And So It Begins - Dublin Orientation

Well let's get this adventure under way, shall we? I've been editing this for a few days so sorry for the delay. We've also been busy non-stop.

After a long and exhausting overnight flight from Newark across the Atlantic, I arrived in Dublin early in the morning and was jet lagged from the start. I tried hard to fall asleep on the plane, but all I could muster were a few short spurts of sleep before I was awoken by either lights turned on or a knee to the back of my seat. Once we touched down I found my bags, passed through customs, and met up with a bunch of other people from my program. We were taken to the Abbey Court Hostel in the center of Dublin, right on the River Liffey, around the corner from the post office. It was quite surreal when we arrived and I was standing on the streets of Dublin as the sun rose. It was pretty cool to say the least. After setting up my room and getting some lunch, I wandered around the city with a small group of people and we had a really good time. Unfortunately, after too many short naps during the afternoon, I had the worst night of sleep ever. The jet lag was driving me nuts and I laid in bed for hours before falling asleep for two hours, then waking up, then two more hours, then waking up, until morning. Not fun at all.

Day 2 & 3 was the orientation process. We were told all about Ireland and how the country operates. We were also told all about our school, National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). After many interesting (and tiring) presentations, we explored Dublin by evening and night. We spent a night in the Temple Bar area where we heard traditional Irish music and actually stumbled upon the "Thunder Road Cafe," a restaurant/bar that is the epitome of cheesy American stereotypes. It was decorated with bright lights and chandeliers, Native American statues, Harley Davidson motorcycles, and TVs that played the popular American music videos.

There are some things I'm definitely going to have to get used to here. First of all, walking the streets of Dublin as a foreigner with cars driving on the left side of the road is a dangerous task. Every time you come to an intersection and look to the right with the intention of crossing the street, you're very confused to always find no cars coming toward you. Then you turn the other way and say a prayer that you didn't step into the street. The weather is similar to New York now which is fine, and there was no rain today. Patches of snow can still be seen in some grassy areas from a couple days ago. Watching the Irish people during this small stint of snow/ice has been pretty funny. Any sign of ice and the cars drive so much slower and every one's late to work. Schools have closed and sidewalks are not salted, they are small ice rinks that one needs to navigate very carefully. They have not gotten this much snow (not more than a couple inches) or experienced this much freezing weather in decades we were told.

On Wednesday morning, we were up bright and early for a three hour bus ride from Dublin to Galway. It was a smooth ride on one main road that was repaired pretty recently, making it much easier to travel across the country. We stopped halfway in a small town called Moate for a snack. It was a quaint little place with multicolored buildings and narrow roads, a very nice little Irish town.

But now I'm in Galway and ready to get started. The first day and night in Dublin was pretty overwhelming at first but thankfully I've met a lot of nice people and we've all stuck together as the group of "confused Americans" in a new land. We're slowly learning more and more as the days go by. It's been a lot of fun so far. Ireland is a very beautiful place, not only in its scenery but just in the mindset and attitude of the Irish people. Everything seems very calm and relaxed here. It's a real privilege to have this opportunity to study and play on the streets of Dublin and for the next few months, in this great city of Galway. We've been told numerous times by many Irishmen that Galway is the best city in all of Ireland.

I'll be making another post soon about the city of Galway and all that it has to offer, and my living arrangements. Hopefully I can include some pictures soon too.

Hope all is well with everyone back home. Thanks for reading!