Exploring Ireland: Part 2- Howth (and Oktoberfest!)

On Friday night, some friends and I went to Dublin's version of Oktoberfest.  I tried a lager; it was okay (still not a huge beer fan, but it's growing on me).  I also had a German pretzel.  There was a large "meat swing" where they were cooking sausages and other meats.  I didn't have one, but my friends bought one and I had a bit and it was pretty good.  There was also swings like the kind they have at amusement parks, which was awesome.  Afterwards, I had a mulled wine (which was served warm) and then split a German pastry (kind of like fried dough but much better) called schmalzkuchen with nutella.  Overall it was really fun; one of the best nights I've had here so far, especially since I don't think I will be making it to Germany this semester.

The meat swing.

The outside of Oktoberfest- on the right are the swings.

The Samuel Beckett bridge, which is next to where Oktoberfest was.  He's one of my favorite playwrights, and the bridge is really cool looking, so of course I took like 10 photos of it.

On Saturday, we went to Howth, which is a fishing village only about a half an hour train ride away from the city centre.  We got fish and chips at this place known for just that called Beshoff Bros.  It was the best fish I have had in my entire life.

The water was such a pretty color.

We then went on a hike on the coastline (Howth is a peninsula), which had some amazing views.  To be honest, I like Dublin, but I like the countryside in Ireland much more.  It always seems sunnier when I leave the city (which is likely just a coincidence, but still), and the sights are more impressive (and a lot more green).

Sitting on a rock.

After the hike, we went to Howth market, where I bought a yummy oreo cheesecake, pesto sauce (from Italy), and a hand painted porcelain vase (which is actually made in Poland, but close enough...right?).

It looked like a utopia.

Then we had dinner at a pub which was having a really good deal on salmon- only 12 euros.  It was pretty good, but the fish earlier was better.  Also I would've preferred to have other seafood for dinner, but that didn't work out, so I might just have to go back.  Anyway, Howth is beautiful and the fish is super fresh and tasty and I'd recommend it to anyone who visits Ireland.

One last picture- the sun setting on another amazing day in Ireland.

Sunday I worked on a paper for one of my classes.  All day.

Monday I had my interview for my internship, which I haven't written much about on here because the placement offer was provisional until I officially got offered the placement after my interview- which I was!  I will be interning at the Irish Wheelchair Association for 7 weeks, starting in late October.  I will be working with the Director of Sports.  He told me the first few weeks I will be mainly job shadowing, but after that I will take the lead on running exercise programs for their members, many of which have either physical disabilities or mobility impairments (not all are in wheelchairs, and some people who use the gym there have no physical disability at all).  I am really excited; I think it will be a good opportunity for me to get some hands on experience that I would not have gotten in Boston this early in my academic career.

Tuesday I had a field trip to Na Fianna GAA, where I learned how to play handball, Gaelic football, and hurling.  I liked Gaelic football the most.  As many people probably know I am not great with sports involving balls (hence my experience in gymnastics and my current affinity for lifting).  I was able to preform some aspects of the sports okay, but other things were difficult and definitely required a lot of learned skill.

Not a great picture, but here's me in my hurling gear.

Today I had my first of four papers due for this semester- I wrote mine about the change in relationships between the Catholic Church, the government, and the individual since Ireland became a Free State in 1922, and how that affected views of sexual morality, especially in regard to unwed mothers.  Needless to say, I am glad to be done with it.

Tomorrow I am leaving to go on a 3 day field trip to Northern Ireland- which is part of the UK so technically I am leaving the country! I am really excited- I will be going to Belfast, the Giant's Causeway, and Derry.

Also, I have booked my flights for my mid semester break- I will be going to Italy and France.
I AM SO EXCITED.

Touching Mummies, Seeing Plays, and More!

On Wednesday, I had two field trips for my Contemporary Irish Society class.  In the morning, we went to Collins Barracks, which has exhibitions of Irish military history.  It was interesting; I saw some planes they used and uniforms they wore.  Also I played with rifles.  It's okay, they weren't real.

The outside of Collins Barracks.

Then we walked to St. Michan's Church, which is actually a Protestant church.  It had a large organ inside.  We then went below the church, where there are crypts where real dead people are buried!  In the first crypt I saw actual skulls.  Then, we went to anther crypt, where there were mummified bodies.  A couple were 400 years old, but were very tall for the time, and had to have their feet cut off so they could fit into the standardized coffins.  One mummy was 800 years old and was in the Crusades.  It's amazing that it is still preserved today.  We were actually allowed to touch the 800 year old mummy's finger, which was surprising smooth (probably from being touched so much).  It's supposed to bring good luck.  Not going to lie, it was a little creepy to not only be touching a dead person, but also one that is an 800 year old mummy.  But I figured I would probably not get another chance to do that again so I went for it.

The organ in St. Michan's Church of Ireland.

Two skulls- a little hard to see due to the camera's flash.

The mummies.  The one laying horizontally in the back is the 800 year old crusader I touched.  From left to right laying vertically are a nun, a male thief, and an unknown female.

That afternoon, I had a presentation for my Ethics in Healthcare class.  My topic was on patient confidentiality, and my case focused on a man who refused to tell his wife he had HIV.  I felt okay doing it, which is good because usually presentations make me pretty nervous.  But it feels really good to get it out of the way, especially since it counts for 20% of that class's grade.

Later that night, we went to a play called "The Night Alive" at the Gaiety Theatre.  It was an interesting tale, with a unique spin on the typical man-meets-woman storyline.  It was a little hard to follow at times because I'm not quite sure I understood all the humor, and it was a little difficult to understand what they were saying sometimes due to the accents (which usually isn't an issue for me), but I got the gist of it.  It was a little weird, but the acting was good and I enjoyed it.

The Gaiety Theatre- very fancy decor.

On Thursday I had two field trips for my Ethics in Healthcare class.  The first was at this really nice hotel.  It was actually part of the 1st Clinical Trail Methodology Symposium, which is kind of a big deal.  They were so nice to us; they had name badges and booklets for us.  The speaker we saw was a really important guy, Sir Iain Chalmers (he was knighted!), and he spoke about research.  Unfortunately for me, most of it was way over my head.

We then had about 5 hours to kill until our next lecture, so we went to a cafe near the Gaiety Theatre where there was not only tea and food, but also free wifi (very important when you don't have data on your phone).  I had brought my laptop, so I worked on a paper that's due next week.  I drank some lovely infused tea, named "Little Buddha" and had a "quesadilla" for dinner.  It's very funny what is referred to as a quesadilla here.  I had one at the bar on campus the first night I was in Ireland and it was not Mexican, as it claimed to be, at all.  It was more like a cross between pizza and quesadilla. The one I had at the cafe was also not like a quesadilla- it had pesto in it, and the cheese wasn't melted.  It was alright, but I'm not sure how well the concepts of "quesadillas" and "Mexican" are understood here.

Later we went to another presentation at Trinity College.  This was my first time in Trinity, which was cool because the architecture (for the most part) is really nice, and very unlike the modernity of DCU.  This presentation was on Doctors without Borders (MSF), which is an organization I have always thought was awesome.  The doctor who spoke had been on 5 missions with MSF, including one to Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak last fall.  It was a really interesting presentation, and I'm glad I was able to go to it even though I don't go to Trinity.

Today I went to Oktoberfest (Dublin's version, of course) and tomorrow I am going to Howth, but I'll include those in my next post!

Weekend In Dublin

If you're in Ireland more than 90 days, then you have to register with the Garda National Immigration Bureau.  Unfortunately for me, I am here for 103 days.  The program staff here were supposed to get a group appointment for us in the evening, so as to not interfere with our classes.  However, I have learned that planning and preparing for the future is a lot more relaxed (read: nonexistent) than in the US; the Irish tend to face issues as they present themselves instead of predicting what negative outcomes may occur in the future.  This is not necessarily a wrong way of life; it's just very different than what me and my fellow Americans are used to.

Anyway, they failed to make an appointment ahead of time; the earliest group appointment is in December, which is too late.  So they told us to go on our own.  The GNIB is like the DMV, but a million times worse.  And the DMV is pretty bad.

We were told to get there at 7 am, an hour before it opens.  We got there at 6:30 am, and the line to get in way already nearly wrapped around the entire block.  I somehow ended up being the 304th person in line, and we barely made the cutoff to get a ticket.  I got my ticket a little before 9 am, and was told to come back after 1 pm.

So my friends and I decided to get food because we had been up since 5 am (much harder to wake up that early knowing I was going to immigration as opposed to last week when I got up that early to go to the Cliffs of Moher).  We found a pub that was serving breakfast, and I had an Irish breakfast for the first time.

I've noticed Irish food is very hearty and heavy.

It consisted of a fried egg, bacon (which is really just pork cooked like bacon, but tasty nonetheless), sausage, mushrooms, hash browns, white pudding, and black pudding.  It also came with tea and lots of toast.  I really liked the bacon, hash browns, egg, tea, and toast.  I did not know what white or black pudding was before I ate them, which in retrospect I am glad about.  The white pudding, which is pork meat and fat, suet, bread, and oatmeal formed into a sausage, was okay.  It tasted a little bit like kielbasa.  However, I did not like the aftertaste of the black pudding, which is similar to white pudding but is also made with pork blood.  I'm guessing that's why it's so much darker in color.

Afterwards, we went back to the GNIB, but they were nowhere near our numbers, so we went to a few stores around the City Centre, mainly window shopping.  We also went to the Temple Bar area, which is a cute spot mainly for tourists.  Locals know better than to drink there (especially late at night) for multiple reasons.  We checked back every hour to see how the numbers were progressing. Needless to say, 1 pm came and went and the GNIB were still on number 120 or so.

Don't worry, I didn't drink here.

Finally at about 5:30 pm I was served.  Fortunately for me, I was seen by a nice woman who decided she wasn't going to issue me a GNIB card because I am not here for very long- this also means I didn't get charged the ‎€300 fee!

After we were all done- it took about 12 hours total- we got some dinner at O'Neill's pub.  I got the fish and chips, which were pretty good.

The decor was eclectic.

And the food was tasty.

Normally in Dublin stores close at 6 pm every day (except Thursdays, when they stay open "late" until 9 pm), but Friday was Culture Night, so a lot of museums and exhibits around the city centre were open.  We saw some live music, sculptures, and exhibits.  We even saw some of the Gardai (police) walking around in horse suits!  They were joking around with the passerbys; it was kind os shocking to see police so relaxed and like they were having a good time.

Clearly not real horses.  They were hilarious.

The rest of the weekend was pretty chill for me; I did some food shopping and some homework. The posts here have been a little less frequent because I've had a cold for almost a week now and my workload has increased a bit.

I'm having lots of field trips this week, and have some fun stuff planned for this weekend, so more posts to come!

Exploring Ireland: Part 1- Counties Wicklow, Limerick, Clare, and Galway!

On Friday, the entire group took a field trip to Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains in Co. Wicklow.  Co. Wicklow is the country directly south of Co. Dublin, and was about a 90 minute drive from DCU.  We visited Glendalough for a few reasons: it is historical (more on that later), it's very pretty, and it ensures that everyone sees a part of Ireland outside of Dublin.

Glendalough is an early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century.  So it's super old. We went into a small exhibit at the visitor's center and then watched a short movie telling how monks settled in remote areas of Ireland and built monasteries, like Glendalough, where they prayed and wrote out scripture.  I also learned that Ireland was once pagan, which I did not know, and that the early monks weaved their Christian beliefs and traditions into that of the pagans, allowing for a much smoother conversion over time.

The two arches leading into the monastic city of Glendalough.

Glendalough also features a round tower, one of the most iconic examples of Irish architecture.  The round tower at Glendalough is one of the best surviving examples.  The door, on the left side of the tower in the picture below is raised 3.5 meters to make the structure more stable as it has a shallow foundation for its height of 30 meters.  The door is off center in relation to the windows because it was tradition to have the door point to the most important building in the city- in Glendalough's case, the cathedral.

The round tower at Glendalough.  

The whole group took a picture inside the cathedral.

St. Kevin's Church, aka St. Kevin's kitchen.  In the background is the mountain we hiked up.

Me at the top of the Wicklow Mountains!

The view of the upper lake from the top.

The monastic city of Glendalough from the top.

On Saturday, a few friends and I went on a day tour that went across the country to the west of Ireland.  We passed through 11 counties during the day.  It still amazes me that it only took 3 hours to cross the whole country!  We had to wake up at 5 am to get to the bus on time, so we dozed off a little on the ride there.  We stopped at a rest stop in the small town of Moneygall in Co. Offaly, where Obama is from.  He actually traveled there and talked to the 600 residents.  Because of his visit, when Moneygall got its own rest stop, they named it the Barack Obama Plaza.  I thought this was the funniest thing ever.

I kid you not.

We then traveled to Limerick City in Co. Limerick, where we saw King John's Castle on the River Shannon.

King John's Castle.

The River Shannon.  I love how they say River Shannon instead of Shannon River (same with the River Liffey).

We then traveled to our main destination- the Cliffs of Moher in Co. Clare.  They were beautiful. And huge.  It was very windy there because we were right on the Atlantic Ocean.

Just awe-inspiring.  

Some of us at the cliffs.

We then stopped for lunch and I had Irish food for the first time!  I had seafood chowder and a "meat bap" which ended up being two slices of pork with gravy on a bun.  I also split a Bailey's cheesecake with a friend.  It was pretty good.

After that we went to the Burren, which is a national park in Ireland.  It had really cool rock formations on the ground. 

The Burren.

After that, we stopped at Corcomroe Abbey, which is a 13th century abbey, and lastly went to the town of Kinvara in Co. Galway, which reminded me a little of Cape Cod.

Corcomroe Abbey.

Ignoring the castle in the background, Kinvara could easily be the Cape.

After that we headed back to Dublin.  It was a long day but full of amazing sights and I'm so happy that I got to see such beautiful places, especially the Cliffs of Moher.

I can't wait to travel and see more of Ireland!

Being Cultured

Yesterday a few friends and I had the afternoon off because our class was cancelled, so we decided to go to the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland.  It's located in Glasnevin, the same neighborhood that DCU is in, but it was about a half hour walk.

One of the greenhouses.  They were huge and had really cool architecture.

Some cacti and desert plants.

The way these succulents are planted reminds me of a mandala. 

Right now, the Gardens are having a special exhibit called "Sculpture in Context," which is Ireland's largest outdoor sculpture exhibition.  Sculptures are placed throughout the Gardens, some mixed in with the plants, some on their own.

Little mushroom sculptures and a larger sculpture on the left.

Huge flower sculptures on the wall of the greenhouse.

I really liked this geometric sculpture mixed in with the plants.

Yes, this is a sculpture of a banana.

The weather was really nice (not raining and not chilly!), and it was a really relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

I really like succulents.

A really pretty garden of dahlias and chrysanthemums.  

Besides that, I have just been having class during the day.  I have now had all of my classes at least once, and I think they're going to be interesting.  Unfortunately, because they are condensed, I have them for 2.5-3 hours at a time, which I really don't like.  Even though they give us a good break in the middle, I find it hard to concentrate and sit (in the super uncomfortable chairs) for that long.  Also I have to write papers which I am not looking forward to.  But overall, I think I will learn a lot in these classes, and will have a very different experience than what I am used to at BU (namely, no labs or hard science classes).

Also I've been having major phone issues, but I think I have maybe kind of fixed it (*crosses fingers*).

And I've officially been here over a week, making this the longest I've been out of the US!  A week went by super fast.

Some more things I've noticed:

• Irish people say "half seven" instead of 7:30.
• They also say "14 euro" instead of "14 euros," whereas in the US we always pluralize dollar to dollars when talking about more than one.
• They pronounce and spell a lot of words differently here.  When taking notes, I am finding myself writing in a mixture of American and British/Irish English.  For instance, I may write color the American way (instead of colour), but then spell organization with an s (organisation), which is how they do it here.  

I'm super excited because tomorrow I am going to monastic settlements in Glendalough in Co. Wicklow, and then on Saturday I am going on a bus tour to Limerick City in Co. Limerick and the Cliffs of Moher in Co. Clare!

Irish Sports are Cool

Soccer is a popular sport for children to play in the US, as in many countries in the world.  However, professional soccer is not very widely watched in the US, falling behind American sports like baseball and American football.  In Ireland, as in much of Europe, soccer, or football, is very popular.  While many Americans know about the popularity of soccer in Europe, few people know about other sports in Ireland, such as Gaelic football and hurling.

This weekend I had the pleasure of watching two very big sporting events in Ireland at a pub designed for watching sports (it had a GIANT screen as well as a few smaller ones).  Many people who know me know I love baseball and hockey, so I was eager to learn about Irish sports.  Both games I watched took place at Croke Park, which is in Dublin.  The city was abuzz with enthusiasm for the games on both days; more people than not were wearing jerseys and many cars had flags sticking out from the windows.  Some shops displayed balloons in the teams' colors.  It was nice to see that everyone was into the games.  It was also a good experience to watch the games with Irish people who they themselves were invested in the outcomes.  It allowed me to take part in one of Ireland's cultural aspects.

The Living Room, where I watched both games.  Here you can see everyone looking up toward the big screen.

On Saturday, Co. Dublin played Co. Mayo in a rematch of last week's GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) All-Ireland Gaelic football semi finals.  Gaelic football is a combination of soccer, rugby, basketball, volleyball, and American football.  It's a very exciting and fast-paced sport, and pretty physical- at one point one player nearly strangled another!  I really enjoyed watching it and was happy that Dublin beat Mayo; I rooted for Dublin because that's where I'm living

On Sunday, a few friends and I went back to the same bar to watch the GAA All-Ireland Hurling Finals.  Aptly named, the finals are the last game in the season, and determine the champion county in hurling. Hurling is similar to Gaelic football, but players use a smaller ball and a paddle with which they can hit the ball kind of like a baseball.  Because of the nature of the game, it seemed rather fumbley to me, and wasn't quite as exciting as Gaelic football.  Co. Kilkenny, which has won the finals many times in recent years played Co. Galway, which hasn't won in nearly 30 years.  I rooted for Galway because I like underdogs, but Kilkenny prevailed in the end.  I had a good time, but I think I like Gaelic football a little bit better.

After the game, some friends and I walked around the City Centre and strolled through St. Stephen's Green, which is a little bit south of Trinity College.  I am getting used to finding my way around the City Centre, but it's hard when I can't access google maps because I don't have data on my phone (only wifi), street signs are hard to find, and maps are few and far between.  But I'll get there eventually!

The Grafton St. entrance to St. Stephen's Green.

Today I had another orientation, this one about the internship aspect of the program.  The study abroad program I am in is cool because not only do I take classes, but I will also be doing an internship the second half of the semester.  I then had my first class of the semester/in Ireland/at DCU!  I can't believe classes have started already (even though they started at BU last week).  I'm not really mentally prepared to do work but I'm sure I will get back into the swing of things soon.  Also, it was weird going to classes on Labor Day, as they don't celebrate that here (but it will be even weirder going to my internship on Thanksgiving).  

I am not used to cooking for myself.  I cooked raw chicken by myself for the first time Saturday and it came out really good so I was super proud of myself!  I am also not used to having to buy groceries and such.  Unfortunately this kitchen did not come with any pans; we've been cooking everything in pots but since pots are not non-stick, all our food sticks to the pots no mater what we do.  So either we need to steal a pot from another apartment or buy one.

Also wanted to point out that the cheese and the chocolate are really good here.  Cadbury is amazing and I will be taking some back to the US because British Cadbury is banned from being sold there.

Lastly a few more differences I wanted to point out:

• The floors here are numbered differently.  Ground floor is zero, and the floor above that is one.  So what we call the third floor, they call the second.  It takes some getting used to.
• The ambulances are yellow, which makes sense as yellow is easy to see.
• The police do not carry guns, which was a little weird to me at first, but they manage without them which is interesting.  In fact their name actually translates to Guardians of the Peace, which I think sounds nice. 

The rest of the week I have classes until Friday, when I am leaving Dublin for the first time to go to Glendalough in Co. Wicklow! 

I'm in Ireland!

It seems like weeks ago but it was only three days that I said good bye to my family and left for JFK.  Checking in and going trough security was relatively painless.  I was very proud of myself that my checked bag was only 43 pounds, 7 pounds under the maximum (this means I can do some shopping!).  At this point it I still had quite a few hours until my 6 and a half hour flight boarded at 8:15 pm.  I found my gate, and some other BU students on the same flight, and we waited and chatted until it was time to board.

Everything I brought for four months.

The flight itself was not too bad; I watched two movies that I would recommend to pass the time: "The Duff" and "Age of Adaline."  I will admit, I had no idea there would be movies to watch as this was my first overnight flight.  After that I slept on and off for an hour.  They fed us dinner, or supper, as they called it, which was decent for airplane food, and then they gave us a muffin for breakfast which tasted like medicine.

My passport and boarding pass- all ready to go!

I then had the pleasure of speaking with a gruff man while going through customs, who deemed me fit to enter the country, and then I nervously waited at baggage claim (I don't check bags often, so I'm always a little worried it wouldn't be there, but it was).  

We took a coach bus to Dublin City University (DCU), where we are living and studying. It is within Dublin city lines in a neighborhood called Glasnevin, but it is a couple miles north of city centre, which is downtown Dublin.  Wednesday was a blur of orientation; I got my DCU ID which serves as my room key.  I am living in an apartment with six other girls in the program.  I thought I would be in a double, but instead I was the only person put in a double occupancy room.  This is awesome because I can push the two beds together, and I have a bathroom all to myself, but still share the kitchen and living area with other people.  The room itself is okay, but it would be pretty small for two people.  The beds seem narrower than American twin beds.  I should've taken pictures before I unpacked because my room is now slightly messy, but I will clean it and put up pictures of the whole apartment in my next post.

We toured campus and then went to a mall where I bought some groceries.  Later that night I went out with a few people in the program to the bar on campus, where I had my second legal drink ever (I drank once when I went to Honduras).  I ordered a Guinness, of course, because that needed to be my first drink here.  It does taste better than in the states, but it's definitely not my favorite drink.  I also had a quesadilla, which tasted like a cross between a typical quesadilla and pizza (I guess we are pretty far from Mexico). Everything here is served with ranch dressing.

My first Guinness in Ireland

Thursday we had more orientation in the morning, and then a scavenger hunt in the City Centre in the afternoon.  It was cool to go into Dublin and get to know the city.  It's smaller than Boston, but very clean and exciting.  I bought a pay as you go (aka burner) phone to use while I am here.  It reminds me of the phone I had in middle school, and is very hard to type on.  It's actually very funny to use.

 

Monument dedicated to Charles Stewart Parnell, a major Irish political figure; the Spire, representing Ireland's modernization.

The River Liffey, the subject of many Irish songs.

O'Connell St., one of the main streets in City Centre.

The General Post Office, which was involved in the 1916 Easter Uprising.

Today I had even more orientation in the morning, and then met a few of the professors (or lecturers, as they are called here) that I will be having this semester.  They all seem interested and informed in the topics they're teaching.  I will be taking Contemporary Irish Society, Ethics in Healthcare, and Healthcare Policy and Practice in Ireland.  We then toured the library on campus and got our textbooks (FOR FREE!!!).  

We then were given an introductory lesson in Irish, which is the other official language in Ireland besides English.  I was very excited to learn some Irish words, as most signs in Ireland have both Irish and English.  Irish is not pronounced very much like it is spelt; for instance, sláinte is pronounced like slahncha or slancha, depending on the county.  

I then went grocery shopping again because I kept remembering more things I needed to buy, and then went to my first real Irish pub!  This time I had a Smithwicks, which I liked better.

Me enjoying my first Irish pub experience.

Tomorrow I plan on going to a pub in the City Centre to watch an important Gaelic Football game between Counties Dublin and Mayo.  Gaelic Football is different than soccer football or American football; it is a cross between soccer, rugby, and basketball, and looks very exciting to watch!

Before I end this very long post, I wanted to list a few of the key differences between Ireland and the States that I have noticed so far;

• They drive on the left side of the road, which I knew beforehand
• The driver's side of the car is on the right, which I also knew.
• The road signs are not on poles at street corners; instead they are high up on buildings, and, in my opinion, difficult to find.
• They use the metric system and the 24 hour time format.
• They spell words differently, like "colour" and "programme."
• They say "grand" and "brilliant" a lot.
• The showers don't have any ridge to contain the shower water.
• There are only 4 Irish TV channels.
• The legal drinking age is 18.
• I am the one with an accent here, haha.
• More people commute to university than live there.
• Ice cubes are not really a thing.
• Pasta is more commonly sold in bags.
• Eggs don't need to be refigerated (but I did anyway)
• It's difficult to find Greek yogurt.
• The outlets here are different (I expected them to be the European outlets, but they are the British outlets)
• The currency is the Euro, and they don't have 1 Euro notes, which I find really odd.

That is all I can think of right now, but I am sure there are others!