One Thousand Welcomes

*Sorry for the technical delays and for the lack of pictures. Pictures will hopefully be in future posts! The date of this post is January 26, 2013.

Fáilte go Baile Átha Cliath, aka “Welcome to Dublin!” I have been living in Dublin for about two weeks, and it has felt unreal, partly because my first day of class was just a few days ago. Up until then, I had been socializing and attending as many orientation events as possible, meeting Irish students and loads of other international students. I have really appreciated this time to get adjusted before the start of classes. My new environment has allowed me to put myself out there, and I have taken more risks than “Colleen in the U.S.” would have taken. I have explored the streets of Dublin by myself (on my first day, I had no choice: I had the wrong adapter, and my jet-lagged self luckily stumbled upon a hardware store). I have also been experimenting in the kitchen (nope, I am not starving!). The honeymoon phase of orientation is now over, and since the beginning of classes, I have noted those frustrating inconveniences that come with the territory of living in a foreign country. Why can’t things work like they do in the United States? Rome wasn’t built in a day, and that is precisely what I have told myself over the past two weeks. Completely settling in takes time, and not everything will get done in one day. While I wish I could rant about everything that I’ve done so far, that would probably not be very interesting, and I do have a word limit on this. Instead, I’ll touch on a few memorable moments. Why not start with something simple yet essential such as the weather?

In case you didn’t know, tourists generally do not visit Dublin for its climate. It rains most days, and the sun shines through the thick clouds for an extended amount of time maybe one day a week. Perhaps the lack of sun would explain why most Irish people have such fair skin like I do (I certainly do not feel out of place here). I knew this was not going to be “summer in Barcelona” weather; my flight into Dublin gave me a good glimpse of what I had in store – beautiful green lands and insane cloud cover. As I have explored the city through walking tours and other orientation events, I began to understand “the cold” of Dublin, which was different from “the cold” of Chicago (which I thought would be adequate preparation). The cold of Dublin is very damp and chills a person’s bones, which is why 35 degrees Fahrenheit feels so much colder. My roommates and I find our house freezing as well. We have accepted that our house is as warm as it will get, and my escape paths to warmth typically include an intense workout and a hot shower. Other than that, I am bound to be cold. I believe that the Irish are more accustomed to this way of life, especially the ones who walk around Dublin in a sweater or in shorts. It will take a bit more time for me to adjust to the climate.

Despite this, I have never met such positive, kind, and generous people in the midst of what they consider the worst weather. In all of my various welcomes to Dublin, they have not only acknowledged that the weather is “crappy”, but they say very cute things, such as “What we lack in the weather, we make up for in friendliness!” Their personalities are so vibrant, making the transition that much easier. For instance, on one of our walking tours of Dublin, everyone was so freezing that our tour guide suggested we stop in a small bookshop to warm up. We all crowded around the mounds of books and managed to squish everyone inside comfortably. Before I knew it, the owner of the shop was offering free tea, milk, and sugar to all twenty of us! It warmed our insides and made the rest of our walking tour more bearable.

I never thought I could feel so at home in a foreign country; this is definitely explained in part by my family connections in Ireland. Within just three days of being in Dublin, I had already met up with my Irish relative Grant O’Sullivan whom I hadn’t seen in years. I was instructed to meet him outside the Gresham Hotel on O’Connell Street, an area of Dublin that I hadn’t explored yet since that was only my third full day in Dublin. I looked up the directions and ventured on my 40-minute walk over there, having no idea what to expect. Once I came upon O’Connell Street, I instantly realized where I was – the legitimate downtown Dublin. I crossed the Liffey River and recognized all of the charming bridges from the guidebooks; needless to say, I had a photography bonanza, especially since the weather was absolutely gorgeous that day. I was beyond excited with my discovery that from that day forward, I vowed to continue to explore the streets of Dublin on my own, something that I definitely didn’t do enough of while I was in Barcelona. I then met up with Grant, who was so generous that he treated me to lunch in a traditional Irish pub and then to dessert back at the hotel. He also ordered me my first Guinness in Ireland (which, of course, I tried but couldn’t finish). I thoroughly enjoyed our fun conversations and our picture-taking; his talkative nature made me feel so incredibly welcome in Ireland, and I cannot wait to visit his home in Tralee some weekend. Not only did I feel welcome, but the excursion as a whole gave me the confidence I needed to take this city by storm.

The next three weekends I will travel to Cork, Galway, and Belfast, so I will have some interesting stories about my exploration of the different regions of Ireland. As for today, the seven of us Georgetown students studying in Dublin this semester will watch and support our basketball team as they take on Louisville. Hoya Saxa!!