Departure and Arrival, Part II: The Destination

So to continue from before, some story of my first day or so (started this post on Friday, got a little distracted by other things):

Don scooped me up at the airport a bit before 9 and it was from this point forward that I got to see my first glimpses of the city that would be my home for the next three months. It took me a while in my tired, confused state to get the hang of small talk again, never mind navigating the small talk with Don's accent and somewhat mumbly, gruff demeanor. As he shuffled me off to his car, Don complimented me on my light packing (I was incredulous) and seemed appalled at the lax security for visitors to his country, as well as irritated with the scare tactics and information given by the immigration officer.

We popped my bags into the trunk of Don's car and I walked to the door to jump in. When I got to the door I looked down and saw a steering wheel and gauges. I immediately moved to the other side of the car to get into the passenger's side, attempting to be as smooth as possible. The quizzical look I received from Don once we were both settled in the car told me that I probably failed in being smooth at all (are any of us surprised?).

Anyhow, we buckled in and were off. As much as it pains me to admit it, I found myself channeling my mother during the drive university. You know what I'm talking about, Mom. When you *GASP* and clutch the side of the car any time I take a turn, or stop, or slow down, or go straight, or park...

But I had an excuse. Being in the passenger's seat (which is on the wrong side) while driving on the *wrong* side of the road is FREAKY. Every time we had to take a right turn, I saw my life flash before my eyes. After getting a couple sidelong glances from Don I explained that it wasn't that I didn't have faith in his motoring skills, but that it was really quite weird to be on the opposite side of the road. He didn't seem to be very impressed. But then, after spending a little more time with him, it would seem that he rarely does.

In order to avoid rush hour traffic into the center of the city where my hostel is, Don said that we would take a detour into the village where the university is so he could give me a quick tour and give my my bearings. It seemed like a nice place, lots of ugly buildings that appear to have been built in the 60s or 70s, but its got a bit of charm to it. While I'm told the campus sits on 85 acres or so, that didn't seem to be the case at all. The campus felt smaller than Northeastern's. And quieter, but that could just be that classes weren't yet in session.

Don took me around and showed me where I'd be living and a couple other key places before taking me out again and showing me where I could catch the bus into the city. Buses run for €1.60 into the city center and take around 20 minutes from DCU. My first time out there I grabbed the wrong one, so it took a little longer (oops). Also, for the buses, you kind of have to know your shit. There's no announcing of stops like on the Boston lines. Makes for a bit of an adventure.

After the brief tour driving into the city, Don gave me some insight into the city's layout and how it works. Possibly the most helpful thing that he said was that in order to understand Dublin I had to stop thinking of it as a city and more as a series of villages that over hundreds of years have simply grown into each other. After he said this it was clear why instead of a steady increase in the hustle and bustle as we got closer to the center, it was more of a rise and fall.

On the way in Don would point out one thing or the other, older areas of the city that were starting to become more gentrified, storefronts closed as a result of the recession, different types or architecture or government projects that he approved or disapproved of. (One landmark that no one really seems to get is the Spire, left, which was erected by the government on O'Connell St as a way to mark the coming of the new millennium. This was during the "Celtic Tiger" economic period before the global recession, when the government had money to burn) Don felt it was enough to say that the Spire was stupid and worthless. The guide of the walking tour that I took the following day was kind enough to share some of the Dubs' more colorful terms for the monument, such as "The Stiletto in the Ghetto" and "The Stiffy on the Liffey" (the Liffey being the river that runs through the center of the city, dividing the North and South sides).

Despite Don's constant swearing about the traffic (which being from Boston I barely noticed) we arrived at the Four Courts hostel without much delay. Don dropped me off and I grabbed my bags and headed in, checked in a little bit early but they were cool with it. The hostel's nice. Now, at the time of writing, I've found it's gotten a bit old, but there's only so much of the noise and drunken debauchery that you can take when you're traveling alone and working on recovering from a rough couple weeks of preparation. Despite being tired of it nearly a week later, I would still recommend the Four Courts to anyone looking for a Dublin hostel for a short stay.

The next few days brought a walking tour of the city and a self-guided tour of the Guinness storehouse in St. James's Gate. Impressions? It's a cool city, but smaller than expected. At the hostel, I've made a point of trying every day to explore a little bit more, be it as simple as going on a walk for an hour, leaving the hostel and every day setting out in a different direction. So far, for me, the people make the city. Dubliners have proven to be super helpful and super friendly at every turn, such as my banking problems discussed below or when I do flaky things like get on the wrong bus. I'm done with being in the city on my own though. This week was good to relax a bit and get acclimated some, but I'm looking forward to Monday when I can move into my apartment, meet my roommates and the other people on the program, and have a social life again. I miss it.

For those of you not on Facebook, you can check out some photos with details of the first days HERE.

Thanks for reading!! I'm heading off to the Netherlands tomorrow to visit an old friend from Buenos Aires, so there will be more photos and posting to come next week, I'm sure. I wanted to get this up before I took off. Also, I won't be on the computer much (what will I do with myself?) but on one of my recent explorations I bought myself a little journal that I can keep in my purse. I was pretty excited about the purchase, and it will keep me from losing the thoughts that occur to me sometimes as I'm on the go.

Hope everything's well across the pond, miss you guys as usual.