Adapting to Ireland: Pharmacies

When one moves to a new place, regardless of whether it’s off to college freshman year, to a new city for a job, or to a new country to live or study abroad, there are certain elements that remind you that you live there. Things like moving into your new apartment and cooking your first meal there are obvious. But when you live in a new country, sometimes the little things take on an extra dimension. I found out (a little too late in some cases) that finding medication, doing laundry, and cooking are a lot different than what I was used to in the US. This week’s posts will focus on these revelations. First up: getting sick.

Now I didn’t get sick sick, but this past week (my second week in Ireland), I caught a cold – sneezy, runny nose, sore throat, you know the drill. But having just arrived in the country, I had no medicine in my cabinet and when I went to the pharmacy, I didn’t recognize any of the products. After just a few minutes of blankly staring at the wall marked “cold and flu,” one of the nice pharmacists came to my assistance and asked what I needed. I told her my symptoms, and just a few minutes later I was stocked with Strepsil throat lozenges, vitamin C tablets to add to my water, and daytime and nighttime cold medication. For my Irish readers, you should know that my typical visit to the pharmacy at home involves a *vast* selection of brand-name and off-brand cold and flu medicine for every different combination of symptoms that are just on the shelf for you to sort out yourself, and the pharmacist is typically behind a counter dealing primarily with prescription medications. Of course they’ll help you with over-the-counter (non-prescription) medications too if you ask, but I was happy to find the pharmacist so helpful in getting me what I needed for what turned out to be just a 5 day recovery.

I'm Legal!

So far so good with my classes this week. I’m really enjoying each and every one and can’t wait to get into discussions. But since I have Wednesdays off from class, I decided to spend today tackling my immigration status.

As an American citizen, I don’t need a visa to remain in the country for the year, but I do need to register with immigration within a month of arrival and provide documentation to show that I am officially registered as a university student, have paid my tuition and fees, have opened an Irish bank account and have sufficient funds to provide for myself, and have private health insurance.

So I started at the Bank, arriving at 9:50am – only to find out that although the bank opens at 10am on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, for some reason on Wednesdays bankers get to start at 10:30am. So I perused the fliers in the tourist office across the street and planned all kinds of places to visit in the coming year (namely, everywhere!).

The bank teller was quite helpful in updating my current address and providing documentation for immigration services, and then I was off to register. After walking only 5 blocks in the wrong direction, I rerouted and made it to the Garda by 11:05am, arriving exactly ten people before the daily cut off.

Luckily, I’d been prepared for the experience. After waiting for half an hour in line, I was given the number 241 and informed that I was 104th in line and I could take a seat until my number was called. I settled in with my book and just 90 minutes later, it was my turn to submit my documents. I handed them all to the agent, who subsequently asked for each and every document in front of him (to which I responded, “It’s in the pile – the one that says ‘tuition payment’ on it,” or “It’s in the pile – the one that says ‘bank statement’ on it,” and so forth. Then just 10 minutes and 150 euros later, I was told that I could return to my seat and wait for my name to be called.

That part was actually kind of cool, because throughout the time I was there, there were names and nationalities called, and rarely the same ones. There were a couple of groups of Americans, but other than that (since European Economic Area citizens don’t need to register), there were people from all corners of South America, Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Oceania – just everywhere!

I got my card about half an hour later, only to find out that rather than being granted a year’s clearance, I’d been issued clearance from exactly 28-09-2011 to 28-09-2011. Just a typo, but it took another half an hour to get a new card (now valid until 28-09-2012), and the agent just wrote over the dates in my passport, so it looks a little sketchy.

All in all, it was a long but fairly painless 3 hour process, and I’m now legal to live, work (part-time) and study in Ireland for the next year! Feeling more and more like I live here every day!

Lessons in Irish Culture: All Guests Must Know Party Tricks

Man – the Irish like to have fun! I had a blast at the District 1160 Rotary Conference this past weekend.

I arrived just in time for the Scholars Reception on Friday evening, where I met two of the other Scholars in attendance and we compared notes on our experiences so far. Kate is also at Trinity, studying Race, Ethnicity, and Conflict, a program quite similar to mine and we figured out we have at least one class together. Woody is up in Belfast at Queen’s College studying Urban Planning in post-conflict societies. He actually spent the past year as a Fulbright Research Scholar in Cyprus, studying the architecture of the city – once coherent but now divided between the ethnic Turks and ethnic Greeks. Fascinating people! I met Elaine the next day, who is doing the Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies at Magee College in Ulster (Northern Ireland), a program I’d also looked at applying for. Her summer might have been even crazier than mine – getting married on September 1 before moving to Londonderry with her husband to start the program. Shannon also arrived later that night (International Management at Trinity), so only one of the Scholars was missing (see the five of us below). Ironically, we’re all from the USA this year.

Friday night was probably my highlight of the weekend – and probably my best night in Ireland so far. In addition to my host club in Dublin, I’ve been paired with the Rotary Club of Wicklow as my satellite host club, and they invited me out to dinner with them that night.

I met up with the club – about 6 couples ranging in age from 30s to 60s – at their hotel for a drink before we went next door to the restaurant for a fancy 3 course meal, complete with kir royale starters and Bailey’s coffee to accompany dessert. Very Irish. We had great conversations throughout the night about all things Rotary and Irish culture and anything in between, and they wrote out a long list of movies I need to see to better understand Irish culture and humor while I’m here. Luckily I pass a DVD rental shop on my way to class most days, so I should be able to at least make a dent in the list over the coming year.

As the dinner wound down, they began doing their "party tricks" as they called them and singing old Irish songs around the table that everyone seemed to know and I need to learn! I was in heaven. Until they invited (insisted) that their American guest join in. You may be thinking to yourself, I didn’t know Nora could sing. And you would be correct. I tried to warn my fellow diners that this was actually not at all in their best interests, but they insisted, requesting the national anthem in particular since Duncan, the club president, didn’t know the words to it. At that point, I wasn’t convinced I did either, but I gave it the old college try and didn’t miss a word (or hit a note for that matter, but that’s beside the point). The table even joined in for the “land of the free and the home of the brave!” Thank goodness the previously packed restaurant was empty by that time, and on the that note of goodwill, we all retired to the hotel bar for some more jokes and laughs before turning in for the night.

The conference continued for the weekend with fascinating speakers from the District who had accomplished various feats from carrying the Rotary International flag to the top of Mt. Kilamanjaro to raising over $1 million for Light of Maasai, a charity in Kenya supported by the District and spearheaded by Matt Porter from the Dublin Central Rotary Club. We had a lovely black-tie ball on Saturday night, complete with candelabras and ice sculptures on the tables, dancing to a really great live band, and finally winding down with discussions of the beauty of the Dingle Peninsula (which I must visit!) and the politics of religion in modern day Ireland and Northern Ireland with various Rotarians.

Have I mentioned that I’m thrilled to be a part of Rotary? I felt so welcomed that weekend and it was the perfect opportunity to connect personally with Rotarians across the island – I’m really hoping to visit their clubs and present. Unfortunately my Monday class schedule prevents me from making it to many meetings this term (the majority of clubs meet for lunch on Mondays), but I’ll stay in contact for next semester.

Also, I may have found an Irish mum – Ursula, wife of the District Governor, Barney – has offered to take on the role, having hosted Rotary Scholars from the States (and most recently Iowa) in the past and I intend to take her up on that and return to Limerick at my next opportunity!

Peace Studies Orientation (finally!)

So I’m a week in now and very anxious to start my classes and meet my classmates and figure out my new 'normal.' Yesterday was Arthur’s Day in Ireland, a celebration of the day in 1759 when Arthur Guinness signed the 9,000 year lease on St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, which commences at 17:59 on September 22. Word among the Irish was that the pubs were more crowded last night than they are on St. Patrick’s Day!

I spent the day shopping for bedding, then went back to the house and Herbert drove me across town to drop off my suitcases in my new apartment at 17:00. With rush hour traffic, it took about 40 minutes to get there (it’d be more like 15 or 20 minutes driving at off peak times), and finished unloading at 17:56, so we missed “kick off” time, but made it over to where Grainne was toasting Arthur at a pub near her office with her coworkers. One guy, a Spaniard, also promotes study abroad opportunities in Europe on the side – amazing what connections you can make over a pint of Guinness.

Herbert and Grainne and I went to a farewell dinner at a Malaysian restaurant nearby before they dropped me off for my first night in my new apartment. I’ve never lived alone before, so I was a little nervous, but got myself mostly unpacked and somewhat settled in until I gave up, too exhausted to continue, and slept the night through.

Then this morning, I had orientation for my grad program. Christen and I walked over to the Milltown campus together, met our classmates and lecturers, and figured out a little more of how the system works. Apparently we can take any of the courses offered in the timetable, and the first week or two is a sort of shopping period to figure out which ones you want to take for credit and which ones to audit (if any).

Based on the lecturers and syllabi, I want to take them all! We seem to have about 40 students in the program, from approximately 15 countries and various academic backgrounds, so I’m very excited for our seminar discussions – I think I’ll learn a lot. I wanted to stay and socialize more with my new classmates after orientation, but instead, I rushed back to my apartment, grabbed my bags, and hurried in to town to catch the bus to Limerick for the Rotary District 1160 (all Ireland) Conference where I’ll meet the other 5 Ambassadorial Scholars as well as Rotarians from most (if not all) other clubs in Ireland so I can start setting up presentation times with them.

On the bus now and ready for a nap – will write a report after the conference!

No longer homeless in Dublin!!

Big news today! After searching around for a week now, I found a place to live & signed the lease today!! It a studio apartment with a main livingroom/bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom in the village of Ranelagh, south of the Dublin city center. It’s still part of Dublin, but Ranelagh is the name of the neighborhood, kind of like how in DC the neighborhoods have different names. I’m very close to the Milltown Park campus where I’ll be taking most of my classes (by Dublin standards that is – about a 25 minute walk, shorter if I hurry), a 5 minute walk to the Luas train that goes into the city center to get to the main Trinity campus, and Christen’s house is right on my walk to class, so we can walk in together. It’s a quiet neighborhood, which should be good for studying, and the room isn’t large, but there is just enough room to fit a single inflatable mattress on the floor in case I have any overseas visitors in need of a place to stay. And now I can finally unpack and start to feel like I’m living here!

I do have to say, though, to any Rotarian hosts or future Scholars out there, having a local host for the first few days makes all the difference in the world. Moving to a new country where you don’t know anyone can be a scary experience (ok, I knew two people in advance but still). Having someone to talk to and ask cultural questions is amazingly helpful in those first few days and I am sooooo grateful to Grainne and Herbert for taking me in for the week while I got myself settled. Irish culture and American culture may not seem so different, but comments like, “Oh, it’s great craic!” (pronounced “crack”) can be confusing if you don’t know that craic is an Irish term for great fun or news/gossip or good time and don’t have someone to explain it to you. I’ve moved abroad before and worked for two years in the field of study abroad, so I knew what to expect in terms of culture shock to some extent, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier. Host families do – especially since Grainne and Herbert have both moved to other countries themselves.

I also went to my first Dublin Central Rotary Club meeting tonight and met some more club members. Ironically, there was an abnormally low turnout and high number of American visitors such that Americans actually outnumbered Irish at the meeting. Martin, the president, said it was part of his master plan to make me feel welcome and at home there. It’s quite a young club – I think Martin told me the average age is about 37. It’s a little different than the Ames Noon Club – no singing and since it’s an evening meeting, they serve wine and pop rather than a meal, but they’re very active and we had a great discussion of the effectiveness of various forms of international aid (emergency, charity, and multilateral), specifically to Africa. There was a perception in the room that Americans don’t know what’s going on with the draught in east Africa, which I would refute, but please leave a comment and let me know what you think. The US is a large country so hard to make generalizations. In any case, great conversations all night, and Martin kindly dropped me off at Herbert and Grainne’s for my last night with them before my move tomorrow.

Have I mentioned lately how wonderful Rotary and Rotarians are? I’m so thrilled to be a part of this club and the whole network!

An Irish Barbecue and Breakfast

What a great night! Sheila, another Rotarian from the Dublin Central club, my host Rotary club in Ireland, invited the Rotary Group Study Exchange team from Australia over to her home for a barbecue of burgers, potatoes (obviously), coleslaw, and plenty of wine, beer, and G&Ts. The Aussies were still in their rugby gear from watching the game at the pub (Ireland won) but were good humored and we had great conversation and a blast playing charades. One guy, Ash, was lucky enough to be hosted by the Rotarian who just happens to be the father of The Edge (from U2). Since it’s still The Edge’s childhood home, we suspect Ash might actually be sleeping in the Edge’s bed! One of my goals for this year is to meet Bono – fingers crossed!

I also got to meet Annie, who is the coordinator of all 6 Ambassadorial Scholars in District 1160 (Ireland and Northern Ireland). I presented Annie, Sheila, and Grainne (the three Rotarians) with “American Pie” scented soy candles from the Heart of Iowa store in Valley Junction (West Des Moines, IA), as a thank you for their hospitality and work behind the scenes in preparing for our arrival, which they loved. You’ll note that so far, the three Rotarians I’ve met in the country are all women – and young too. Point being: Rotary is not all white-haired old men. I’m excited to meet the rest of the club too!

We ended up spending the night at Sheila’s (the driver had a few drinks), and in the morning, she made us an Irish breakfast of bacon, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, brown bread and butter – I could definitely get used to that! Through conversations over the breakfast or dinner table, I’m slowly picking up on cultural references to the celebrities here: rugby players, members of the royal family, Sinnead O’Connor.

Next up: the Gaelic Football Championship is today, Dublin vs. Kerry. Apparently the pair haven’t played in the finals in years and it’s a major rivalry. I don’t have a clue what the rules of the game are or how to follow it, but I’m meeting up with Christen (an American) to explore the neighborhoods south of Dublin to see if I’d like to live there and we plan to catch the game a pub near her and hopefully find a nice Irishman/woman to explain it to us!

Irish Times

First off, since I've just come in from the rain, I thought I'd tell you that it's been lovely weather. Also, when you visit, dress in layers. Seriously, in the 5 hours that I've been out walking around, I've had my jacked zipped all the way up to the top and been a bit chilly, have taken it off twice because I was warm, and have been rained on three times. Oh Ireland. I'm looking very local though, just walking around anyway without an umbrella - they don't even seem to notice whether it's raining or not! The joke goes that the story of Moses must have been made up because the Bible calls 40 days and 40 nights of rain a disaster, but in Ireland, they call that the weather!

In addition, comfy shoes are a must. I'm currently staying in Dublin 3, which is 4.2 km North of Trinity College, with my Rotary hosts while I continue to look for an apartment. I have a few leads and a "back up," so feeling like it's much more manageable. I hope to visit a family tomorrow to talk about staying with them (it's much cheaper, and includes food and culture!) then make a decision. Thoughts and prayers on the topic are VERY much appreciated

I've noticed in my travels that people in different places have different conceptions of time (those of you who knew me in high school also know that I used to have my own conception of time as well - I'm better now, really!). For example, in Honduras, a meeting at noon might begin at 2pm. In Uganda, I overhead a conversation that went something to the effect of, "well I thought the meeting was scheduled for 2pm, so I didn't expect you until 2:30pm." In DC, time typically runs by the clock. In Ireland, I've been told that you can expect something between DC and Uganda.

Which brings me back to the culture and the comfy shoes: in Iowa, or in the city anyway, "walking distance" means a couple of city blocks, maybe half a mile, certainly not more than a mile - say up to 15 minutes. Heck, I used to take the car to drive to my friend's house 4 blocks away. I now find that absurd, but it was typical then. In DC, there is a little more leeway since it's more often foot traffic than driving, so a mile is certainly walking distance, sometimes a bit further too - about 20 minutes is reasonable, maybe 25 or 30 in heels. In Ireland, however, people seem to think of walking distance as 35 minutes! And they must all be very brisk walkers, because I've been walking the "35 minutes" to the city center daily and my walk takes an hour. Luckily, I'm not in much of a hurry since classes haven't started, and it’s helping me to get my bearings around the city.
All in all, I'm learning bits and pieces about Irish culture, though I haven't met many Irish yet. There seems to be a high percentage of international students among the postgrads, or maybe that has more to do with my subject and that of those I've run into (International Peace Studies, International Management, Global Health, etc). My host, Grainne, has been running here and there this week so I’ve seen more of her husband at the house than her, but he and I had quite a chat last night about everything from technology to culture to travel to politics to human nature.

Now the three of us are off to a barbecue hosted by another Rotarian for the Group Study Exchange team from Australia to Ireland. Ireland beat Australia this morning in rugby, so it should be an interesting night!

Day 2: Nerding out about Grad School

I slept in today, then walked into campus (I’d been told it was about a 30 minute walk – the Irish must be fast walkers because it definitely took me the better part of an hour), spent some time looking for accommodation and registering for my program and running around requesting documents I'll need for immigration next week, then made it to the last few minutes of postgraduate orientation, where I met up with Shannon again and her friend Christen, who turned out to be in International Peace Studies too!

We all went to a wine reception following the orientation hosted by the Grad Student’s Union (the president of which turns out to be a U of I grad from Chicago), then out to dinner. Our table had students in social work, global health, peace studies, international management, literature, and another degree or two that I’m forgetting and we had the best conversations about topics ranging from life in Dublin and Irish culture to whether depicting violence in the media desensitizes people to the impact of such violence to new immigration trends in Europe and the level of measured racism among European citizens. Yes, in a pub on a Friday night. I am definitely in grad school – and anxious to begin!

Day 1 in Dublin

I arrived at the Dublin airport at 8am, having slept the whole flight since dinner (courtesy of a sleeping pill that still hadn’t quite worn off by landing), picked up my luggage, and as I walked out into the airport, Grainne, my host Rotarian, my waiting for me holding a sign with my name on it. She and her husband, Herbert, generously welcomed me, loaded up my suitcases, and took me back to their house where there was a bed waiting with my name on it. On the way back, we compared notes on how they previously lived in Holland (Herbert is Dutch), Herbert had worked for a time in Sioux City, Iowa, and they’d both spent time volunteering in South Africa. Amazing how in this globalized world I felt like I had as many shared experiences with this new couple I’d just met than some of my neighbors in Iowa.

I got a few hours of sleep, then Grainne had arranged for me to meet Shannon, another Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar studying at Trinity, to walk around town and get my bearings for the afternoon. I asked around to people on the streets for the bus stop, caught the bus into town, found Shannon, and she took me under her wing – walking me through the campus, showing me the accommodations office so I could get started finding myself an apartment and put an add out for a roommate, giving me a card with the steps I would need to take to get my immigration documents in order, and then shopping for a cell phone, hair dryer and straightener that work in Irish electric outlets. Quite the accomplishments in just 3 hours.

At about 5pm she asked if I’d eaten (I hadn’t) and we went to a pub in Temple Bar – ironically, one I had visited with Elyse and Emily two years earlier when I’d come to visit them over Thanksgiving. I ordered a beer and Irish breakfast and we talked and listened to the Irish music, played by a live band. Shannon was an Irish dancer growing up, so when a couple of Irishmen next to us who thought everything in America was “AWESOME!” (always said in conjunction with a fist pump) tried to teach us to dance, Shannon stole the show and had all the tourists in the bar taking pictures of her.

I was about ready to turn in by that point, so pulled out my new temporary address, found the bus stop, and a very kind woman named Maureen told me she could be my aunt for the moment so I could stand with her at the front of the line to board, and she even went to the effort to get off the bus two stops early and walked me half way back to the house to make sure I found my way there ok – and I did. So very kind of her.

I let myself in, chatted with Grainne and Herbert, who got me set up on the internet, and turned in for a good night’s sleep before tackling what would become a week of apartment hunting, class registration, and lots of paperwork ahead.