I Want To Explore: SANDEMANs WALKING TOUR

Dame Street. This is where we met for the tour.

Estate Rooms of Dublin Castle.

The entrance of Dublin Castle.

Lady Justice turning her back to the people of Ireland.

The Upper Courtyard of Dublin Castle.

The only original part of the castle- the Records Tower. Right next to it, the chapel. The chapel was build during the 1700's.

Dublin Castle Park. The place where Dublin got its name. From the Irish "dubh-linn", meaning black pool.

Old versus new

Christchurch. Built between 1172-1220.

City Council building- destroyer of Viking artifacts.

In honor of the destruction of Viking artifacts to build government buildings....

The River Liffey.

Mrs. Temple on the wall of the Temple Bar.

Sir William Temple- the person in which Temple Bar gets its name.

Walking through Temple Bar.

Parliament building.

The National Library

Wolfe Cohe- Irish hero. Wanted Irish independence from Britain. Who doesn't?

Statue in remembrance of the victims of the Great Famine. St. Stephen's Green.

The Shelbourne Hotel. This is where the constitution of the Republic of Ireland was written.

I will admit that I am a nerd. So, when some people asked me today if I would like to go to the Docklands and enjoy a day of eating and just hanging out, I passed because I was going to do a walking tour of Dublin and get my history on. Seriously, nothing beats history.

To satisfied my history crave, I decided to go on a SANDEMANs New Europe walking tour. If anyone is traveling in Europe, they need to check this group out. What makes this group amazing is that the tours are free! That is right, no charge! And there are no hidden fees or what not. The only thing you pay is tipping. Since it is free, EVERYONE BETTER TIP! The tour guides only get paid with what tips they earn. And they do a great job and deserve tips!

What is even more amazing than it being free, is the fact that the tours are of a high quality.

My guide was named Peter and he was a class act. Peter knew all the information and he had a passion for it that you would see when he talked. Peter was the best.

The tour started with a 10 minute lecture on the history of Ireland. Thousands of years of history, condensed into 10 minutes. Epic.

The group was then taken to Dublin Castle. Now, when you think of castles in Ireland, you probably have this very romantic view of what they should look like. Dublin Castle is not really a castle. It was originally built in the 13th century, but a fire in 1684 destroyed almost all of the castle. So the castle looks like it is a building from the 1600's.

For years, Dublin Castle was a sign of English rule over Ireland. This is where the high authority in Ireland lived. These high authority personnel were suppose to bring justice to the people, but most of the time, justice turned its back to the Irish. The Irish were not blind to this.

The only original part of the castle is the Record Tower. This tower looks like it is from the 1200's. For most of its history, the Record Tower was actually a jail and kept some famous Irish rebels. It is when one of inmates escaped and returned home to his clan, that the 9 Year War started.

Next, Peter brought us over to the garden of the castle. The garden is very simple and very nice. It is in a circular shape with grass and these cement lines going every which way. Peter explained that these lines represented Celtic snakes.

The garden is very significant because it is in this location that Dublin got its name. Under the grass use to be a small pond that a river would dump into. The Vikings would come up the river and anchor their boats in this pond. Because of the pond was swallow, it looked like black water. The Irish for black pool is "dubh-linn". Over time, the Irish word has changed to Dublin.

Christchurch was the next stop on the tour. It was only a 10 minute walk from Dublin Castle. The church was built between 1172-1220. The appearance has changed over time, due to restoration work in the 1800's. Peter told us that the most popular attraction in the church is a stuffed mouse and cat. The story goes that while one of the maintenance workers was cleaning out the organ, he pulled out a dead cat. He put the cat aside and continued cleaning. Further up the same organ pipe, he found the mouse. He concluded that the mouse ran up the organ to escape the cat and got stuck. The cat chased the mouse and got stuck as well.

Right around the corner from Christchurch was a modern building built for the city council. This building has a tragic story. When building was beginning, they discovered some well preserved Viking artifacts as well as preserved Viking structures. Instead of keeping the artifacts and structures, the government continued with the buildings destroying the structures. Museums in Dublin tried to salvage as many artifacts as they could, but many were destroyed. People really need to get better priorities.

On a happier note, Peter lead us to Temple Bar and gave us a 30 minute lunch break. I packed a lunch, so I just went to the River Liffey and sat down. All great cities have a river.

After lunch, Peter gave us some history of Temple Bar. Today, Temple Bar is known as the cultural center of Dublin. Many artists and writers live in the area. It also has the reputation for being the place to go to for nightlife.

But Temple Bar did not always have this fun reputation. It is only during the 20th century that Temple Bar's cultural and nightlife reputation grew. Originally the area was owed by Sir William Temple. He had a garden and a walkway that people would use to walk along the river. Soon it came to be known as Temple Barr. A barr refers to a walkway along a river. Over time, the last "r" has been dropped and we now know it as Temple Bar.

We then walked to a group of buildings that has the National Library and the National Museum of Archaeology. The buildings also house the Irish Parliament. The Parliament was not always suppose to be in the building. They told the owner that they were just going to use it temporarily.... and then never left.

To conclude the tour, we stopped by St. Stephen's Green. What a beautiful park! Here, Peter told us how Ireland got its independence. He told us of Irish heroes. Right across the street is the Shelbourne Hotel, where the constitution of the Republic of Ireland was made.

The tour was amazing and I learned so much. Again, I highly recommend people take these tours when they are in Europe. It is a great way to spend an afternoon! :)

Go to http://www.neweuropetours.eu to learn more about the tours and what cities they are in!

O'Reilly: What A Nice Pub

Tonight some people from my internship program and I went out to O'Reilly's pub in south Dublin. The recommendation to go there was from Ryan, a person from the program who lives in city center.

O'Reilly's is in a great location. It is really easy to get to by public transportation. It is right under the DART stop Tara. DART being Dublin's tram system. It is also easy to get to by the public buses. It is just over the river, so if one gets off at O'Connell Street, it would be a good 15-20 minute walk. Again, not bad.

To get in there is no cover charge, which is always nice. There are, however, security personnel who do have the right to refuse entry to anyone.

The pub is going for a medieval theme. The pub is very dark, so one can not see this theme being displayed. However, if you go into the bathrooms, you get this Alice in Wonderland sort of medieval theme.

There are many places at O'Reilly's to enjoy a drink. Outside, they have a heated beer garden. My group got to the pub later in the evening and at this time the beer garden was full. On a nice evening, that would be the place to sit!

Inside, I only saw two fairly, decent rooms to find a seat. One room has just seating and the other room has the bar. My friends and I hung out in the bar area for the evening. We got our drinks, which were decently priced.

We spent the whole evening hanging out at the bar and talking. I would say that O'Reilly is the place to go if you want to grab a couple of drinks and hang out. They do have music, but I didn't see any real dance floor. People mostly just dance where they could. So I would not go here if you want to dance. Again, it is the perfect place if you are looking just to grab some drinks and hang out with your friends.

Though O'Reilly is a great pub to enjoy some drinks with your friends, don't think that the atmosphere is very chill and relaxing. The pub was very busy and very lively. The atmosphere definitely made you want to stay for a long time.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience there and would recommend it to others!

Go to http://oreillys.ie/images/Virtualshow/index.html to see pictures of the pub!

Getting My Traditional Irish Music On

Tonight I went to a concert that featured traditional Irish music.

Traditional Irish music refers to the national music of Ireland. This type of music can best be describe as folk music.

The most important aspect of any music is the instruments that make the actual sound of music. Traditional instruments, that have been used for centuries, are use in the national music of Ireland. Traditional Irish music usually involves a fiddle; a bodhran, which is a small, circular drum that is believe to be a relative of the Celtic war drum; wooden flute; tin whistle; uillean pipes, a cousin of the bagpipes; and the Irish harp.

These instruments are used in a variety of styles. Irish styles include jigs, reel, hornpipe, polkas, maurkas and waltzes.

In modern times, music as a whole, have incorporated lyrics with the instruments. In traditional Irish music, the music is mostly done by itself with no lyrics added. The main purpose of the traditional Irish music is for dancing. Each different style of music has its own dance.

However, in modern times, lyrics have crept into the music. When lyrics are added, it is called "sean no", which in Gaelic means "old style". This refers to singing that is sung solo and acappela. The lyrics are usually sung in Gaelic, but in more recent times, more English is being used. When singing is involve, there is no dancing.

The traditional Irish music has always been a large part of the culture of Ireland, but went through a revival in the 1800's, when people were sick of being controlled by England and started to look more towards their tradition for encouragement. There was another revival of the music during the 1960's.

The concert that I went to was put on by Steeple Sessions (www.steeplesessions.com). My friend, Lisa, works for the company and every Tuesday and Thursday they put on traditional Irish music concerts in a Unitarian Church near St. Stephen's Green; on the southeast side of Dublin.

The performers today were the O'Mongain Brothers. They are a group of brothers that have been playing traditional Irish music for over twenty years. The family is from country Mayo, which is in the northwest of Ireland. Their passion for the traditional music of Ireland is so profound that they all each traditional music to students. They are well known in Ireland and also travel to the United Kingdom and Europe to give concerts.

The concert was amazing! It was in the evening and it was the perfect way to end a busy work day. The music was very upbeat and you could not help but tap your foot along with the music. It is definitely dancing music! It made me want to get up and dance!

What was very nice was that all the brothers spoke Gaelic. They would introduce a song in Gaelic and then in English. It was nice to hear what Gaelic sounded like and to see that people understood it! This was nice because it showed that Ireland has tried to remain faithful to its roots.

Without a doubt, no one can be sad while listening to traditional Irish music! I highly recommend anyone visiting Ireland to check out a traditional Irish music concert! It is a real treat!

Below, you can see some video that I took at the concert. It will give you an idea what traditional Irish music sounds like!

My First Week in Pictures

Door to my apartment

Hallway when you enter

My simple, small room. I have the first room

My bed. It is VERY uncomfortable!

I have to have my suitcase out to keep my door open; otherwise, the door will automatically close.

Desk

One of my many maps of Dublin!

View from my window in my room

My closet

My library has been reduced to 4 books.....

Living room

View from the living room window

Kitchen

Bathroom. The toilet works when it wants to....

Poster in the bathroom. Thanks for the reminder.

Very helpful! Tells you where to look before crossing the street.

Push to walk. It did take me a couple of tries to figure it out....

Small church by my apartment

The street where I live on: Schoolhouse Lane

Omni Shopping Centre. This is where I do my grocery shopping. Weird, I know.

Bus schedule. You can turn in. It is pretty cool.

Britain still not popular in Ireland.

Nice coffee shop. Love the name! Similar to Starbucks.

St. Stephen's Green. Park where I take my lunch break.

The Irish

This is going to be a simple post. Here are a few things that I have notice about the Irish since I have been here.

- Service in restaurants or bars is slow. If you are in a rush, don't go to a sit down place!

-Service in restaurants or bars is poor. The waiters do not check on you. You have to go to them to get the check or anything else that you might need.

- In restaurants, you sit yourself at a table.

-In bars, it is usually filled with older guys. In the bars around my apartment, when my group goes, we are the only girls.

- You have to pay for plastic bags when going shopping

-It costs more money to eat at a cafe then if you order your stuff to go. This is because if you "sit in", they give you a nice plate and cup, which they charge extra for.

- No concept of a take away box if you don't finish your food.

-The drinking age is 18

-The relationship between boss and worker is blurred

- Every school is Catholic- no private versus public school.

- Every school wears a uniform

- One can go to college for home making

- They drive on the left side of the road

- In the city of Dublin, there are not many right hand turns

- Don't have to tip cab drivers

- The bus system is very unreliable

- Stores open later. On the week days they open around 10 am and on the weekends around noon

- Stores close early- between 5:30 pm- 6 pm

- The weather is very unpredictable- it can change up to five times a day

- Always have to be prepared for rain. Rain stuff always has to be brought if you go out.

- Girls will be dressed up for work, but will be wearing walking shoes. They must bring an extra pair of shoes just for work

-Not a very stylish city- people choose comfort over style. Many people wear sweat pants.

- Most people walk; not many people bike

- On some cross walks, it will tell you what direction to look before crossing a street

- Bus stops are not marked; there is no way to know what stop you are at or where you need to go

- No malls; just shopping centers with few stores

- The Irish do not say "I will call you". Instead, they say "I will ring you"

- Co-workers do not really talk with one another throughout the day

- In America, you put your keys into a hole with the teeth down. In Ireland, the keys go in with the teeth up

- They have green, yellow and red lights for pedestrians to tell them when to cross the street

- In Ireland, credit cards are usually inserted into a machine. When using an American credit card, you must tell them that it is a "swipe" card

Work Dinner: Johnnie Fox's

Tonight, my co-workers and I went to dinner at Johnnie Fox's, a famous Irish pub. My boss, Liz, invited me to the dinner; she said that it was a work dinner for every one to hang out and get to know each other better.

Johnnie Fox's is not in Dublin, it is around 30 minutes outside the city. We had to drive there and the ride was very enjoyable. We went through the nice part of Dublin and into the countryside. The countryside had rolling hills and it was green, just like you would expect from an Irish countryside :)

The pub has been around since the 1800's and it started out as a family farm. The pub grew in fame with many famous Irish heroes visiting. The famous Irish liberator, Daniel O'Connell, was a patron of the pub.

Johnnie Fox's has also been a part of Irish culture by promoting Irish traditional music. In the 1950's, artists would meet at the pub and record music that would be broadcast throughout the country. Today, artists still meet there and the pub has special music concerts for guests.

The pub still has the feel of being a farm. The building looks like an old, cottage farm house. Inside, it is very homey. It has wooden floors covered with hay or saw, which definitely adds to the farm feel. It is dark inside, with the lights dimmed low to give a homey/intimate feel.

Our group was led to a back room. By our table was a fire place that was burning. My co-workers started to tell me that instead of wood, they use turf to burn in fires. I asked what turf was, and they said that is was some sort of condense earth/turf/moss. Right by the fire there was a whole pile of it. It looked like a thick, mud brick. All I could think of was that I believe Bear Grylls used turf when he was in Scotland to build a roof for his shelter. My co-workers also said that turf was going to be band soon from use because it is a health hazard, or something long those lines. I thought that it was sad that a natural resource was going to be band after centuries of use.

I loved the room that we ate in. Like I said, it had a fire place and it was filled with history! The room and the restaurant as a whole, seemed to be stuck in the 1800's. On the ceiling, there were all these tools that were used for various chores around a farm. One of my co- workers told me that one of the tools, the pole that had a hook at the top, was used to lead bulls with rings in their noses.

I thought of my grandma while I looked at all the various tools. Her dad was a blacksmith and I remember that when we were in Poland at a dinner, they had a blacksmith working in the courtyard. My sister and I were eating with another family and my grandma came over to tell us to take a look at the blacksmith. The comment was just addressed to my sister and I, but soon our whole tour group went over to check it out. It was priceless.

The walls of Johnnie Fox's were littered with very old photos and articles about various aspect of Ireland's history. Close to our table were articles and pictures of the famous rebels and revolutionaries of Ireland.

Not only is the pub famous for preserving Irish culture, it is also famous for its food. I ordered an Irish Stew, which had carrots, potatoes and lamb. It was really good. It was hearty and it was the perfect meal on a chilly day.

My co-workers ordered an appetizer and most of them got the mussels, which they all said was really good. For an entree, most of them got the lamb, and again no one had any complaints.

We did not get dessert. The dessert menu was small, with only cheesecake and a couple other options to choose from. It did not have a good variety of desserts to choose from; most of the options were some sort of cake. The waitress did mention some ice cream that had a certain type of liquor in it.

I would highly recommend that people visiting Dublin go to Johnnie Fox's. The atmosphere is very relaxing and welcoming. Your eyes will never be bored with all the historical items to look at. These items will also keep your conversation going.

The food is good as well. My co-workers had eaten there multiple times and raved about the food. Everyone in our party left happy.

If you have time, I would recommend that you walk around the area. I was not able to, but the surroundings are beautiful with fields as far as the eye can see. I wish I was able to walk around.

I would say that the only draw back is the drive. It is around 30 minutes from the City Centre of Dublin. For a tourists who isn't driving, it can be difficult to get to. At dinner we were able to find that they offer a bus service for 5 Euro.

To learn more about Johnnie Fox's, you can visit their website: www.jfp.ie. Here you will be able to see photos of the famous pub!

D Day: First Day of Work

Catherine and Lisa waiting at the bus stop for their first day of work!

Catherine and I waiting to go to work!

I SURVIVED MY FIRST DAY OF WORK!

Even with all the excitement and nerves, I was able to sleep last night!

I tried waking up early to take a walk, but that was a major fail.

What was also a fail was getting ready for work. I decided to wear black knitted stockings; a black and white dress with a black jacket. Problem is that everything was wrinkled and covered in lent. Guess who doesn't have a lent roller or really an iron? I really know how to make a great first impression....

Another problem that I had to think about was what shoes to wear. I had to do a lot of walking, but I had to wear work appropriate shoes. I had seen a lot of women on the streets dressed ready for work, but with walking shoes. They must take a change of shoes with them. Did I want to do that? I decided not to and just to wear flats.

Since Colleen, Lisa and I were heading in the same direction and getting off at the same stop, we decided to go together. We all met up around 8:15 am to make sure we got to our internships at 10 am.

We got into the City Centre around 9 am, so we had an hour to kill. We walked across O'Connell Bridge and went into Q's for some coffee.

Q's was a really nice place and I wasn't in the mood for this nice of a place this early in the morning.

We ordered coffee and a muffin. The thing I am also realizing about Irish service is that it is really slow! Why did we sit down!?

Not only was the service long, finding the bathroom turned out to be almost impossible. I had to ask four people on my way to the bathroom where it was!

I was so nervous I barely drank my coffee or ate my muffin. I was dreading walking into the office.

Colleen was the first to leave because she had a very long walk ahead of her. She decided to be brave and changed her shoes to her heels so she didn't have to do it at work. She later told me that after a block she changed her shoes! haha!

The time had come and Lisa and I left to finish our journey to our work. When we had to split up, it was the dreaded moment because that meant that the beginning was getting closer.

We simply said goodbye and good luck and went our separate ways. I was hoping that I was going the right way.

The walk seemed a lot longer then what I had remembered. I was really worried that I was not going the right way!

I continued to walk on Baggot Street and turned left onto Fitzwilliam Street. I was so close to my work! The nerves continued to grow... I was also stressed because I was cutting the time close! I was going to be a view minutes late. Great, really not making a great first impression....

As I walked I saw a sign for Colliers International and thought of my dad who works for the company back home. The company is truly an international one. It seems like no matter where I go, I also see a sign for it.

A couple doors past the sign was the door to my work. The time was here. I approached the door and it had a huge door knob. Was I suppose to turn the door knob? It couldn't be real at that size.

Luckily, the door was open, so I just had to push the door open. The door opened into a little hall way with a waiting area, if you will.

The next step was now to find the actual floor that my internship was on. I saw something that said that MLI was on the third floor. I remembered that Europeans count floors differently then Americans. Europeans count a ground floor and then floors 1,2,3 and so forth. To Americans, the ground floor would be the first floor and then 2,3,4 and so forth. So, I guess MLI was on the fourth floor?

I just went for it and started to climb the stairs. At every landing point I was looking for a sign that I was in the right place. It felt like I was walking forever.....

Finally, I came to a landing point that had a MLI sign over the door. The time was now.

I pushed the white door open which lead to a small room. There was seven people hard at work in the room when I entered. I just stood there and everyone looked at me. I had to say something. A girl, semi in front of me, who I later learned was named Kate, asked how she could help me. I said that I was Caroline and that I was to start an internship today. She said that I could take a seat on the red coach to my right. Liz, my boss, was in a meeting. Awkward thing was that I could see Liz. Like I said, the room was very small, so I could see Liz and the gentleman she was talking with.

I sat down on the couch and ended up sitting for half an hour. I felt so awkward and out of place.

I continued to sit and Liz told Kate to set me up at a computer so I could read the website and learn about the company. I had already done this before the interview for the internship, but it had been a couple months since the last time I read about the company, so I thought it was good to freshen my memory.

For another half an hour I read the website. I must have read the website through twice. I read every little detail I could.

I was sitting at a desk in the back corner. Next to me was this girl, who seem very busy. Right in front of me was this young guy. He was cute. Even when I walked into the room he didn't make eye contact with me and with me sitting right in front of him, he still didn't look at me. I just thought that this was weird because back home people would introduce themselves to someone who was new and was close by to them.

After another half an hour looking at the company website, Liz called me over. I was very nervous!

She talked to me a little bit about what I wanted to do this summer and about the company. We established my schedule as working from 10 am- 4 pm. I told her that 10 am was a good start time because of the bus schedule. I still had to figure the bus system out and it would take me a while to get to work.

Then she gave me my first assignment: run an errand. She wanted me to go to a printing company, kind of like a Kinko's, and have some documents printed. Now, of course the correct answer when a boss asks you if you can do something is to say yes. I did say yes. I wanted to say yes with the up most confidence so my boss knew that I had faith in myself, but how I said it wasn't that reassuring. It was more like, "oh shoot. I am foreign; I don't know what I am doing; I barely got to work on time; I have to cross streets and I don't know which direction to look!"

Liz gave me a map and marked out my route. It looked simple enough. She gave me 50 Euros and sent me on my way.

"Eff my life" is all I could think.

Thankfully, I made it there. To be honest, I was really impress with myself. It wasn't far from my place of work and all the way I passed a couple of cool places, like the National Museum and Library. I took a mental note that I needed to visit there while I was in Dublin.

The printing place was called Read's. It wasn't right on the street; it was set back a little ways from the side walk. I walked in and remembered that Liz said I had to go to the back to get the documents printed.

I went to the back and took a number and waited my turn. I didn't have to wait too long and soon my number was called. However, there was this lady before me with number 6 and she was never called. I told the gentleman that she was there before me and he could help her. She was very thankful.

While I waited for my turn, I began to think that I was in freakin' Dublin, a foreign city, at a printing place for my internship. Who goes to another country to work? Only a crazy person.

Eventually it was my turn to be helped. Paul, the young guy who sat across from me earlier, gave me requirements that he needed from the documents. I got everything that I needed and went to pay. It turned out to be only 2.86 Euro. With Liz giving me a 50, I thought that it was going to be very expensive and I was surprised how cheap it was. Why did she give me a 50?

I walked back to work, but stopped by Spar, a convenient store, first. I was seriously debating whether to or not, but I had to. I had to get water because I was so thirsty! I went in quick, as to not waste my boss' time.

I returned and apologized for taking a while. Liz said that it was fine and that it was quicker then she expected.

I gave her the documents and the change. I had counted a million times to make sure that I had all the money. She took the receipt and the change and counted it. She looked at me and asked if she had given me a 50. I said yes and then I started to panic. Don't tell me that I was missing money! I had checked a million times! She said that there was more then 50 and that she should send me to the store more often. I told her that as long as there wasn't less money than it was fine. She tried to give me some change, but I told her that there was money on the table before and that it might be from that. She checked and ended up giving me 2 Euro.

She told me that I could take a lunch break. My break was to be for an hour. I was so shocked by this! I actually get a lunch?! For an hour!? At the museum, I was lucky if I got a 15 minute lunch and I never got any of my other breaks.

Where to go for an hour? I decided to walk back to Grafton Street. They had many different shops, I was bound to find something.

I was too excited and nervous to really eat. At the beginning of Grafton Street is St. Stephen's Green. I decided just to sit in the park and eat the muffin from this morning and some crackers that I had brought with me.

I sat in the park for a while. It was so nice to be outside and people watching.

I wasn't able to sit long because it was a 20 minute walk back to my place of work.

I went back to work and ended up reading a lot of different activities and workshops they had. Liz wanted me to come up with some new ideas for activities. I made a list and talked about Senet, the Ancient Egyptian board game. She really liked the idea and wanted me to give some sort of presentation or talk about it the next day. I was excited that I would bring Ancient Egypt to my new work! I do miss working at the museum at times.

Liz let me leave early at 3:45 pm. Now, I had to remember how to get home. I did remember. I had to get the bus from around Trinity College.

It took me almost an hour to get back home. I am not going to be looking forward to this every day....

I was the first one home from my internship. I wonder when everyone else was going to get back. I decided to go to Tesco's to kill some time and to get some food.

Every one else got back around 6 pm. Colleen, Lisa and I went to The Comet, a local pub, to get some food and to talk about our day. Colleen said that there was a lot of interns, from all over the world, working at her place. She had a good amount of people to eat with every day and they had started to fill her in on work drama.

I was very interested in learning about Lisa's day. I had interviewed with the company, but had declined the position in favor of MLI. Lisa said that her boss was crazy. It was basically her and her boss that were the only ones working at the company. The company was called Steeple Sessions and it has been working closely with another company in Galway as a branch in Dublin, however, some drama had happen and both branches had split. Now Steeple Sessions was its own thing and it had no one working there. 4 interns had quit and the boss had put in 10,000 Euros of her own money into the company. Lisa said that she had an intense schedule and I was so glad that I didn't take that internship.....

After we talked, we went back to the apartment and stopped by Emily's and Allie's place to talk to them. Allie's day had been okay; just boring trying to figure stuff out. Emily made it sound like she had the best job in the world. She even said that she didn't want to make us jealous. We told her just to tell us. She said that she had booked a hotel room for a former president of Ireland. I thought that was cool, but still thought that my internship, with the promise of traveling, was way better! Even at orientation, when David and I were talking about my schedule in front of everyone and we started to talk about me traveling, people were jealous. I believe that I do have the best internship.

I am so glad that my first day of my internship is over! It was not as bad as I had thought and I am thankful for that!

I am looking forward to my second day :)

Day Filled With Important Information

My door! We were too scared to cross the street to get closer...

We THINK this is where Lisa will be working!

YES! Colleen's internship is actually real!

I am going to begin this entry with a semi rant.

Today I had orientation. I have been in Ireland for 3 days and I am finally having orientation. I don't understand why orientation happens after people have been at a place for a while. It was the same thing in Hungary. The thing that makes me upset is that for a few days we are stranded here alone with no help. We have no one to asks questions to and we have to figure everything out ourselves.

In Hungary, like I said, it was the same thing. When I got dropped in the middle of no where, I tried calling the leaders of the program, but no one answered their phone. Other students in the program tried calling them with questions and still no answer. If you have students in a foreign country where they do not speak the language, you need someone there to help them!

Now, I know that I decided to arrive early in Hungary and in Ireland, but the others and me need to. We need to have time to explore and to get settled in before we have to start work or school.

I think that a program should tell everyone to arrive on the same date a couple of days before orientation. This will allow the participants time to explore the city and allow the program to have someone on site to help the students if they need it. These programs can hire me :) I will be more then willing to help those participants who are in a foreign country for the first time. Seriously, programs really need to start doing this!

Anywho, the other participants and I had orientation this morning. Before that, Colleen and I took a walk. We wanted to go to the park by our apartment, but we were discouraged to find that the park opens at 1o am! Why so late and why close and open a park?

We walked pass the park and thought to find the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The first day that I was here, a guy named Brad that I met walking on the street told us to go there for drinks. We tried finding it earlier, but with no success. This time Colleen and I were able to find it! Funny thing is that is was right at the corner where we decided to turn back a couple of days ago!

We walked pass the hotel for a ways. It was really nice over there, but definitely filled with tourists. We also saw a lot of people going to work. These people were dressed like they were going to work, but had backpacks. It was a weird combination.

Colleen and I turned back to head towards the apartment to get coffee. If the park wasn't open until 10, we doubted that any other places were open. We decided to get coffee at McDonald's. Good thing this McDonald's is open 24/7!

Colleen got an Americano and I got a Latte. What we discovered was that coffee in Ireland is a lot stronger then back in the States!

We took our coffee and headed back to the apartment to get ready for orientation. At 9 am we all met up at the bus stop. Our group got bus passes. Every time you get on a bus you have to pay. Each time can be a different price, depending on where you are going to, but on average it is around 2 Euro. We wanted to get a pass so we didn't have to pay each time and worry about change. When you pay for a ticket, you have to have exact change. If you go over, they will not give you change back! The worst part was that these passes were 110 Euro! So expensive! In Hungary, for $15 you got a month pass for the buses, metro and tram! Here, for 110 Euro you only get a pass for buses that you can't rely on! I want to go back to Hungary!

Luckily the bus came semi on time. You can never really trust these buses.

We got off the bus and found the hotel we were looking for. We pass right by it the other day and none of us even saw it!

The hotel was the Ripley Court Hotel. We were a half an hour early and checked in at reception. They told us that the leaders were not here yet, so we sat in the welcoming area. The hotel was very dark.

As we talked a guy came up to us and asked if we were part of the program. His name was Ryan and he probably figured we were part of the program because of our American accents.

Eventually we were usher into our room for orientation. I was so happy to finally meet David, the person trying to help me extend my visa and who saved me at the airport. We did talk about my visa in front of everyone and I really didn't like this. They all didn't need to know the drama I had with it.

Orientation didn't last too long and we covered some basic stuff. They told us that the four corners of the city are places that you don't really want to go to. They also informed us where we needed to go if we needed a doctor. The most useful information that they gave us was directions to our place of work. I told them that I was having a hard time even figuring out my route. They informed us that the bus system was not really reliable and that we were better off walking.

After orientation was finished, I showed David my Irish visa to make sure it was okay. He said that it was fine and that I wouldn't go to prison. He did inform me that if I did go to prison, he had connections with the guards and I would be taken care of. Good to know.

While I was talking with David, Emily and Allie were chatting up the other participants of the program that we didn't know. They were getting numbers and making plans. Maybe that is why I always feel like an outsider in these programs. Maybe it is because I am not the one really going out of my way to get every one's numbers. I don't know. I have always been the one not to really go out of my way to impress people really. Maybe I should start?

As a group we decided to go out to lunch. When we left the hotel it started to rain and there was a horrible wind. This was not pleasant to walk in. Luckily, we did not walk far.

We went into a bar/ restaurant. It was nice; big with wooden floors. We went up to the second floor and found seats. Then come the moment that always happens: what do we do? Do they come to us or do we go to them?

It was a buffet, so we had to go downstairs and get the food. I decided to get potato and leek soup with a soda. My stomach was still not feeling the best. The soup was very good!

Our group was a good size, so we took up two tables. I sat with Colleen, Katherine and Ryan. I started to talk to Ryan more and he seemed like an interesting person who had travelled a lot.

The majority of the conversation dealt with us starting our internships tomorrow. We were all very nervous! I was telling Ryan how I got three different offers for internships and how I finally decided to work at a school. I overheard Allie at the next table ask if anyone else got multiple offers. No one else did.

After lunch our group split up. Colleen, Lisa and I went back to our apartment to start the search for our internships. As we were waiting for the bus, we met a guy who we now call Nameless. He helped us figure out how to get to our internships. He told Colleen that she just needed to walk by the river for 5 minutes. We were happy to hear that because Colleen seemed to have the most confusing route!

Our "friend" also told us that he was trying to start a pub crawl and asked for our e-mails so we could add us on Facebook to promote his business. We gave him our e-mails.

The bus finally came and we piled on and got off at O'Connell and walked across the O'Connell Bridge. The first thing was to find Colleen's internship. We then took a left down the main street that ran along side the river. The guy said that it was only going to be 5 minutes, but that was a lie. It took us half an hour! We didn't even walk by the river! We were on the other side trying to find the building, so it really wasn't that scenic of a walk! But it turns out that Colleen's internship is in a very nice part of town, which was a relief. We joked that her internship actually existed. Colleen has received little information about her internship, so we all joke that she made it up so she could go to Ireland.

Next on the agenda was to fine Lisa's and mine internships. On the map it looked like they were close to one another. We were about to find out!

We walked back to O'Connell Bridge and turned left and continued to walk. We then veered to the right; then left and crossed the street to Grafton Street. I sure hope that I remember this tomorrow!

Grafton Street is a shopping avenue, if you will. There was a lot of people, so it was really hard to walk through.

At the end of Grafton, we saw St. Stephen's Green. If we were reading the map correctly, our works were pass St. Stephen's Green. We decided to take a walk through the park. It was so beautiful! What a nice place in the middle of a busy city.

At the end of the park, we crossed the street and found the street that Lisa's internship was. We found what we thought was the entrance to the building, but we were not sure.

Finally, it was time to find mine. We went to the next street over, which is Baggot. We walked down that for a little bit and then went down a side street or two, until we came to Fitzwilliam Square. It seriously is a square in the middle of the road. Now, we needed to find the street!

Fitzwilliam Street was on the other side of the square. We walked around the square and tried to cross the street, with no success. It was a busy street and we dare not cross without a crosswalk telling us which direction to look. I found the door from across the street and took a picture.

We had been exploring for almost 4 hours and we were so hungry! We walked down the street and went into a pub trying to get food. While Colleen went to the bathroom we asked if they served food, just to find out they didn't. We were so tired and hungry we didn't want to move!

We left and continued down Baggot. Earlier we had seen a burrito shop and decided just to go there. We were too tired to find anything else. At the burrito store, the names of the different things were all locations in California! I laughed to myself. I got the Cali Carnitas. I asked them to put guacamole and a little salsa. I have no idea what they put on it. It hella wasn't guacamole or salsa. It was crappy, runny sauce of some sort. The people working there were even speaking Spanish! Shouldn't they know what real guacamole and salsa is!?

After our long adventure, we went back to our apartment to chill and get ready for tomorrow!

I am so nervous I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight! I am worrying about getting there on time; worrying about remembering how to get there. Will they like me? Will I make a fool out of myself? There is probably many Irish cultural things that I don't know that I will probably mess up at work. I just want the first day to be over with! I really hate not knowing what I am doing. Now I understand why people stay at their job forever! They don't have to be the new person again!

Oh well..... Here is to tomorrow.....

Images from the park by my apartment

The main lesson I learned today was that the weather in Dublin changes at a moment's notice!

I woke up this morning around 10 to go for a walk. I looked outside and the weather was so nice! It was sunny and warm. I was so happy that it was not overcast like it had been for the past two days. I did bring a sweatshirt because I was not going to let the Irish weather fool me.

I decided to go for a walk in the park that Lisa and I got kicked out of. I wanted to see what it looked like. The park was so beautiful! It was very green and had many paths that looked like they went in every which direction. I wasn't brave enough to try any of these paths because I didn't want to get lost!

I walked along the paved path which took me in a large circle around the park. I stopped every so often to take pictures. It was such a beautiful day I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take pictures! There were many families walking around because it was a Bank Holiday. I don't know what that means, but apparently it is a holiday and many stores are closed.

After my walk I returned to my apartment to get ready for the day. Colleen, Lisa and I went to the mall to get coffee and groceries. Interesting things about groceries in Ireland:

- They don't always refrigerate milk and other dairy products

- You have to pay for plastic bags when you check out

After we got some things, we returned to our apartment to unpack and to plan our bus route to get to our internships. Planning our route was more confusing than we had thought. To use the Dublin Bus Website was confusing and most of the time our internships were not close to a bus stop, so we had to use additional maps to help us plan the rest of the journey.

With lots of planning and being more confused than before, we set out to explore the city. We found out that we could all take the 16 bus to the same stop. Now all we had to do was wait for the 16. Funny thing is that the 16 never showed up! The bus schedule was different because it was a holiday. We waited close to half an hour and still no 16 bus came. It was getting late and we were worried that we wouldn't have enough time to find our internships and make it back on the last bus. We decided to save our exploring until later.

Colleen, Lisa and I went to The Comet, a local pub, to get some food. They apologized for not serving Chinese food for another half hour. What pub serves Chinese food? We told them it was okay and ordered pizza instead. It was pretty good, but the waitress did tell us it was frozen beforehand. She shouldn't have said anything...

I noticed that whenever our group went into these local pubs, we are the only girls there. It is kind of awkward because I feel like I am intruding on guys' night. The guys who are usually there are usually older, but the guys who are our age are too busy placing bets on the sports games to pay attention as to what is going on around them. We wondered where the girls went and concluded that they must go into Dublin to the clubs.

After The Comet, we went back to our rooms to hang out. We decided that in a couple of hours we would meet up to do something. I would research what we could do in our area.

I did some research and found that there was absolutely nothing that we could do in our area. Fail. We live on the outskirts of Dublin in more of a residential area. It is a very quiet place. What was plan B? Colleen came up and together we sat for half an hour trying to think of something. Emily and Allie had gone out earlier to find their place of work and still had not returned. Hopefully they were okay.

We all went down to Colleen's apartment to meet her roommates. They are German and Colleen says they are very awkward; we wanted to see this first hand. When we entered they did see us but did not say anything at all! Eventually we kind of started to talk to them, but they didn't say anything and just went into their room. Very awkward.

The German girls did recommend that we see a movie, I wasn't keen on that suggestion, but I was willing to check it out. Colleen and I decided to go on a walk to kill some time. Katherine joined us as well and Lisa stayed inside. We walked to the movie theater and found that it was 9 Euro to see a movie and there wasn't anything really playing.

As we walked to the movie theater, we ran into Allie and Emily. They were fine and they were able to find Emily's place of work. They had explored a lot of Dublin, they felt and were excited about their day. They told us that after our walk we should get dinner at The Swiss Cottage.

When we returned from our walk, we went to see Emily and Allie to make a plan. They continued to tell us about their day. I said that I would get Lisa from upstairs so we could go to The Swiss Cottage. Lisa said that she was going to go later, after they had done eating. I said that I would go with her later, but I never went. I wasn't in the mood to eat or drink; what was the point of going anyways?

Lisa said that she was only going for an hour, but the group actually stayed for a couple of hours. I almost instantly regretted my decision to stay in. I was worried that the rest of the girls were making connections and I was going to be the odd person out. I feel like I have always been the odd person out. My first living situation at UCSC after a month of living with the girls, I decided to spend the night at my grandmas and the next day I came back to a house that was totally united and I was never able to be a part of that. In the ILC the next year I was an outside and in Hungary I was only accepted into a small group of friends. I am sick of always being the odd person out. I want this experience to be different. I should have gone with them!

Around midnight everyone came back. I asked Lisa how it was. She said it was fine and that there was loud music and a lesbian hitting on Emily. How she described it, it seemed like I didn't miss out too much. Another example of me worrying about nothing!

Tomorrow I have orientation in the morning. I am looking forward to what they will tell us about the program and Ireland in general!