By Max Quan
Aer Lingus Flight from Hartford to Dublin
Right until I boarded the plane, I was nervous. I was heading towards a new country all alone with new people and a new culture. Would I be able to adapt? Would I be bored? Would I like my roommates? However, looking over the clouds while getting closer and closer to Ireland, I felt ready. Until the flight attendant ran out of meals. Luckily my grandma neighbor insisted I eat some kind bars for dinner. Touching down, the first thing I noticed were the signs were Gaelic. Only after a second glance did I realize there was English right underneath. Later I would learn, after many years of emigration, only 30,000 Irish people speak Gaelic, and so the signs are in both languages. I grabbed my luggage and met my first friends of the trip Evan and Cole, and my first Irish person: our taxi driver. He pointed out the Dublin Stadiums, the US Embassy, and talked about his plans to drink for 10 hours that weekend for his birthday. He was incredibly hospitable, and I wish I could ask him how his birthday went.
UCD Sunset from the Apartment
I got to our apartment at 6 a.m., and I took an hour nap (I woke up at 4 p.m.). I began to familiarize myself with campus. I went to the UCD village to buy some food and other toiletries I would need for the next couple months. Being in UCD, I felt the large-city-college energy that I would never be able to experience at Becknell. Once I felt comfortable that I had everything I would need, it was time to explore a little bit of Dublin. Our apartment got on the 39A bus form UCD and made our way to Temple Bar, a neighborhood (with bars). Being 18, I was able to experience the Irish Pubs and Bars. I had my first Irish Guinness, and we walked around temple Bar for a few hours enjoying the ambiance. It was fun, exciting, and new. From the very start, the trip was living up to all my expectations. The next day on a tour of UCD, the guide says, “Temple bar will fleece you. Its expensive and there are literally no Irish people there”. I was crushed (not really). Luckily, he gave us many recommendations and local spots that he likes to go to.
Dublin Public Transport Buses
Irish Boat Tour Outside the Epic Irish Emigration Museum
The following day, we began classes, and went to our first museum, the Epic Irish Emigration Museum. As I put on the head set and listened to our guide, I got my first taste of Irish history. I learned about the famine and the conflict between Catholics and Protestants which resulted in a war where the Catholics lost. However, British-Protestant rule lead to great oppression of Catholics, and it is represented by the schism between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland today. In fact the green of the Irish flag is Catholic, the white stands for peace, and the orange is protestant. Now, I must focus on my internship the next couple days, and I am enthusiastic to reflect now what else I will learn in the following blog posts.