First Day in Dublin

Well, I have made it onto the Emerald Isle!  Unfortunately, it’s really boring here, and I have absolutely nothing to write about.

I kid, I kid.  Ireland has been fantastic so far, and I’ve only been here one day (plus I’m sleep deprived and grumpy with jetlag, so I must be having a good time if I’m able to overcome all of that)!  A part of me still doesn’t believe that I’m actually here yet, despite everyone talking with accents and Irish Gallic being on the highway signs and people driving on the wrong side of the road (I had an urge to yell at the bus driver that took us from the airport to the hotel when he made a left turn on red).  Anyway, if a part of you still doesn’t believe that I’m in Ireland, I’ve got some photographic evidence to prove it.

There you go.  The Irish tricolor flag hanging from the side of a restaurant.  What, you still don’t believe me?  Fine, look at this!

Ha, it’s the Guinness factory!  There, I bet I have your attention now!  I will actually be given a school-sponsored tour of the factory tomorrow, with free samples at the end!  That’s what I call putting my tuition money to work.

Anyway, I took many pictures while I was on a double-decker tour bus of Dublin, which was complete with a cute seventy-some year old driver named Paddy who sang old Irish ditties when he wasn’t pointing out anything specific (oftentimes singing an entire seven minute song).  I couldn’t help taking many pictures of old castles that are scattered about the city.  Some are preserved and retain their original function, like St. Patrick’s Cathedral:

Some have become museums, such as this castle built after the Viking invasion:

And some are being used for different purposes:

One thing I couldn’t help noticing were all the interesting colors splattered against the buildings and other infrastructure.  Here are a few of my favorite examples:

If you like these pictures, I have a few more.  Unfortunately, Flickr (whom I previously trusted with the task of keeping an online catalog of my photos) has severe restrictions on how many photos I can post (unless I pay $24 a year).  Those bloody idiots!  Sorry, the language here is already rubbing off on me.  So I will have to find an alternative soon, so just keep your pants on until then!

I’ll be posting more as soon as I can!  Also, make sure to cast your vote on the poll located on the top-left side of this blog!  Tá cabáiste anraith uafásach!

Ireland Pending

By popular demand, I will be keeping a good old fashioned blog during my study abroad experience to Ireland.  Great men throughout history have kept blogs of their fascinating endeavors (Julius Caesar in Gaul, St. Luke with his gospel, Confucius with his proverbs, Huckleberry Finn and his adventures, my cousin Kevin Ryan, etc), and it would be privy for me to follow in the footsteps of these inspiring leaders.

This coming Saturday (August 28), I will be flying from JFK into Dublin, where I will begin my semester abroad.  After a week of orientation, I will be bused or trained or rickshawed to the University of Limerick where I will receive my formal schooling.  This will be my first trip into another country, and vicariously the first time I will be immersed in another culture.  There will be a lot of adjusting to be done (I might have to start spelling "color" with a "u" in it somewhere), and there will most likely be plenty of moments in social situations where my misunderstanding of Irish cultural norms will leave me confused and feeling rather awkward.  For your amusement, these moments will be well documented within this blog.

This blog is entitled, "A Redhead in Ireland," because I will find it interesting how the Irish will react to such a foreign and unknown hair color (they have blue hair over there, right?). As such, you can easily access this blog at this URL:

http://aredheadinireland.blogspot.com

I wanted just "Redhead in Ireland," but that name and URL is already taken by somebody else who spent a semester abroad in Ireland, who (after closely/creepily inspecting her pictures) doesn't even have red hair!  That should be illegal.  But I'm not bitter or anything. Just don't forget the "A" when you search for me, or else you'll find that other stupid person.  But I'm not bitter or anything.

Anyway, I hope to have more interesting things to say when I actually get my butt over there.  Until then, coinnigh do bhróg chlé ar!


Link to a Google Map of my soon-to-be school (zoom out for its relation to the rest of Ireland): http://bit.ly/c3Zirh