there is no place like Dublin

So, while I'm sitting here tonight listening to the first Husker game of the season (that's a big sad-face right there), I figure I could at least delineate some of the things I have learned about Dublin in the last week.

• According to the Irish, this is one of the coldest, wettest, and generally worst summers on record. Other than it being overcast all the time, it's been fine with me; when I tell them that it is generally over 30° C (86° F) in Nebraska in the summer, they usually respond with something like "Oh, Jay-sus!".


• The Irish are pretty keen on their bureaucracy, especially when it comes to banking. In an effort to prevent money laundering, I had to provide proof-of-residence to get a bank account. For me, since I'm a student at Trinity College, the easiest accepted proof would be a letter from Trinity stating that I'm a student and listing both my address back home and my address here in Dublin. However, since I'm not registered yet (and can't register until late September), Trinity College policy wouldn't allow them to provide such a letter. So, what it came down to was that I couldn't get an account until I registered, couldn't register until I paid my fees, and couldn't pay my fees until I had a bank account. It sounds bad, I know, but the key to any bureaucracy is to find the person who's far enough from the center that they don't really care about policy yet still is close enough to have appropriate authority. It only took me a couple of days to track that down, so huzzah for a new, Irish bank account!


• In St. Stephen's Green park, just south of Trinity's campus, they have a little photo exhibit thing titled "Wild Poland" showing pictures of Polish wildlife and natural parks. Apparently, there's a pretty sizable Polish presence in Dublin, which is fun.


• There's a place on Grafton Street (which is a pedestrian-only shopping area/tourist trap) called "Capt. America's". Despite their claims to have brought over Ireland's first American-style burger, the burgers aren't very good. It's not that the beef here is bad, per se, but the hamburger is just off somehow. Also, I was told that they don't really pluck their chickens all that well, so the chicken wings you buy at the grocery stores sometimes still have bits of feather. I'll have to check the butcher down the street to see if it's the same there.


• Living with an Italian (my Dutch roommate is in San Francisco right now, and is subletting his room) leads to good dinners. Apparently, Irish food is not up to the standards of southern Europe, which is fine with me--I like pasta!


• When it comes to Gaelic football (which I have yet to experience), the Cork vs. Kerry match is about as heated as it gets. The whole city center was covered with fans last weekend. Not quite like downtown Lincoln on a game day, but still...

Anyway, that's pretty much all I can tell you so far. I'll learn more as I go, I expect, and hopefully I'll be able to head out to the rest of the island soon. I think tomorrow I might brave the bus system to get to a BBQ/college football watch party with some other American ex-patriots. Wish me luck...

Seo teach dom

I managed to take some pictures yesterday of the new place, so here you all go:



Here's the door into the place.



This is the view down the street.



From just inside the front door.



Here's a shot of the living room, toward the street.



It's me, in the kitchen area!



The hallway toward the bedrooms. Mine is just to the left.



The "garden". They aren't big on grass in Dublin.



This is where I sleep.



This is my bathroom (I know, I know...the picture you'd all been waiting for...).


Anyway, that's where I am. More pictures of the city to follow, I'm sure.

regularity

Mountjoy Street is a great place to live.

I spent most of the day (well, the afternoon; I slept in to finish off the jet-lag) roaming around the area around the room I rented. It was quite informative. Here are the things I have learned:

• Just a couple blocks south of here is Parnell Street, which is one of the major streets for shopping in the area. Just off Parnell and further down Jervis Street are where the main malls and department stores are located. Also, Moore Street is a pretty major fresh produce market, and there's a Tesco, a Lidl, and an Aldi all within a block or so.


• In the other direction, you get into the heart of Phibsborough, the part of Dublin I'm in. Phibsborogh is famous as the home of the Bohemian F.C., a pretty successful Irish League football club. They play at Dalymount Park, which is about an 8-10 minute walk.


• The McDonald's off O'Connall Street (which is about 8-10 minutes away as well) serves spring rolls.


• The pub on the corner--Dec Gallagher's--is a pretty classic little local pub. I was the only stranger in it, and by the time I left tonight, the barman knew my name anyway.

So, that's what I've picked up on my third day in Dublin. No fun Irish story tonight, so you'll have to just tide yourselves over with the Dublin facts above.

home, home off the range

I am now an official resident of Dublin. I have found myself a place.

So, I suppose now that I'm official, I should tell the story, and tell about all my happenings. First off, let me just say that all the flights went really well. Took off on time (or even early, as was the case in Lincoln) and got to their destinations without trouble. The airport in Philadelphia was nice--didn't even have to go through security again for the international leg! Also, my baggage arrived at the same time I did, so things were great!

While in Philadelphia, I met these two Irish ladies, one of whom had just dropped her daughter off at Cornell for college. They were very friendly, and gave me some good, motherly advice about where to live, where to avoid, and how to watch myself while in Dublin. They even gave me their contact info, so I could tell them if I found the hostel all right.

Since arrival, things have been a bit of a blur. I wandered around campus for a while, tried to find some advice about accommodation (as they call it here), but Trinity College wasn't expecting any post-grads to show up until September, so they were rather useless. Did get an O2 sim card out of it for the phone, though, so I wrangled an Irish phone number.

The next step was to sit in the hostel (with the free wifi) and email people about rooms they'd posted on the little website dedicated for such things, daft.ie. It was very useful; I had three tours booked less than 12 hours after I'd arrived!

In any case, I went to check them out. Met some nice people, mostly couples with extra rooms (one from New Zealand, one from France) and finally decided to room with a guy named from Holland who is in Dublin for work. It's a nice place--roomy, kind of quaint. It's on a little street about a block away from a mid-level thoroughfare, so pretty quiet but still lots of conveniences around. Also, the pair of girls living upstairs seem cool and the landlady is really nice and laid-back as well. I'm already moved in, and I think I'll get on well here.

Really, though, that's all I have to report. It's been mostly business so far, but now that I'm settled, the fun begins!

As a sign off, though, have a random story about Ireland:

So, last night (my first in Dublin) I went down the street from the hostel (Jacob's Inn) to a pub called Molloy's. It was a pretty traditional looking place, green walls and woodwork sort of thing. At the bar, there was a group of people--an older couple (maybe mid-60s) and two of their slightly younger friends (35-40, I'd guess). They were talking and carrying on, so I sat down next to them for my Guinness. After a few songs and some banter back and forth amongst them, one of them caught my eye as I observed and invited me over.

They seemed pretty taken aback that my name was "Clay"--apparently not to common over there. But still, they were quite friendly; they asked about Nebraska, sang me some old Irish tunes, and even had me sing a couple "Nebraska" songs ("There is No Place Like Nebraska" was a big hit, and they all sang along for "King of the Road").

In any case, they heard that I was coming to Trinity and was looking for accommodation, so the older gent, Jack, offered me a room in his own house, supposedly a 15 minute walk from Trinity! He even gave me his number so I could call and go see it (he suggested Friday; I probably will call him, just for the novelty and because I told him I would).

So there you go--that's a story about Ireland for you. Guinness and singing in a pub, and extending your hospitality to complete strangers.

a dubliner

So, I arrived in Dublin today (at 9:00 am for me, which was what...3? 4? at home?). Anyway, things have gone swimmingly so far. Already wandered around campus, got an Irish phone set up, toured three places to live (two of which are locked in, should I want them) and have one tour tomorrow and possibly a fifth tour on Friday.

In any case, I'm tired now, and need to sleep so I can visit Sinead up on Killarny Street in the morning. A full report to follow later, and possibly a place to live as well!

eMigration

So, for those of you who don't know, I'm moving to Dublin on August 18th. In fewer than eighteen days, I will become an expatriate (well, for a year or so).

The circumstances are that I got accepted into a Master's degree program at Trinity College Dublin, so I'm packing up, getting on an airplane, and flying away, to be back sometime after next September. It'll be the first time I've been out of Nebraska for longer than a month contiguously.

Needless to say, it's quite exciting as well as more than a little frightening. I'm giving up my apartment, my job (sort of), my culture (a lot of it anyway), my currency, my absurd network of local friends (they'll just be non-local), etc. It's going to be quite the change.

Anyway, since this is my last day at the office--and the start of my last month in America for a while--I though I should put in a note, just to chronicle it. Besides, I figure everyone is going to have to start reading this to see what I'm up to over there anyway, so you probably deserve an update every now and then.