When in Dublin, do as the Dubliners do

     Any of those who know me know that I didn’t actually come home from my 21^st birthday and write that first post as if recapping the night right after it happened. In fact, it actually took me a few days to recover and regain some brain cells before I could even attempt to look at the “how to” instructions to create a blog. So now that the excitement of the first couple days of being here has worn off and I’m starting to actually unpack and settle in, here are some details of my living situation and what’s been going on the first few days.

     My requested roommate, Ann, goes to Alabama as well but we had never met until the first day. We also got to meet our other two roomies the first day, who are from the middle of nowhere Ireland. Of course, every other person in the EUSA program has EUSA (American) roommates, except me. I realize this is a cultural learning experience, but I thought I’d be working, meeting, and hanging out with the natives – not sharing dishes with them (which they do not thoroughly wash their bangers and mash out of.)

     The little lassies are sisters. Chivon studies libraries and Erin is in nursing school, has a glass eye, and likes heavy metal music. Erin also cut our introduction short when I told her my brother would be staying here for a few days, and then made a bee-line dart to the living room where she flirted him up for a good hour while I unpacked. I had no intentions of breaking that up, and instead let Erin tell Cody all about her favorite Irish head banger groups while I neatly folded my clothes into my drawers.

     I would say the Irish roomies are sweet, because they were at first; but now they just ignore us or get awkward when Ann and I walk in the room. So we tend to spend most of our time in Becca and Remi’s room. They’re roommates are cool, but we’ve all come to the general understanding life in Dublin would be much easier if us four could live together. Unfortunately I think I’m stuck where I am for now, and I guess that’s part of the deal I signed up for. 

     Cody leaves Thursday and Kelsey gets here Thursday, so it hasn’t really sunk in that I’m living in a foreign country on my own. I apologize if most of the content the next few days isn’t exactly educational or rich in culture as my summer is supposed to be here, because I don’t start work until Monday. Until then my cultural learning is trying the rich taste of Guinness at our welcome party hosted at the top of the brewery, and making my best attempt to master the public transportation system. Both may prove challenging since the darkest beer I like is Blue Moon (which is definitely not considered a dark beer), and my understanding of bus routes and navigational skills in general are very inadequate for a big city like Dublin

First sip of Guinness

EUSA welcome party at the Guinness Brewery