The Greystone To Bray Cliff-Walk

What does Saturday mean? Usually at school it means catching up on some sleep lost during the week, working on a couple of assignments to be ready for Monday, and a night out. But when in Ireland, none of those apply. This Saturday meant yet another travel adventure day, and I'd been looking forward to it all week. We took the DART (coastal Irish train) to a small town called Bray on the Irish Sea. From there, we ventured on the cliff walk that ran along the cliff to another coastal town called Greystones. Somehow Morgan, Krista and I got separated from the group, but that was fine. We had almost reached Greystones when we saw a narrow beaten path that led up the face of the mountain. We decided to take a chance. After persevering through pricker bushes, rock faces, and vertical climbs, and more than 4 stops to "take pictures" (aka to try to regain some semblance of oxygen in our lungs) we made it to the peak of the mountain. The wind was so strong at the peak that we joked about being hurricane news reporters, but it was all worth it. To the left we could see the entire town of Bray, straight ahead was a panoramic sea view, and the the right was the entire town of Greystones, and finally behind us were a couple of other mountains and seemingly endless rolling Irish farmland. As much as I tried, there was no way a camera could capture it. We climbed from there to the peak at Bray, where a large cross was erected over the sea. Another incredible sight. We descended and sat on a picnic bench overlooking the sea and ate snacks that we had brought with us before heading to lunch. Krista and I ordered chicken wraps, and Morgan ordered the "recession fish". No thanks. We had to pay 40 cents for a small side of ketchup, but we joked and laughed about it enough to where we weren't annoyed anymore. We agreed to go back into the city-center at 7:30, and just walk around without spending money. It actually ended up being really fun, we heard a couple of performers playing in the streets of the Temple Bar area.

Lessons learned today:

1. When they say "cliff-walk", don't automatically assume that means you're staying on the path

2. If you're afraid to ruin good shoes, don't wear them in Ireland, because you never know

3. The best views are the ones that are hardest to get to, but the most worth it when you get there

4. If you do these activities, you are officially exempted from the gym, forever*
*You will however, need the sauna or hot tub, because you will be sore for days

5. And apparently, ketchup for your "chips" costs 40 cents here. I'm definitely stocking up next time I go to McDonalds, because paying for ketchup is not in the budget

Irish Classes- Lessons Learned

Well, this is different! On the first day, I arrived at my class 10 minutes early, chose a seat in the fourth fourth row (out of about 10). I figured this wouldn't put me in the front, and I could find a better seat next time. In class I took complete notes, writing down most of what the professor said, and had done the reading to be prepared for class. Apparently I did EVERYTHING wrong. So here's what I've learned (as told to me by one of my Irish roommates):

1. Arrive at class on time at the earliest. If it's a 9 am class, show up at 9 am or preferably around 9:03-9:05. Apparently it can be considered disrespectful to be too early to a class, and it immediately identifies me as a foreigner.

2. When I sat in the fourth row, when the class did fill, the fourth row became the first row, as the back filled up completely and nobody sat in the first 3 rows. Apparently this is in an attempt to not participate in class.

3. While taking notes furiously, I looked around and noticed that I was the only one in the entire class doing so. In fact, few other students even had notebooks out, and a couple of them were sound asleep by a few minutes into class. This was more than slightly confusing, but I continued.

4. When asked who did the reading for this class, not a single student raised their hand. Not wanting to be "that guy", I followed suit and hid my reading. The professor's reaction surprised me, as he calmly just said, "okay, that's fine maybe just look it over if you get a chance". I had all I could do not to laugh. After talking to my roommate, he said that no Irish students do readings or work until the last two weeks of classes. I think I'm going to continue doing the readings, but keeping it quiet!

I certainly hope that I don't get used to this system, I would get killed if I returned to Siena for senior year with this attitude! Sure, it is more relaxing right now, but those last weeks would be so rough!

Guinness Factory Tour

On Monday, we went to city center and toured the Guinness Factory. Yes, I actually did just say on Monday! My classes were over at noon, so we agreed to get together then. We expected it to be relatively quiet because it was a Monday, but we were completely wrong. There were people everywhere. On the tour, we went into the tasting room, where we would get a sensual experience of Guinness. We walked down a dark hallway into a bright white room. It was supposed to "shock" our senses. There were 4 pillars in the bright room, with steam spewing from them. We took turns going to each and running our noses over the steam to understand and appreciate every component of a glass of Guinness. Afterwards, we went into a smaller room, where we learned how to correctly sample a Guinness. Here it is:
1. Put your elbow out to the side. This forces you to bring the glass up to you, instead of putting your head down into the glass and tasting only the bitter taste of the nitrogen in the head of the beer
2. Never sip it, always take a decent sized drink. Supposedly sips only take in the nitrogen which throws off the taste (I'm skeptical-- I think this might be a scheme to make you drink more Guinness!)
3. Swirl the Guinness around your mouth for a few seconds before swallowing to expose your taste buds to all the tastes including the roasted barley and hops.
4. Enjoy!

After, we learned how to correctly pour a Guinness, and enjoyed one at the top of the factory in a glass room with 360 degree panorama views of the city of Dublin. It was incredible. We joked, asking if anyone actually worked in Dublin. We stayed for quite a while, just admiring the views of the city.

A Conversation with Irish Students

An intellectual interaction with Irish students:

American Politics- This conversation began with President Obama appearing on the TV in the common room. They were shocked when I said I didn't really like him, and they said they thought that all Americans liked Obama. I went through and explained what I didn't like about him, and they followed and understood (or pretended well!). When I told them that although I didn't identify with either party, I tended to lean more toward the republican end of the spectrum, they laughed and told me that if I was a republican, then I must be a redneck. Unfortunately, they weren't kidding, and this is what they actually thought. Does American media really come off this way in Ireland? I decided that I needed to ditch the republican label and explained some of my beliefs to them. As I explained what I believe and why I believe it, they agreed with most of my perspectives (which I didn't expect to happen). They were absolutely stunned when I told them that what they had just agreed with was a mix of both parties, but slightly leaned toward republican. They actually expressed similar frustrations with their political system and politicians.

Education System Comparison- This was an incredible conversation that really made me appreciate the American system. In Ireland, almost every college student goes home every weekend. We talked for almost 3 hours just about education. For as much as the three of them go home, they didn't seem to be as attached and close to their family as I had expected. In fact, it seemed to stem the other way, where they said they get easily annoyed with their parents and their siblings. This seemed really strange to me, so I asked them why they go home so much then. They said that in Ireland, if you don't go home on the weekends you're the weird one! I explained that it was pretty much exactly opposite at my college, and they were surprised. They were shocked when I said that I get made fun of for going home so much, and I go home around 1 weekend per month. Two of them said that they would definitely like the American system where people tend to stay on campus on weekends, but the other one wasn't quite sure. Apparently, Irish students stay involved the clubs that they participated in as kids all through college, and their games are on Saturdays or Sundays because it's the expectation that every college student will be home at that time. DCU is a university of 12,000 students, and only 1200 live on campus! They said that DCU is one of the higher lived on campuses as well! The conversation moved onto actual school hours, and I pulled up my schedule from this semester and compared it to last semester. One actually said it was "embarrassing" how few contact hours they have compared my college. I continued to explain that a typical class for me consisted of 2 or 3 exams and then a final. Here, they said, nobody does any work until the last two weeks of classes because there are no checkpoints. In the last two weeks, everyone crams and searches through past exams to try and guess what might be on it this year. They said it was nice that they didn't have to do anything the first 11-12 weeks, but admitted that they would probably learn better if there was some pressure to learn in the middle.

Economy of Irleand- I enquired about the collapse of Anglo. Both told me that they knew very little, but were able to outline the crash. Essentially, according to them, one very wealthy man owned an abundance of companies, especially in the construction industry. They said that a couple of years ago, Ireland was in such a boom that they estimated around half of the workers would have been in the construction industry. When Anglo collapsed, a trickle effect happened and most of the construction workers lost their jobs because construction essentially halted to a stop. Now, all of those workers are on the Irish version of welfare or unemployment. They speculated that it would not get better soon because instead of people going out and hiring construction companies to do work, people were going to the laid off workers and paying them cash behind closed doors to do the work that they needed done, and the workers remained collecting unemployment/ welfare benefits! Additionally they said that college is heavily subsidized by the government, and the new graduates are really struggling to find placements, so as a result they are traveling either to the states or Australia after they get their degree. Obviously this is a huge problem to have the government pay for degrees that workers use to obtain jobs and pay taxes elsewhere! They said that there are very few opportunities with the current market for them in Ireland!

I'm really looking forward to my next conversation!

A Night at The Village

Today, I just took it easy and relaxed. It was well needed, but I'm not sure that 3 years of sleep could close the deficit at this point! For the Irish students, today was anything but relaxing: it was results day, where they would be receiving their grades for the previous semester and learning if they would have to retake any classes or not. My roommates all did well, so they called for a celebration. We ended up at a pub called The Village, a place that Taylor had recommended. It was packed, and apparently most of the people there were other students from DCU, also celebrating "results day". Although we struggled with the decision, we did successfully pass a couple of McDonalds' before we caught a cab. It was a fun night with everyone, but I couldn't wait to crawl into my bed again!

The Cliffs of Moher Weekend

This right here is why I chose to study abroad. The only word I have is "wow". The closest description I have to the sight of the Cliffs of Moher would be to say that it is like standing on the edge of the world and watching the waves crash below you. To supplement the experience, we had the nicest day of the trip by far, with sunny weather around 55 degrees. We literally could not have planned a better time for this experience. As we walked around the cliffs it was total sensory overload for me, looking left, right and everywhere with a plastered smile on my face. Again, this is why I chose to study abroad.

We spent 2 hours at the Cliffs, but I would have
been happy to never leave! We took turns sitting on one of the ledges over the cliffs. It was terrifying at first, but as I looked out onto the endless ocean, all of the doubts I had about coming to Ireland washed away. This is living. On the way to the cliffs, we made a stop at Galway Bay, where the tide was very low, but the countryside stretched in the background to make up for it. We stopped for lunch by the sea in a small restaurant, and in an attempt to stretch my boundaries I ordered (and actually ate) Seafood Chowder, and I must admit it was pretty good! We left for the Cliffs at 7 am and returned at 8 pm, which was a long day, but so worth it. On the way home we passed Liam Neisen's summer home by the sea, as well as the field where they filmed the movie Bravehart. I was ready to crash by the time we made it home, but still so happy at the same time.

A Return To Flannery's February 13th

Tonight we decided to return to Flannery's, a sort of last ditch effort on our part. Brian and I found
frozen pizzas at the grocery store for 1.50 euro each, so naturally we stocked up. Surprisingly, they tasted pretty good tonight (we're still waiting for some crazy side-effect). We took the bus down to Flannery's, and spent the night there with everyone enjoying the live music including songs like Wagon Wheel, and it was quite a good time. I talked to a couple of Irish girls who, upon saying that I was from New York, told me that I needed to get out of Dublin if I wanted to actually experience Ireland. This only makes me more excited for my adventure to the Cliffs of Moher and Galway this weekend! I also got a few pointers on the "tourist traps" of Dublin, and where to go for a more authentic experience. I'm pretty excited to try those out as well. We ventured across the street to a burger joint, but being conscious about my money I didn't get anything, and neither did Brian. It was the right choice, although with honesty I can say that I am munching on a bag of Salt and Vinegar chips as we speak, but that has to be the lesser of the two evils, right? I am excited to sleep in tomorrow morning, and catch up on lost hours. On the way home we debated bunking our beds in our rooms (turns out I'm not the only one who hates to be alone!). We made plans to watch the Disney movie called Frozen and drink hot chocolate tomorrow together for Valentine's Day, as the girls are sad that they don't have valentines. Personally, I couldn't be happier not to buy overpriced flowers, so it's a celebration for me!

A Week and A Half In A Post

In the past week and a half, I have done more than I think I ever have. As I type, it shocks me that I've only been here for a week and a half, it feels like 4 months already! I've had incredible experiences, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity already. Although I already feel as if it would take forever to type out everything I've done, I know that I'll lose more as time passes. So here it goes. One of the first nights, the group got together, and the girls wanted to see the bar from the movie, PS I Love You. So naturally, we found ourselves at the PS I Love You bar. It was a dimly lit building, but a cool atmosphere none the less. It was great to sit as a group and get to

know each other, but we were identifiably as American. A man approached our group, and told  that there was a "silent disco" upstairs, where you wore headphones and danced to the music to two different DJ's. It was a weird concept, but hey, it's an experience right? We were weary, however, because we had been warned about something called "Slagging", where the Irish people would tell you something ridiculous with a completely straight face, and laugh if you believed them. As it turns out, he wasn't actually lying, and naturally we did it. It was fun to get out with everyone. As we left, we agreed that we would never do it again, but it was funny once!


My phone problem was settled, and I ended up buying a cell phone and a plan over here. Now I can talk to any of my friends and family anytime I want from wherever I am. This is a huge relief for me, even if I don't need it I still have it.

On Thursday we had a walking tour of Dublin led by Martin (one of the program directors). The group was split in half, and half went with Don (the other director). I was grateful to be put in Martin's group. (Don is approaching 80, and judging by walking speeds we would cover much more of the city!) We learned where to go, where not to go, and where we might find cheaper food as opposed to the pricier tourist areas. As we walked through Grafton Street, a pedestrian-only road, people were playing music everywhere in the streets. I wanted to take a video and send it to everyone when I heard Coldplay, but my phone wasn't working. Afterwords the program got together and got lunch at a small place that Don recommended. I enjoyed a Turkey and Brie sandwich with tomato on it. It was incredible, the warm brie oozed out of the sandwich and tasted amazing. (Apparently I can't write these posts before dinner!) We wandered the streets for a while after the tour, exploring our new environment. We found a small shop called Gino's that specialized in crepes, waffles, and gelato. I ordered a chocolate hazlenut crepe. It was the most amazing crepe I've ever had, stuffed with sauce. I knew it wouldn't be my only one that I will have! We headed back to
campus and later headed out to a popular student hangout called Flannerty's. It was a cool place, with live music again and a heated outdoor area in city-center. We wanted to meet some other Irish students, so we started a conversation with a group of girls nearby. As it turns out, they live in Connecticut. I'm not sure we went to the right place to meet locals! After leaving Flannerty's, Julia and Kelsey were playing a game called, "odds-are", which was really funny. I still don't understand the rules.

On Friday afternoon, we signed up for a bus tour of Dublin City and the outlying areas, which was free as part of our orientation! We were all excited to be shown around. It was a sunny day, still slightly chilly, but it seemed perfect. We got on the bus, and found out it was an open-top style. We decided to sit on top to get the best views and bear the chill. We soon realized this was a mistake! Even with the wind, we stuck it through, until it started sprinkling! By the end of the tour, everyone on the top was hiding beneath the seat in front of them, as the bottom was filled with all the people that had a brain! Either way I couldn't complain too much, it was snowing and sub-zero at home, I'll take a light sprinkle over that! At least we got a laugh out of it, and certainly learned our lesson! Later on Friday, Sean came from Maynooth to come see us for the night in Dublin, it was great to see him. On the way to a place that Sean had seen, we stopped at an Irish chain called Supermac's and marveled over what a burger tasted like. Julia, Kelsey, John, Sean, Brian and I then went down to a small pub in the city center. The rugby game against Wales was the next night, so the Welch were in town. We sat down and enjoyed a pint laughing and joking together about the first week, and talked to some of the Welch at the pub. After another trip to Supermac's, we we sent Sean back off to Maynooth and caught the bus back to our beds.

On Saturday, it was our first morning off, and I needed to sleep! I woke up at one, but it was great to gain some hours that I was desperately lacking. We left at 1:30 for the city centre and Julia, Kelsey, Brian and I found an authentic pub that supports the Irish national rugby team (I don't think the Welch were allowed in). It was so packed that there were no seats available, but there was a balcony that overlooked a TV that we found a standing spot at. We laughed a lot, because everyone around us were die-hard rugby fans and would get extremely excited when something good happened. I say, "when something good happened" because we all looked like fools because none of us know the rules of rugby, and had no idea when to cheer. After paying 5.70 euro for a drink, we all nursed ours because none of us wanted to have to get another. We were still tired, so we found a quiet table by the window and played paper football with a coaster and decided where we wanted to eat.





We decided we wanted the most authentic Irish food we could find, so naturally we went to McDonald's. We were so excited when it cost us 4 euro for a burger and chicken nuggets. We stayed for a couple of hours and it's been a while since I've laughed as hard as I did about the little frustrations of living in a different country. We finally summed it up by going to an italian shop to get gelato and crepes, which were amazing yet again. I naturally stuck with the hazlenut crepe. We came back, and went up to Gillian and Julia's common room to get ready to go out with everyone, and left for Flannery's. We ended up walking past the Temple Bar area to Doyle's where we met up with Brian.

On Sunday I wanted to relax after church, so I decided to find the rumored on campus spa. There were signs about award winning gym facilities all over campus, and I figured it was worth a shot. I think my jaw dropped 6 and a half feet when I walked into the pool area and found a beautiful tiled jacuzzi overlooking the pool. That wasn't it though! Around the pool were a Tempidarium (a warm room), a massive pulse shower, a huge tiled steam room, and a large sauna that looked into the pool. I made it my mission to hit every one of them, and I did as I spent the morning there! It was so relaxing. I made friends with a kid who was studying from Belgium, and talked to him for a while. It was another great day. I was finally starting to settle in here and enjoy it.

A 6D Movie Experience: Actually, even after doing it, I still couldn't tell you what 6D meant! As we waited for the bus to come down one night we decided to figure out what it meant. Behind the bus stop was a theater and for 4 euro you could experience it. They gave us a choice of a roller coaster movie or a shark attack movie where we could use the guns next to our seats to shoot the sharks. Let's be real, there was no choice there. Obviously we would do the shark attack. It was amusing, the seats we sat in rocked and moved with the film in 3D as we shot the sharks. We took a picture of all of us with our glasses on and guns out in the theater, but agreed that we wouldn't share that one (I'll let you imagine how cool we looked). As we headed out to the bus, yet again we agreed that it was fun, but not something that we would be doing again. We reflected as we left, in a couple of days in Dublin we had covered a silent disco and a 6D movie theater...we needed to get better at being tourists. Although we agreed we could check those off the to-do list, I'm not sure they were on there to begin with!


One night we all decided not to go out, as we had spent too much money already. We got together with Gillian, Krista, John, KC, and Morgan to play Kings with a deck of cards that Brian bought in city center and got to know each other better. It was another good night.

After classes were over, the 5 of us decided it was time to eat a decent meal. (Every meal that I don't talk about here most likely consisted of peanut butter and jelly or some form of terrible macaroni that I should've learned to cook before I left home!). Julia found a place in the Temple Bar area that looked pretty cool, so we went out. It was called Mexico to Rome, and featured meals that were covering exactly that, Mexican to Italian to everything in between. It was a great night, we split an order of wings and I ordered a huge pulled pork sandwich which was one of the cheapest things on the menu, but it was, you guessed it, amazing. The fries, or sorry, "chips" were crunchy but still potato filled. Naturally there was nothing left on the plate or table when we left. The restaurant had a view of the River Liffey, and the lights of the city sparkled as they reflected on the waters. It was one of those moments where you instantly appreciate where you are. Yet again we found that same gelato shop in town, but this time I had the willpower to say no. I had spent enough money already on dinner, and was full. We called it an early night, and it was so relaxing to be with what are now good friends and feel comfortable. I couldn't wait for my head to hit my pillow and curl up in my bed.



Wednesday morning I decided to take advantage of the sunshine, and spent the morning before classes exploring the park located right outside of my apartment. There were dogs running everywhere, and it couldn't have made me happier. It was so nice outside that I actually just sat on a bench in the sun and admired the greenest field (it's true, everything is green here) for a while. Another one of those moments that made me realize how lucky I am to have this experience.

After classes on Wednesday, the entire CIEE group (30 Americans) agreed to go out to the Hard Rock Cafe Dublin and we had dinner together after classes. We got to know two students who were at DCU all year and wanted to hang out with us, as well as some insider tips which were nice to have! The Hard Rock was really expensive at 18 euro for a single cheeseburger, and I wasn't stupid! I ordered buffalo chicken strips, which were still really good. We all started talking about trips, which got me excited for the rest of my time here. We all agreed and booked a trip to the Cliffs of Moher for this weekend, which I was really excited about. I've wanted to see those since before I got here, and I will finally get my chance! After a good amount of research, I've learned that there are birds that resemble penguins there! I wonder if anyone will notice when one disappears, and I suddenly have a penguin dorm pet? That would be ideal. It was another great night, and I went back to campus with a couple of people while others went out to the pubs in Dublin.

First Day

Trauma. Stupidity. Although different, both of these words run through my mind as I lay down to sleep tonight, and both are describing my first day. One of the program directors referred to it as a "sleepy orientation day" because of the flight, a relaxed day to get settled in. I am overtired from the flight, and I know that's distorting my perception. I landed this morning around 7am in Dublin, and we were retrieved from the airport at 9am (2am and 3am at home.) Leaving the airport, baggage in tow, I was nothing but excited for my adventure, as I know I should be. It was rainy, windy, and perfectly green. Make no mistake, I am not alone on this trip, I have a good friend here with me, and someone else who I know. Everything was great, we went to the mall to get supplies, and I was happy. The scenery was incredible, walking through town carrying my bags like a local back to the university. It was all perfect, too perfect. In talking to another student, I learned that I had misunderstood the meal plan situation provided by my home school, and I would not be getting the money that I thought I could plan on for food, instead it would have to come from my parents if I needed it. I really hate this! That was enough to throw me off, but on top of that, my phone that I had expected to be set had not been unlocked internationally. As a result, I was cutoff completely from communication with my friends and family on this first day so far away, as my room lacks a WiFi connection. To put the cherry on the meltdown sundae, I have my own room at this university. For most kids, this would be a blessing, but not for me. When I am away from home I like to have other people around all the time for comfort, but this European dorm is not designed for that, giving each person his own individual private space. There are no distractions from my thoughts here, just me alone to think about them. What I have I done? Why did I leave my home, my family who loves me, and my dogs who love me, and all of whom I love so much? The world outside of my home is a beautiful place, but in the end what does it really matter what I've seen, if I've forfeited that time with my family, time that is so valuable as I grow up? If I knew I could find a flight home and not be behind in credits at Siena, I would have been home with my family by now. I pushed all of these thoughts aside, and realized if I didn't leave my room I would hate it here. I met up with a couple of friends, and we walked down the street to a small pub, where the rest of my study abroad group was. We enjoyed a couple of beers, my first one being a stereotypical Guinness, naturally. We bonded as a group together and watched the Chelsea vs. Man City soccer game with the locals. It was a great time. I sent pictures to all of my friends of the Guinness in the pub in front of the game, and it was an awesome distraction. I finally relaxed and enjoyed myself.  Now I am back, and only writing this blog because I am yet again in my room alone, reflecting on my thoughts. I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't, I feel sick. I honestly don't think it's worth being so far away from my family for such an extended period of time, time that I can never get back. I would be ecstatic if someone told me tomorrow that my vacation was coming to an end in a couple of days, but four months is simply too long to count down. I know at this point that things will either get better, or I will be in trouble. I think I've realized that I like the idea of studying abroad much better than I actually like doing it myself.