Life in Dublin

After living in Dublin for just over four weeks I am starting to get used to things. One of the biggest transitions is the public transportation system. I have been relying on the public bus to get me from point A to point B. I have learned to never expect the bus to be on time. The buses tend to run late or early, neither is ideal for getting to work on time!  Needless to say I miss the convenience of my car.

I have also learned a lot of new Irish slang words. Some are pretty comical and the first time you hear them you do a dubble take. Here is a list of just a few of the common ones!

Craic- Having a good time

Shuffling- Being shady or suspicious

Wrecked-Very tired

Craic is my new favorite word, I try to use it as often as possible for example, We are having a craic of a time! It is also fun to incorporate the word lovely as much as possible. Everything here is refereed to as lovely. 

Things are going really well in Ireland, It is very hard to believe that I will be going home in just under three weeks. This summer has really started to fly by. My roommates and I have some fun trips planned including a trip to Scotland. I am very excited for the next few weekends! 

~Lindsey

The Blarney Castle

This past weekend my roommates and I decided to take a day trip to Cork and Blarney Castle. We decided to ride in style in the Paddy Wagon. The Paddy Wagon is a tour company that is know for its bright green buses and comical tour guides. Our expectations were blown away, we had a great time

 Our tour was great. We started our tour in Cork we had the opportunity to go to some of the islands off of the coast. My favorite was Cobh. It was a beautiful area with all kinds of sweets shops, and beautiful sights. There were memorials to the Titanic and beautiful cathedrals.

Cobh was just all together a wonderful experiences. I think that it is my favorite place that I have visited so far on my trip! It was so nice this weekend the sun was shinning and it was warm, which just made things even better.

After Cork we headed for Blarney Castle where all three of us have been blessed with the gift of gab for the next seven years. Blarney Clastle was beautiful. There were rose gardens and strems running through the castle grounds. Climbing up to the top of the castle was scary though, they were winding stairs with nothing but ropes to hang on to.

Besides seeing Blarney Castle, blarney village is home to one of the biggest shopping centers in Ireland called the woolen mills. We also had delicious seafood chowder at the Woolen Mills. Overall it was just a great weekend.

~Lindsey

The Cliffs of Moher and Much Much More

Hello everyone, I am sorry it has taken me so long to update my blog it doesn't help that the internet in our apartment complex has been very spotty recently. I have been very busy the past week with work and exploring! I have started to really enjoy my job. I am working in health promotion at a loarge hospital in Dublin. We are primarily foucusing on tobacco use and how to help people with nicotine cravings while they are admited to the hospital. I have also had the opportunity to shadow a drug and addictions counsoler. I have really enjoyed my time spent with her, and find what she does very interesting. yesterday I had a very unique experience. A group of travelers or gypsy's came into the hospital, I was able to help with the intake process for the children. It was very eye opening to see how this group of people live and to learn about their culture. The few hours I spent with them proved to be very interesting and I learned a lot.

My roommates and I have also done a lot of exploring this past week. We took a day tour to the Cliffs of Moher, this experiecne was an adventure from the start begining at 5:00am and not ending until 10:00pm. Things did not go as smoothly as expected. two of us (one of the two being me) were told that there was no room of the bus for us because the company had overbooked the trip. As you can imagine this is not what you want to hear at 6am. Evetually everything got worked out and we were all able to go on the trip! Out adventure ended up starting over an hour late, but was enjoyable non the less. It was a very long journey to the cliffs, going down tiny winding roads that a large bus should not be going down. We stopped at the sea side a few times and got to view the beautiful Irish countryside. I don't know if I have ever seen anything more beautiful in my life! Unforunatly it was a very cloudy and foggy day at the cliffs and we were unable to see them. It was crazy how you could watch the fog move in from the sea. Even with all the set backs I still had a great time.

Some of the beautiful countryside on the way home from the Cliffs

This is what we saw of the Cliffs, if you look really closely you can see the outline!

This is a very old abbey that we passed

Jacob's tower is located at the highest point on the cliffs. supposedly if you are there on a clear day you can see for miles.

 

On Sunday a few of us decided that we were going to go on the Hop on Hop off bus tour of downtown Dublin. We had a great time and saw many different things including Trinity College, Christ Church, and the Kilmanham Jail. We went on a guided tour of the old jail, there was so much history, it was very intersting. After the tour we did some shopping, and ate a delicious meal of fish and chips. 

This is the inside of the Jail

Overall it was a great week, and I am looking forward to this weekend. We have more fun adventures planned including a Irish style 4th of July celebration, and a hurling match!

~Lindsey

P.S. This is what the Cliffs of Moher actually look like. Too bad we didn't get to see them 

The Viking Splash Tour!

Hi Everyone! This weekend has been full of fun adventures. A few of us decided to explore the city area this weekend, we came across this tour called the Viking Splash Tour. It was a lot of fun. The tour bus has a bus that went on both land and water! While on this tour we also had the privileged of wearing a Viking hat. The tour took us through all of the beautiful parts of downtown Dublin. We also got the see Trinity College which was stunning! I had a wonderful time seeing all the beautiful sites, and spending time with my new friends. Here are some photos of our experiences!

 

Morgan also came to visit me this weekend! It was a lot of fun we had a great time together.  We also went into a an area of Dublin called Swords. We explored the ruins of a castle unfortunately it was pouring down rain the majority of the time. I think that I will get very used to the rain very quickly. I officially start my job tomorow. I am nervous about the bus ride by myself, and the first day. Hopefully everything will go smoothly! I will update you all again soon!

~Lindsey

Shanowen Square

Hello everyone! Wow has life been busy the past few days! I arrived in Dublin on Monday morning around 9:30am which is 3:30am in Kansas. I started my journey from Wichita Kansas at 11:30am on Sunday. It was a very long day to say the least. I also had the unpleasant experience of my bags not arriving in Dublin the same time I did. They did come latter that night however. It was a very welcomed sight seeing it sitting in the office at the apartment complex I am staying at! I had orientation yesterday, and a tour of the hospital I am working at today. I still do not really understand what exactly I will be doing, but overall I think it will be a good experience. Monday evening a few of us decided to do some exploring, we ended up taking a bus down to the city center and exploring that part of town. It was a lot of fun. We ended up going to the Temple Bar to see Dave Browne attempt to break the world record for playing the guitar for 100 hours. It was a lot of fun but we all decided that we will have to go back when we are not jet lagged,  we figured out that most of us had been awake for almost 36 hours. I unfortunately packed my camera in my checked luggage so I did not get to take any pictures while we were down town. I am sure I will have plenty of more opportunities!  One thing that has really been a challenge is getting my sleep schedule figured out. It also stay light until almost 11pm and the sun comes up around 4am. I am sure as time goes on I will get used to this as well! I will try and take some more pictures and post them soon but for now her is a picture of my apartment (It is much smaller than my dorm was freshman year) I will try and update you all soon!

~Lindsey

Packing Packing Packing!!!

  I cannot believe that I will be leaving for Dublin TOMORROW! I have been busy trying to pack and fit all the clothes that I want to take with me into one 50 pound bag and one carry-on bag. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be to narrow down what I want to bring. Or maybe the problem is just that I have too may clothes (and shoes). I am also having to keep in mind the difference in the temperatures of Dublin and Kansas. the average temperature in Dublin in June is 55-60 degrees. After looking at the weather for Monday, when I will be arriving, I had to pack some extra long sleeved shirts! Its hard to fathom that it will be in the 50's when it has been over 100 the past few days in Kansas.

  I have also had a good time getting to know some of my fellow interns through e-mails and facebook. I am looking forward to meeting them all and planning some fun and interesting weekend adventures! It will be so great to meet everyone and find out who my roommates will be. I am also anxious to see the hospital that I will be working in and get a feeling of what I will be doing for the next 8 weeks. I will try and keep you updated as much as possible and I promise to post a lot of pictures! 

~Lindsey

24 Days and Counting

Wow time flies. I cannot believe that it is summer break and I will be in Dublin in 24 short days. It seems like it was just yesterday I was getting my acceptance letter, now I am less than four weeks from leaving. Yesterday I found out what I will be doing while in Ireland. I have also had the opportunity to correspond with other students that will be in Dublin doing the same program as me. 

My time in Ireland will be spent interning for a company called Irish HSE health Promotion and Health Services. I will be helping to promote a tobacco free working environment for healthcare workers. I will also be working with local media groups to raise awareness about the benefits of a tobacco free healthcare system. Overall I am excited about what I will be doing. I do not have a lot of details yet, but the general outline looks like I will be very busy. I will also have the opportunity to travel some to go to seminars and training provided by the company I will be working for. I am not doing what I initially thought I would be doing, but I think that this will be a very good experience, and will prove to be exciting and challenging. 

I am starting to get very excited about leaving. Until just recently I don't think that it had sunk in that I am studying abroad this summer. It has finally hit me that this is really happening, I am so excited to meet my fellow interns and get to know everyone. I am also very excited to experience the culture, and explore all Dublin has to offer!

~Lindsey