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!