Ireland: The Good, the Bad, but Not the Ugly. Day 1.2

Day 1.2 8:38 am. Friday, September 3, 2008

Um. I think I am in love with this country.

9:00 am

Tour lecture time.

Topic One: Vikings settle Dublin in 998 (about 5 minutes of speech)
Topic Two: Guinness (at least 20 minutes of speech)

Irish slang to learn:

1. "I'm a craichead" or "I'm having the craic" or "good/great craic" or "the craic was mighty" or "the craic was up to 90"#
--This means "I am having fun" or "I enjoy good times!", not to be confused with drug use.
2. "feck" (a derivative of the f-word)
--Completely acceptable, can even be said to your grandmas or priest
--For example at the dinner table: "Feck off grandma, I don't want anymore feckin' potatoes" ... "I was only feckin' askin."
3. "eejit"
--same as "idiot", but much politer and less mean

Now for the Irish music!

10:58 am

It's not even eleven o'clock and I have already had a 'tiffle' of whiskey and a pink cupcake (I can't resist adorable foods).

Just toured an Irish Whiskey Distillery. My favorite part was the sounds of the still-working water wheel - an ominous creaking and groaning that didn't quite fill up the room but rather snuck up behind you and wraps around your shoulders. Strangely comforting...I didn't listen to most of what the tour guide said - wasn't interested, and too fascinated with the 300 year old working machinery. (Which, hypocritically, was probably what she was talking about. Ah well.)

On to the monastery!

Ireland: the Good, the Bad, but Not the Ugly Day One

Day 1. 7:38 am. Friday, October 31, 2008

Last night couldn't have been less stressful - flying to Dublin and getting to the hostel on my own. It's almost disappointing, seeing as how I worried about it for so long. Almost.

I was even lucky enough to end up with a four-bed room and still have it all to myself.

When I got off the plane last night (outside), my first thought was 'It smells different'. It smells wonderful here, though I can't put my finger on why, exactly. I had a great conversation with my taxi driver, who told me that the Kerry area has vegetation unique from the rest of the world. I even felt that long-awaited for euphoric feeling when I told him I was part Irish and he said "Welcome back." Those two words had quite a powerful effect on me, as earlier I had been wondering if I'd feel a kinship at all to the people living here.

My hostel is as nice as a hotel. I even get a free sparse breakfast (and found some peanut butter in the fridge!). I apparently woke up too early, though, because I've been moving as slow as humanly possible and I still have half an hour free.

So far, I am really loving traveling.
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I'll post the other days soon.