it actually was not too bad. We then went up to our room and sat out on the terrace drinking wine and watching the sunset. After that we went out for the night and saw some more of the nightlife.
This was our final full day in Madrid. First thing we did was wake up and move out of our palatial hostel. Unfortunately we could only do two nights at that place and for the last night we had to go to Hostel Metropol. The new place was not nearly as impressive; it was just your general hostel and compared with the last place it just looked like a prison cell. After we got moved in we headed towards the Real Palace (the Royal Palace) which was absolutely beautiful, Lauren actually teared up as she saw all of the different rooms. The armory was very impressive as well, they had rifles that were about ten feet long and had to be held up by a carrier like a cannon. We then went back to the park since we were all exhausted and had a siesta beside the pond for a couple hours. By that time, it was night time so we went back to Malas Pina and met up with Alison (Tim’s fellow DePaul friend) at an Irish (we were curious about Spain’s take on the Irish) pub. After that we headed towards a restaurant that Alison said was amazing called the Cave, and was styled like a cave on the inside.
The next morning we got kicked out of the hostel at 10 AM sharp. And by kicked out I mean kicked out, they raided the room like it was a prison shake down. Poor Lauren was still in the shower and the cleaning ladies were knocking at the door for her to get out. So after that rude awakening we were exhausted. We had some tapas and saw some more of Madrid and went back to the park for a nice relaxing siesta once again. At first I felt kind of like I was wasting my spring break spending all this time sitting around and not seeing the city, but then I remembered it was spring break and time for me to relax. We headed to the train station for our 10 PM train to Barcelona. It was a night train and we had a sleeping cabin. The sleeping cabins are six bunks each and there were five of us, so we were joined by a random Spanish guy. I actually felt bad for him because while we had to deal with one guy we didn’t know, he was stuck with five smelly strange Americans who barely spoke Spanish. The sleep was okay but it was a bit weird when the random guy woke me up and handed me my wallet. Thankfully everything was there, it must have just fallen and he picked it up for me. It made for a bit of an uncomfortable awakening though. After we got to Barcelona we took the Metro to our hostel, Seapoint Hostel, which was right on the beach and headed out in search of food. It was about 9 in the morning and most places were closed but eventually we found somewhere. After that we went back to the hostel to finish checking in and since we were exhausted from the traveling we took a couple hours nap. I will go more into our time in Barcelona in the next entry.
LinkLeave a comment

Amsterdam [Feb. 13th, 2007|06:31 pm]
JOURNAL ENTRY IV: 11 February 2007
I just got back today from Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It was the first time that we left the country since we got here. Originally I wasn’t planning on going to Amsterdam while I was here, but everyone else in the group was going so I decided that I would so that I wouldn’t be stuck in Dublin on my own (not that that would be any tragedy). We stayed out Thursday night until our flight which was early Friday morning. Once we got into Holland, we took the train to Amsterdam and checked into our hotel. We stayed at Hotel Verdi, which was surprisingly very nice. The stairs were extremely narrow up and down so as Tim and I were in a room on the top floor it was a bit aggravating. The rooms were nice, we had our own bathroom, and a continental breakfast was included of cold cuts, fruit, coffee, and tea. It was in Museum Plein, the museum district, right by the Van Gogh Museum and the Symphony.
One of the first things that we noticed upon our arrival was the beautiful architecture of the city. The buildings are generally very narrow, as property taxes are decided upon the width of the front of your house, since everyone wants to be on the canals. It is a city that is made up of canals, similar to Venice and St. Petersburg. It is a low-rise city similar to Dublin and Boston, and most buildings are just about four stories tall. Houseboats line the edges of the canals all throughout. Since the city of Amsterdam rarely ever approves any additional spots where houseboats can be, most go for around €1.5 million. As the city used to be the head of the Dutch empire, which founded New York City and explored much of the new world during the Age of Colonization, there are medieval palaces, buildings, and guard towers all throughout the city. Another striking thing about the city is the popularity of bicycles. Every street was lined with bikes and there were bike racks with hundreds of them. On the side of the street there are bike lanes, which pedestrians need to be careful as they can seem like they are sidewalks. One of the girls, Annette, actually got hit by a man on his bicycle. Even though it was her fault, the man apologized several times. That is actually another thing that we noticed, the Dutch seem to be a very friendly people, especially when compared to Americans. It’s just a different way of life I guess.
After we checked into our hotel we went to a small restaurant for breakfast. I ordered bacon and eggs and what I was given was two pieces of bread, and over that was the bacon and eggs which were cooked together, and it also came with a side salad. It was a great breakfast and helped start the day a bit. Our waitress was a middle aged woman who was very nice, welcomed us to the city, and pointed out a few things that we shouldn’t miss. After that we checked out a few of the shops and went back to the hotel for a couple hours sleep since we were all exhausted. Five hours later we woke up, and then we went out for dinner. We ate at an Italian restaurant near the center of the city. Again, the food was delicious. I had creamy penne pasta that was mixed with onions, bacon, and something else that I don’t actually remember. It was great, and there wasn’t a whole lot there but it was extremely filling. The other guys got pizza, calzones, and ravioli. Again, our waiter was very nice and told us of a few places that we should definitely check out. We walked around the Red Light district for a good laugh and it was…interesting. Definitely a different way of life and not something at all that I have seen before. It was kind of sad actually. After that we went out for the night and it ended up being fairly late and we got back to the hotel around three in the morning.
We woke up around ten so that we could still get breakfast. We then headed over towards the Heineken Brewery. We got a little lost on the way and ended up walking through a market for a while, which was interesting seeing the different goods that they had for sale. Interestingly, I went to go buy a track jacket and I tried on all the way up to XL and it didn’t fit me, guess people are just really skinny here or something. The Heineken Brewery was pretty interesting. Like the Guinness Storehouse, it’s not really a tour of the brewing areas but a more a museum of the history of Heineken and different things from its history. Still, I had a good time and I got a nice glass out of it. One on side it has the Heineken logo and on the other it has the silhouette of James Bond and the 007 logo. After the Heineken Brewery we went to the Van Gogh Museum. This was also very interesting but I wish I had brushed up on my Art History beforehand, oh well. I was surprised with the amount of paintings that they had of Van Gogh and those he inspired. After that, Lauren, Tim, and I headed towards the Anne Frank house. It was much more awe inspiring than I expected. It’s an experience, and it’s kind of hard to put that into words. Actually after we left and we were walking along the canal, we didn’t say a word to each other for at least twenty minutes. Even now I don’t really know what else to say about it. We met up with the rest of the group for a two hour wine and cheese canal cruise. It was a good time, even though it had started raining so it was a bit difficult to really admire everything through the rain and fogged up windows. Still, it was an enjoyable time. After that we just walked around Amsterdam some more and went back to the hotel for sleep. We got up early in the morning and we cut it close but we did get to the airport in time. It was a little bit different security-wise at the airport; there you don’t go through security until you are physically at your gate. Other than that it was just like any other airport.
Link1 comment|Leave a comment

Starting at the Dail [Feb. 12th, 2007|12:26 pm]
JOURNAL ENTRY III: 6 February 2007
I started at the Dàil today, and right now I am in a bit of downtime so that is where I am at currently. It seems to be alright so far. My first real assignment is to write a briefing paper for the party on a certain topic. This is the kind of assignment I hope to continue to receive because I prefer to work on research and briefing versus just making phone calls over and over again. My one strength against the phone calls is my lack of an Irish accent (although I tend to slip into one from time to time after being here), and the fact that constituents may not be happy to speak to an American on the phone. I’m working for Labour Party TD Mary Upton and her assistant Stephen Douglas. (Continuing on, now 9 February). I find that in general, everything is much slower paced than in the states, especially compared to the law firm. I have assignments, which I do fairly quickly, and then don’t have very much else to do. Even the dress code is somewhat relaxed, there are about half of the people in suit and tie, but others without a tie and other even wearing jeans. My work isn’t the most interesting, but it passes the time and it is definitely not any less interesting than it was back at the firm.
This weekend I am going with the rest of the students to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It should be an alright time, I wasn’t too set on really wanting to go there but the rest of the students were going and I didn’t feel like sitting in Dublin on my own. It should be a good time though; we plan on visiting the Heineken Brewery, as well as the Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh museum. There will definitely be enough to do, and from what I’ve read Amsterdam is like a smaller version of Venice, Italy. This is costing me €150 for the flight, €80 for the room, and probably around €60 in whatever it is I decide to do while I’m there. At first I immediately regretted signing on for this, but it should be a great time.
Speaking of Venice, Italy, this week I decided what I was going to be doing for Spring Break (or rather I guess it should be called February break as it is from 24 February to 5 March). The plan is that I will go with Tim, Kevin, Brendan, and Lauren to Milan, and from there take the train to either Venice or Florence (this is up to debate, should be decided on very soon), and from there to Rome. We will spend two or three days in Rome before getting on a cruise ship, complete with entertainment such as a casino and restaurants/bars, for the 15 hour ride to Athens. We will then spend two to three days in Athens, before flying back to Dublin. It will be a lot of travel, but definitely worthwhile because I will be seeing a lot. I’m really looking forward to this as I was unable to see Venice or Florence when I was in Italy and I’ve always wanted to see Athens. The altogether price of this excursion will be around $500-600 US. This replaced the prior plan of going to Geneva, and then on Austria and Budapest, which I did not have as much interest in and would have cost about €800. I still do plan on going to Geneva at some point while I’m here, and have emailed my former professor about setting up an insider’s tour at the United Nations European Headquarters. In terms of other travel that I have planned, I will be meeting Carlin in London on the weekend of 10 March, and also plan on traveling to Scotland, Belfast, and western Ireland. If I can afford it, I would not mind going to St. Petersburg, Russia sometime in the second half of the semester. Again, if my wallet can handle it, I may join Lauren and Tim in a week or two of backpacking through Europe, I’m not sure yet where we would be going during that time. I will be spending a couple thousand dollars on these various trips, but I have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity while I’m here so I should take advantage of it. Also if I ever attempted these trips again in the future it would cost me even more money.
Ah yes, the money issue. As I said in my last entry, everything is very expensive here. The Euro is ahead of the dollar at a rate of about €1 to $1.39 US. The last time I was here it was about €.80 to $1 US; obviously I prefer how it used to be. The economy here is doing fantastic, and you can notice just walking down the street and noticing every third or fourth car is a Mercedes (I’ve even seen several Mercedes taxis). Even the beggars are well dressed (I kid you not). In addition, the SSIAs (which are somewhat similar to US Bonds) were just released which gives most people additional spending money, and spending it they are. There are still affordable things around, but in general some things are tremendously expensive. As a result, it is easy to find yourself spending much more money than was planned while you are out and about. Because of this I have found myself sitting in the house during some days, although I regret this because why should I sit around in my house when I can go out and see the country. I have asked my dad about getting some more of the money that my grandfather left me, and it seems as if he should be sending this off to me very soon. Thankfully, this will allow me to continue on with my Spring Break and other plans.
LinkLeave a comment

Entry Two [Jan. 29th, 2007|09:43 am]
JOURNAL ENTRY II: 28 January 2007
Well I fell behind a bit in my entries on here already. I’ve been here three weeks now. In that time I’ve made some great friends and had some great times, also noted the various differences between the United States and the Republic of Ireland.
I guess I will get started in discussing the Institute of Public Administration. It’s a very nice school. Our first week was an orientation period, where we were lectured on Irish history, culture, and politics. It’s a very small school but, supposedly, well respected and it does have concrete connections with Dàil. It’s the first time that I’m taking a literature course since high school, and thankfully the professor, Denis O’Brien, is a very interesting and well-read professor that has true passion for what he’s teaching. Our history teacher, Maggie Hay, is a Canadian with an Irish accent who knows quite a bit about history and I’m looking forward to when we get into the Irish revolution. I knew next to nothing about Irish history prior to this course so I’m really learning quite a bit. Our politics history has a real dry sarcastic sense of humor and is amusing as well as educative. My only real complaint with the IPA is that we are separated from other students in Dublin. Whereas if we were to be taking courses at Trinity we would be mixed with Irish students, here we have our own separate classes just for the Americans. I think this makes us feel somewhat separate from everything else and I would prefer to be in classes with other people. On the positive end of that however it helped the group get to know each other and become friends very quickly.
Living with the host family has been great. Ursula and Justin are an older retired Irish couple, and have taken students from the IPA for at least four years, but I’m not quite sure of the exact number. Overall, Conor (the other student who is also staying in the house) seemed to have lucked out. Ursula does our laundry every two to three days, versus other houses where it is done once every two weeks. We have dinner nightly at 6 and they are both very welcoming people. Ursula is a great cook, and between now and the summer I’m going to be spoiled with the home cooked meals versus meals at the dining hall. We also have a few luxuries that other students don’t seem to have such as hot showers with good water pressure, a television set in our rooms, and an electric blanket for the nights (it is customary to turn the heat off at night to curb energy costs). The only real downside to this is that Conor and I need to take a bus in addition to the DART (subway) for our commute, necessitating the purchase of an €80 Dublin Bus/DART Combo monthly pass. My room is up in the attic and I’ve got plenty of space which is nice to have. I also have internet access, although not wireless as some people have so I cannot access it through my computer, but it is not really anything to complain about.
I really like the group of people that we have in terms of study abroad students. There are six of us from Northeastern University, about that many from Catholic University, one from Arcadia, two from DePaul University, and a few others through Arcadia but from schools in Minnesota. The ages range from 19 to 36 (a grad student). There are probably three or four more females than males. The vast majority, not surprisingly, is of at least some Irish descent, and one actually has dual citizenship between the United States and the Republic of Ireland. The majority of the people seem to be from the east coast, although there is one from the south and a few from the Midwest but none from the west coast or southwest. I’m getting along with everyone great, no real complaints. The guys have all hung out quite a bit and get along great. For the first day or so there seemed to be mostly the people from the same schools bonding together but after that everyone just kind of blended together. A group of us last weekend went to Cork. It was a fairly cheap bus ride there and we found a hostel for €16 a person. The weather was kind of crummy but we had a good night and then Saturday morning we went to Blarney Castle first thing and kissed the Blarney stone, probably the most touristy thing to do in Ireland. It was a good time though and the bus ride let us see more of rural and agricultural Ireland.
I really do like Dublin. It’s a great city with rich history and wonderful character. One thing that stood out to me immediately is the amount of immigrants within the population. This is due to the open borders for citizens of other European Union member states. It has the fastest growing economy in the world and is the 4th richest state in the world (the United States just dropped out of the top ten for the first time). As a result, things are very expensive here. I try to not spend too much but it really is difficult, especially while everyone is so new to the city and wanting to do something every single day. This is starting to calm down some, and I’m sure it will continue to do so especially now that we are settling into the routine of classes on Monday and Wednesday and working at the Dàil on Tuesday and Thursday. After our mid-terms and spring break, we will only have classes on Wednesday which will give us a four day weekend every week. There are some things to do for free, such as the national museums which I have looked through, and of course just wandering around the city and getting to know everything. One thing which I didn’t really feel comfortable with at first was not really knowing my way around so I made a point of just walking around so that I could easily find my way around fairly quickly.
I haven’t really had any problem with homesickness as of yet but I don’t really foresee this happening either. I’ve grown used to being away from Connecticut and while I do miss my family, I don’t really feel as if being in Dublin is any real different than being in Boston in terms of missing them. I do also miss a few select friends in Boston but its not really making me wish I was there versus here. I’m highly enjoying everything that I’m experiencing and I’m also grateful because I know that not everyone has this same opportunity so I’m trying to make the most of my time here. I haven’t really noticed other people being homesick either and I think this is also similar for them in independence developed while they were at school.
Well it is getting late and while I do have another two pages that I should add to this, I will make up the difference in the future.
Link1 comment|Leave a comment

Exodus [Jan. 29th, 2007|09:42 am]
JOURNAL ENTRY I: January 8, 2007
Leading up to my flight to Dublin was a bit of an interesting time. First off, there seemed to be very little information provided by the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) on the program. All we knew was that we flew into Dublin, took AirCoach to Lansdowne Road, and then walk to the institute. This was enough information for me, at least at first. To me it seemed all well planned out, except now I had no answer for the number one question of everyone, where was I to be living? Most people commented on my putting trust into the program but still, this vagueness after being pointed out several times got me to start questioning it. In the end, it all worked out. I arrived at 12:30 for my 3:30 flight out of Boston to Newark. This flight then got delayed an hour and a half due to the fact that the plane was evidently in need of a part. This brought to mind two thoughts: first, that I’d prefer to fly in a complete plane than one in need of a part, and second, of a Jerry Seinfeld bit about what would happen if the pilot forgot the keys to the plane (this, I decided, was the missing part that was required). Once we got on the plane, all went well. Once we arrived in Newark we made our way to our gate for the flight to Dublin, and about ten minutes later I realized that I had left my ipod on the last plane. Crap. I ran back to the other terminal and through sheer good luck I managed to retrieve my ipod, which is good because I probably would have killed someone on the flight if I were without it. The flight to Dublin was pleasant enough; I sat next to an Irish family who told me what places to check out, what not to miss, and what to skip out on, etc. The food was good, if only for the fact that it was the first meal I was having since breakfast. They showed “Little Miss Sunshine” on the flight which was descent enough that I delayed my sleep so that I could finish the movie. Once we arrived, it was fairly easy to get through customs and on our way to the Institute. That basically is all the boring stuff I figured I’d have to throw in here somewhere. Truthfully I started getting apprehensive about this trip a few days ago but knew I couldn’t and wouldn’t drop out, nor would I allow myself to do so. However, the second that I heard the pilot in his Canadian (?) accent announce that we were on our final approach to Dublin and I looked out the window as we broke through the clouds to see the lights of the headlights of the daily commuters and the streets and houses, I immediately felt refreshed. The pain of the dreary and boring six and a half hour flight was behind me because I was reaching my destination. It’s always a bit of a strange feeling when you realize you’re about to land in a different country, at least for me. Its one thing to drive from state to state, but to be standing on ground in New Jersey and the next soil you touch will be in Ireland is a bit of a strange feeling. Then, on the AirCoach ride to the Institute, we all looked at the passing buildings with the wonder and amazement of a young child. The same buildings that thousands of Dubliners pass by without a second thought, that people had passed for decades, that other tourists had also stared at in wonder. No doubt that in a few weeks we will see these buildings as buildings and not as interesting bits of culture as we do now. The Institute seems like a nice enough place, but we really didn’t do much other than wait around for a while there so there is nothing really noteworthy to mention. Now I sit in my new room in Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary) after having been awake for about 27 hours straight but unable to go to sleep just yet. The family I am staying in seems nice enough, and the house is a quaint Irish home just as I imagined, and just as with the other buildings it is incredibly interesting to me but to the everyday folk of this land it is nothing new and interesting, I guess that’s a difference of culture. The wind blows the clouds around as I look off to the rolling Irish hills and its now time for me to try to lie down.
LinkLeave a comment

The first entry [Dec. 30th, 2006|03:56 am]
Alright so I need to write a weekly entry on here while in Dublin. Feel free to put questions and so forth in the comments and hopefully you'll enjoy some of these posts. I'm still in Connecticut but a week from this Sunday I will be flying off to Dublin, I'll start updating then.
Link4 comments|Leave a comment

navigation
[ viewing | most recent entries ]

Advertisement