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!