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I realize I kind of left you hanging after my first entry. I have now been here just over three weeks and find I’m still trying to catch my thoughts. What has surprised me so far about Ireland is not the distinct differences, but rather the subtle similarities.
I sit across the Atlantic in the campus’s theatre cafe (my new favorite spot) listening to country music playing and eating apple pie. Yet I’m paying in euros and listening to the sound of Irish accents chattering away. I feel like I’m not really in a foreign country so much as a parallel universe which on the surface holds a familiar atmosphere but has a heart and people all its own.
Like many Americans or university students in general, I’ve been told we live in a bubble. I’ve never realized the extent to which until I came over to a country most Americans associate with green hills, plentiful drinks and leprechauns and started to see the fights for social equality and government peace that are shaping this culture. No civil strife is probably not the word most Americans think of when they here the poetic sounds of Ireland. Most likely celtic chords and green pastures fill their minds as they think of their ancestors homeland.
IRA bombings, oppression and undisclosed horse meat are most likely forgotten or never really known about in the first place. I know I am guilty of this, coming over only not long ago with a complete ignorance to most of these frontline issues. The trouble is, I don’t believe I’m alone in my ignorance.
Of course this is very understandable, there’s plenty of raging politics, reality TV and celebrity scandal going on in our own country to keep us plenty occupied. If I were to delve into every major issue, there’s a chance I would drown.
So here I am, wading in the shallow waters of a place that’s completely over my head. I came over expecting to be able to jump in head first totally immersed in this new culture, but it takes time.
So far I’ve got to experience some pretty awesome things, an Irish/hip hop dance show, the Cliffs of Moher and writing for an Irish student website to name a few. What I’ve found to be even more invaluable are the people I’ve met along the way.
Leaving off from my last entry, later that week I went to a concert in city centre with a friend from the CIEE program. We were lost along the way, of course, and so while crossing the bridge on O’Connell street (busiest intersection in city) I turned around to ask the girl walking behind us if she had heard of the venue we were going to.
Luck had it, she did and her and her twin sister and friend were going to the concert as well. The trio was from Galway in west Ireland and were about as lost as us trying to navigate what they said was the “big” and “scary” city centre of Dublin. The two girls were unlike anyone I’ve met before, they told us crazy stories about their *** lives and freely explained to us the norms of college life in Ireland.
Two weeks later we were able to meet up with them again on a visit to Galway and ate crepes bigger than our heads and heard more about the adventures of Leoni and Ashling. They had described Galway as very “bohemian” and far better than Dublin. After a three day visit, I have to agree. The quaint city sits along the coast flooded with sea gulls and plenty of pubs with live music.
In our hostel we also met some wonderful people, two students from Germany. The man and woman (who we learned were not a couple) came with us to the most American bar in Ireland: Coyotes. Despite the familiar atmosphere of state license plates, cowboy hats and a Simple Life poster on the walls, we manage to have an Irish experience of drinking plenty of spirits and dancing all night.
Our new friends explored the countryside with us on a bus ride which did not mix well with our state the next morning. We got to see the beautiful landscapes we were missing in Dublin and I tried my first authentic Irish coffee.
A week later, Elke and Eddie came to campus for a visit and we sat and drank coffee like some typical Europeans. I’m still getting in the swing of the new internship/classes/new apartment, but it’s all good and I feel blessed to be here-that’s all for now.
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