Student Bloggers

Getting lost and meeting hundreds of nice people.

I’ve been in Ireland for two weeks now as of tomorrow and at my school for a week. There’s been so much to take in that I probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights! Not to fret I am just fine, just having a bit of the culture shock. You would think that going to another English speaking country you could adjust quite easily. Not true at all! You can do all the studying you want ahead of time and come to a new country and still be completely baffled.

When I stepped off the plane in Dublin, I thought to myself, “This will be easy!” Then it was time to get out of the airport and on a bus to Dublin city. Out of the airport, check. On a bus, check. Getting on the right stop, nope! A bit of advice, being on the top of a double decker is awesome but being on the top of a double decker when you don’t know your way around and have never known that you can’t tell when a bus stops when in the top section is sooo not awesome. But good news! Irish people are nice and like to help the deer caught in the headlights. My bus driver drove back to the stop I was supposed to get off on and drove a little closer to the hotel I was actually trying to get to AND a nice older gentleman helped me get my bags off the bus.

In Dublin, in my hotel, and my program doesn’t start until tomorrow…now what? Time to explore the city, that’s what!

How weird is it that the day I arrive, there’s an American football game playing in Dublin? Go Penn State! I head to a pub in the Temple Bar and ask for them to put on the game. The game is playing as people are heading in. “Ah the American football game. Every time they stop it will be another 15 minutes before they set up another play.” Then they look for the American. They lock eyes with me. Bingo.

I had a few conversations with some of the folks in the pub. What got to me was that I thought I could easily talk to Irish people but some had such thick accents it had me constantly having to pause and ask, “Wait, what?”

After I confirmed that Penn State would be victorious, I took my jet-lagged self to wander around town. Unless you were on a bus, bike or were walking, there were only little cars driving around. No trucks and SUV’s here! I found the modern architecture right next to buildings that have been around for centuries. You just don’t get things like that in America! People from everywhere with various languages and accents, so much to see and take in, so unlike home. By the end of the day my body was ready to get some much needed rest.

I slept for 11 hours.

Dublin came and went in a blink of an eye and I was on the two and a half hour bus ride to Limerick. This is what I took in:

• Dublin is compact but diverse.
• Christchurch Cathedral is just as beautiful as I remembered.
• The Irish people are quite friendly!
• You never really know what’s going on somewhere else until you get there. There are the big issues you may read or hear about but some may surprise you. In Dublin there was a huge union workers protest that blocked the main road. Apparently the bus driver’s union was protesting being replaced with “scabs” when demands were not met. I had no idea this issue was currently going on. “Scabs out! Workers in!”
• It didn’t rain. None. Not once! I was so excited.
• There’s no mexican restaurants, sorry folks. Try one of the many kebap and pizza shops. They’re grand!
• I did not care for the Guinness despite the hype. You can’t blame me for not giving it a shot though!
• There are other people that are deer caught in the headlights, and they will become your friends.
• You are somewhere new, try something new! For me that was karaoke.

• Adventure is out there, look at everything with an open mind.