5 Things I learned in Dublin

Here is just a short list of things I've learned or observed during my time in Dublin. Consider it like insider information so you know what's up when you get here.

5) Trackies are everywhere. These are the guys (and girls) sporting full tracksuits and trainers and frequently the euro-mullet. They’re apparently the rowdy youth here and act like a bunch of hard asses but they look harmless. There are even a couple places around town with signs out front prohibiting trackies from entering. You’re bound to see them strolling around town so don’t try to laugh too hard when you do.

4) Rain can come at any moment. Dublin has a way of throwing rain at you when you least suspect it. It can a bright and sunny day and all of a sudden it will begin to pour. The rain doesn’t always last long but just know that it is unpredictable so it is nice to have some kind of rain reflecting device on your person at all times. Don’t be put off by the frequency of rain though; it is usually no more than a mist so you won’t get soaked through.

3) If you tell anyone you are from the United States, they will assume you are from New York and recant how it is the greatest city in the world. You would think being in Ireland, they would at least assume you are from Boston but nope; it’s always New York. If you have ever been to New York, I am sure you can have a long discussion about the city with them but unfortunately for me, no one has heard of Vermont.

2) Dublin is nothing like the rest of Ireland. The first time we got out of the city, I was amazed at how different the country is. There is a smaller youth population, people are friendlier, and there are usually more tourists than natives. I guess it is about the same for every city but for Ireland, Dublin is the only real proper city in the country. I really enjoyed my time in the surrounding countryside and the small villages so I can’t recommend it enough.

1) Don’t drink your Guinness before it settles. It is sort of an unwritten rule and you will catch flack from someone, including the Champlain staff, if you take a sip of the black stuff before it settles. I know it looks tasty and you can’t possibly fathom having to wait to enjoy it, but let it settle and look like a pro. Then you’ll feel all cocky when you watch the other tourists dive right in and you can let them have it.

Finals finale

I’ve just gotten back from a hectic day; the last day of finals, and the celebration that ensued. The stress and the crunch is over and yet another semester is complete. It seems like this week has gone by so fast and people are already getting ready to leave. This has been such a fun semester and I hate to see it end. I feel like I’ve gained a lot from coming to Dublin and studying here for these last four months. I’ve experienced a new country and setting, I’ve certainly matured and grown as an individual, I’ve learned a lot about the world and Ireland specifically. But most of all I feel a sense of accomplishment like I’ve overcome some kind of obstacle in my life and everything else seems less daunting in comparison.

I’ve met some great people on this trip that I’ll never forget. The experiences we’ve shared will remain with me for as long as I live. They have really, for me, made this trip what it is and I don’t think it could have been as good as it was with any other group of people. The diversity and character of this group has really stretched the Champlain Dublin program to its limits and we’ve taken all that we can from it. I am thankful that we were able to and I hope future groups have as much success and reap as much a reward from the experience as I have.

I’ll certainly never forget the staff here either, I have already thanked them countless times, even in my blogs, but I really can’t thank them enough. As much as the other students, if not more so, the staff have made this trip what it is as they’ve led us on our way through this crazy journey. There are so many things I know I wouldn’t have experienced or acted upon had the staff not suggested or otherwise promote it to us. They make the experience very personal and I can tell they all really enjoy being a part of it. It’s a rather unique setting to be in as a student and only under these circumstances could you enjoy it.

I am grateful Champlain has set such a great program up over here. If the process, from beginning to end, of coming over here and going to school for a whole semester was not as easy as they made it, I really don’t think I’d be here in Dublin right now. It’s a difficult decision to make to go over to another country so far from home and live their for several months, and it’s certainly a large undertaking to actually prepare yourself and make the trip. Luckily, Champlain makes the process easy and comfortable for you so really anyone can do it.

I am very pleased with the decision I made to come here. It is an unbelievable experience that I think everyone should get to enjoy. It could not be any easier to do and the rewards are priceless.

The music scene in Ireland

Ireland has always struck me as a music country, both before coming here and now that I’ve spent four months living in it. I am an avid music fan and I am sure there are others out there reading this, so I will do us both a favor and attempt to summarize the music scene in Ireland.I am sure this is no easy task, but by the end of this blog I bet I’ll have done Ireland justice.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, when I first got here, I thought music in Ireland was all folksy and filled with tin whistles and banjos. As much as I would have liked that to be the case, however, I came to the realization that the real Irish music scene is a little different. Sure, you will often here Irish folk tunes in the pubs at night, and out in the country you might see a group of farmers get together to jam, but really that isn’t what I would call the music scene in Ireland. From what I have experienced, the music here nowadays is a little more modern.

If you turn on the television or the radio here, it is very likely that you will hear some form of house/dance music playing. Coming from Vermont, I don’t really know what the fascination with or the appeal of this music is, but it seems to be pretty popular here. Perhaps it’s a city or a European thing. All I know is it sure isn’t Phish. A lot of pop seems to get mixed in with the others too. It isn’t all the same pop you’d hear in the States though, because of the close proximity of countries here they have a wider range of cultural music. It’s still not something that appeals to me in any way, but I can certainly respect the diversity of what seems to me like a narrow genre.

When you get out into the pubs, pop gives way to rock. This is more up my alley. Almost all of the bar bands you will see in Ireland are cover bands because that is what drunk people want to hear, their favorite songs. It certainly adds to the experience. The music played is a good mix of North American and UK music including a ton of Rolling Stones, some Beatles, Michael Jackson, the Doors, and more. I’ve noticed a strong funk sound in a lot of bar bands too. Occasionally you will even get some underrated gems like the Velvet Underground played, if you are lucky. If I were to summarize the bar music scene in three words it would be 1) Rock 2) Funk 3) Rolling Stones. 1 and 3 kind of go together but they really love the Stones here.

Moving out into the concert scene, I can comment on only shows I’ve been to and those I’ve seen advertised. The first show I went to was a metal show and the venue seemed to be reasonably packed. I know there is at least one major Irish metal band (Primordial) so the scene is clearly active. I don’t think I would call it the major music scene in Ireland though.

My second show was a rock and metal festival in Leeds, England that featured, predominantly, UK bands, and, in turn, Northern Irish bands as well. This show led me to believe that the Irish share a lot of their musical taste with the rest of the UK. Post-rock, which is mostly a UK fed genre, seemed pretty popular with the Northern Ireland crowd and may have been with the Republic of Ireland crowd too if I’d noticed. I am a fan of the genre myself so I appreciated seeing that. It was difficult to tell where everyone in the crowd was from, obviously, so I am basing most of my observations on the bands themselves. One of the Northern Irish bands played a unique mix of different rock sub-genres that, I think, represented Ireland well. They like rock but they like to make it their own.

The third show I saw was a Canadian band, the Tragically Hip. I figured after the Leeds festival that the Irish would dig these guys, due to their unique brand of rock, so I was not all that surprised when the venue filled right up. There were a good number of Canadians at the show, but they definitely didn’t make up the majority of the crowd.

I haven’t noticed a big rap/hip hop scene here, but I am not particularly into it myself so I may just not notice it. The same thing can be said for my observations of the rock scene, this is the music I listen to so that is what I notice the most. I do think what I have seen is a fairly accurate representation of Ireland though. They like rock, they like funk, and they like the Stones. They like music they can drink too.

Money saving techniques

In one of my last blogs I said that I would convey some money saving techniques that I had learned during my stay in Dublin. I would like to share those techniques now. It can be taxing on your pockets to spend a whole four months overseas, especially when you want to fully experience all that country has to offer. To help relieve some of that stress, there are some areas where you can save your money so more can be allocated to what you really want to do. Here are some ideas that I have come across and/or used myself.

Food

Food is one area where you can spend very little or very much depending on your tastes or how much you eat. This can be a big area to save money if you are willing to. One technique that has worked for us over the semester is sharing certain foods. They don’t use as many preservatives in Ireland so the odds of you eating an entire loaf of bread yourself before it begins to mold are slim; this is, of course, assuming you don’t eat sandwiches for every meal. Bread is a great food to share with your roommates so you get the most out of it. There are some huge loafs for .99 cents at the Lidl up the road from the apartments or fresh baked tiger bread at the Tesco across the river for the same price.

Depending on your preference, milk can be shared pretty easily too, but it seems to last longer than most food so that one is really up to you. Butter is great to share as it lasts a long time so having four sticks in your fridge doesn’t make much sense. Condiments and spices can save you a few Euros if you share since they will probably last you most of the semester even between the four of you.

If you buy storage containers early on, you will thank yourself later in the year. It is incredibly difficult to find ingredients for your own meals in quantities that you could use to make a single serving. Being able to just cook up the amount you bought and store the leftovers for a couple days saves you a lot of money from not having to cook as often or having to buy smaller, more expensive sizes. Fruits and vegetables are dirt cheap here so try to make use of them. You can make massive stir-fries for next to nothing and anyone can make them. There is a market on the north side of the river where you can get fresh fruits and vegetables for absurdly low prices if you are in that area. The frozen food is, in my opinion, better here than in the States and not terribly expensive either; definitely a good option for nights where you don’t feel like cooking anything. Lidl often has certain foods marked down pretty low so keep an eye out for that as well.

Beer

If you are in Ireland, odds are you are going to want a drink. If not, then congratulations! You will save a lot of money over those four months. As is the case in the States, going out to a restaurant or a pub and ordering a drink is rather pricey (around 5 Euros for a pint of Guinness and closer to 6 for anything else) so you will save a lot buying your drinks at a local Spar or Malloy’s up the road. You can get a four-pack of half-liter cans for 5 Euros in both locations. Alcohol is outrageous here so avoid it if you can. Not only are the liter bottles around 25 Euros, but anything you want to mix them with is expensive too. Soda is 1.50 minimum for a half-liter bottle, and the pricing is not like in the states where the bigger the bottle is, the cheaper it costs. I’m not a wine drinker so I can’t comment on how the pricing is compared to the others. Sorry.

Travel

You should be able to walk pretty much anywhere you want to visit in Dublin and, obviously, this is a money saver. If you do need to take some other means of transportation around the city, there is a bus route throughout the city center that only costs .50 cents. Traveling by taxi can be expensive so take a friend or be prepared to fork over 15 Euros for what you could have walked in 30 minutes. If you need to get to the airport, I’ve found buses to be much more affordable than a taxi, even with two other passengers. The Aircoach and Airlink both take you to the airport for 7 and 6 Euros respectively. The travel time is around 20-30 minutes, I think. If you have a late flight, the Airlink may not be running but the Aircoach runs all day and night.

When it comes to travel around Ireland itself, I’ve found Bus Eireann to have affordable pricing and I would suggest them. If you buy your tickets online they are cheaper too. Travelling outside of Ireland is almost always cheaper by plane. Even if you are travelling to England or Scotland, a direct flight is cheaper than taking a combination of a ferry, train, or bus. Ryanair offers cheap flights sometimes but watch out for the taxes and fees they throw at you because they add up fast. I’ve heard of people finding Ryanair flights for free or 5 Euros with no taxes, but I have yet to see one. Aer Lingus is rarely cheaper than Ryanair, but if the cost is the same or only 5 Euros difference, I definitely recommend taking the Aer Lingus option because flying Ryanair is a bit of a joke. Flights in and out of Ireland will be cheapest with these two airlines 9 times out of 10 but check skyscanner.net because something cheaper may pop up.

I hope these tips help save you some money in the future so you can enjoy the finer parts of studying abroad. If you are ever in doubt, they sell ramen here too. If I think of any money savors that I forgot to list, I will be sure to mention them in future blogs.

Kudos to Champlain Dublin

I feel like I should mention the staff over here and how helpful they really are. One of the big reasons why I have had such a good time studying in Dublin is because the staff here are so helpful. They really do try to make your experience in Dublin as painless as possible, and they are damn good at it. I suppose it is one of the advantages of using Champlain Abroad over a 3^rd party source.

So, in what ways are the staff here helpful? I’ll start with Tom, our Head Resident. Nearly every weekend, he finds something new for us to do in Dublin or the surrounding area and Champlain Dublin pays for it. For someone like me who hates planning trips, these opportunities are great and get me out into places in Ireland I probably would have never visited otherwise. Some of my favorite and most memorable experiences this semester have been on these trips and I’m sure the other students share my sentiments. I strongly encourage anyone coming here in the future to take advantage of those opportunities and go on as many of the weekend trips as you can. They’re totally worth it.

On top of the frequent day trips that Tom runs, there are also the two big weekend trips to the West coast and Northern Ireland that the administrators plan and run. These trips cost around 40 Euro (which is what the bus ticket alone costs) and get you a whole weekend of fun. Some of your meals are paid for, your lodging is paid for, the ride there is paid for…it’s a pretty good deal. And when they take you out to dinner, it isn’t to some fast food joint. You get some of the best tasting food you will find. The weekend trips have a lot of time planned in them for you to go off and do your own thing so you can really make of the trips however you want. I have already covered some of the fun things I’ve done on the trips in my earlier blogs to give you an idea of what you can do. And, if you are anything like us, you can take heart in knowing that you never have to travel far to find a good pub in Ireland.

If you thought the travel ended there, well, you’d be wrong. The classes are scheduled to all end on Thursday so that you have Fridays off. The reason for this is that half of the Fridays are reserved so that your classes can schedule field trips (and believe me, they all do) to different places in Dublin or way out somewhere in Ireland. This semester I have gone to Armagh, the Hill of Tara, and the Marble Arch Caves in Northern Ireland, as well as various smaller trips in Dublin, all as part of my classes. I would have gone to Newgrange too had I not missed the bus that day

Beyond what I’ve listed above, the staff here are also helpful in the normal sense of the word. Often times they will open the academic center outside of normal hours, such as on the weekends or later than normal, when they know students have big assignments due or for mid-terms and finals. They are easy to get a hold of and will give you advice and answer any questions you have about Dublin. They just make living in a foreign country easy.

Clearing up some confusion

We had a discussion in one of my classes yesterday about how prepared we all were when we came here and how prepared Champlain made us. The discussion was informative and a lot of things turned up that we all seemed to agree upon. I thought it might be helpful if I share some of my own feelings as well as those of others to give prospective study abroad students another perspective on the matter.

First of all, the one thing we all whole-heartedly agreed on was the money. I don’t want to turn scare anyone away because this is really an experience you may only get once, but it is very expensive over here. Dublin is one of the more expensive cities in Europe and none of us that hadn’t been here before fully understood that before coming here. It was quite a shock seeing prices for simple things on my first day here because I assumed, perhaps naively, that since the Euro was worth more than the Dollar that prices would be lower but that is not the case. Pretty much anything you would find in a store in the States you can expect to find for the same list price, if not more, in Euro here. You will quickly learn to be frugal after you see what you’ve spent in your first two weeks here. In a future blog I will try to share some money saving techniques I’ve discovered during my time here.

Second is the dress. The information of how obviously American you are by the way you dress is a little overblown. Almost all of the people here that you see, who are in college, dress the same way we do. A pair of brown shoes is nice to have but certainly not necessary. If your goal is to not stick out as an American, the biggest tip I can give is to not wear bright colors. Beyond that is debatable. I wouldn’t worry about looking American anyway; they are pretty friendly to us here.

Third is the image you are given of Dublin. Another student mentioned that he felt like Champlain made Dublin out to be like a third world country. I can’t recall if I had the same impression myself before coming here but I thought I’d clear it up if anyone else is getting that picture. Dublin is a developed European city and, before the recession, was one of the most prosperous. Although the economy has slowed down, the city is still very much civilized and active. In the entire time that I have been here, I have seen no reason to feel any less secure than you would in Burlington.

I hope this clears up some confusion or reservation you may be feeling. I am sure there are more points that I could mention and if I think of some I will address them in future blogs.

And so it begins...

This last weekend was kind of our last hoorah before the real crunch started this week, the last week of classes before finals. It seems like everything is due this week and being the procrastinator I am, now is when I’m starting it all. The system works so don’t knock it!

Anyway, last weekend was our last hoorah before the crunch and it was a lot of fun. Many of us went with the Northern Ireland class up to Armagh and had a great time up there. We got an informative tour of the city, a lot of the history, and explored the two main churches there that sit on the highest points in the city. Both are named St. Patrick’s Cathedral oddly enough. It was a nice little town that I would have liked to spend some more time in.

But the real fun for me started when we got back because I had a show to go see. The Tragically Hip, one of the biggest bands in Canada, played in Dublin that night and I had tickets the first week I arrived here. Coincidentally, the head of the program over here had tickets even before me. They’re staff here are a hip bunch (pun intended). At least they have good taste in music.

So I ended up at the show 30 minutes late because I was told the venue always runs late (turned out to be false). I had seen the band over the summer so I wasn’t too devastated. They played two full sets and put on a great show. They were more entertaining, I think, here than they were in Vermont as well. If you have never seen a Hip show I highly recommend it, they play great rocking music and their singer is truly one of a kind to see.

I never did see Stephen (the head of the program who was at the show) but the venue was much more crowded than I had thought it would be. I noticed a few people with familiar accents so it couldn’t have been all Dubliners. The venue itself was called The Tripod if anyone cares to look it up when they are over here. I would say it is similar in size to Higher Ground in Burlington, perhaps a little larger, and in an area of town with a great night life if your show ends early. And if you are ever needing a concert to go to, just ask someone at the campus over here, I’m sure someone will be able to give you a good tip.

Thanksgiving Break

I never thought that I would feel so happy to be back at my “home” in Dublin. We’ve arrived back in Dublin this weekend after a solid week of travelling. One of the nice things about coming here through Champlain is that we roughly follow Champlain’s holiday schedule. So while Thanksgiving as we know it is an American holiday, over here in Dublin Champlain students still get that week of Thanksgiving break. What this meant for us was an entire week where we could see the sites that we hadn’t yet had time for. I will go over my trip briefly to offer a glimpse into a few places in case anyone was considering seeing them during their time over here. I did all of my travelling with two of my friends and I have to say as annoyed as you will be with your companions after seeing them non-stop for a week, it certainly is more fun than travelling alone. They may even come in handy when you are in a country with no English signs trying to navigate your way through the public transportation system.

So my trip…

The three of us started our days off bright and early at 5:30am. After landing in Brussels, we quickly learned the value of asking for help when our train tickets printed out entirely in a foreign language and we nearly got onto a train heading in the wrong direction. Nevertheless, we managed to land the right trains all the way to Bruges. I first proposed the idea of visiting Bruges to my friends after seeing it in the movie In Bruges. It seems like a dumb reason to visit a city but I am glad I did. Bruges is the most beautiful city I’ve ever visited. The streets are almost all cobble stone, the buildings have a rustic, earthy look, and the canals run all throughout the town which, although they smell, adds an extra bit of elegance. I have heard the city described as the Venice of the north and I think that is an accurate title.

We spent our two or three days there walking around the city, seeing the sights, and enjoying the friendliness and peacefulness of the people there. For being a primarily touristy town, everyone we met there was genuinely nice to us. We spent a lot of time in the Market Square enjoying the atmosphere and taking photographs. We visited a free art gallery which was a first for me but very cool. And, of course, we walked to the top of the Belfry Tower which was an experience in itself. Although expensive in general, we didn’t have a terribly difficult time finding affordable food and gifts, and the chocolate was certainly worth it. I think Bruges was my favorite stop on our trip.

Amsterdam

After a couple days enjoyed in Bruges, we hopped on another train to Amsterdam. The ride was long but the scenery outside made the travel less tedious as Holland and Belgium both have beautiful countrysides; I kind of regret not making it out there at any point. Unfortunately, upon exiting the train we were greeted by rain and wind which would continue for the next two days making for a dreary experience in Amsterdam. We tried not to let it get in our way of having a good time though and I think we accomplished that.

Although everyone was tired from the train ride, we decided to work our way into the city center for some food and exploration. To our dismay, we found out that we had arrived in another expensive city. We made our way around the city, taking in the sites, visited some of Amsterdam’s famous coffee shops, and worked our way into the Red Light District. I have to say, that was certainly a unique experience. Between the other tourists passing by (who seemed to all be American) and the glass-contained work force, you couldn’t help but smile. The Red Light District is also primarily a Chinese district so that added an extra layer to the interesting mix of sites and experiences there. Unfortunately, the rain and expensive nature of the city left me feeling a little unfulfilled so this was my least favorite stop on our trip.

Prague

To save money, we had booked an overnight bus ride from Amsterdam to our final destination, Prague. The 15 hour ride was made a little easier by the occasional stop to stretch your legs and breathe some fresh air. We made it to Prague, though, and found out English is not as popular there as in our previous stops. If I remember correctly, though, Prague has more visitors each year than both Amsterdam and Bruges so we were not the first English-speakers they had met.

Prague was a really interesting and diverse city that had way more to do than we could cram into our three day stay. We put the favorable exchange rate to use and ate a delicious meal the first night there. I was instructed by one of our hostel’s staff to order the pork knees so I, of course, happily did. The food was excellent and cheap and the pork knees sounding pretty Czech to me so I was happy. We did notice that the service was rather short with us though. This was something that popped up at every place we visited in Prague excluding the staff at the Town Hall/Astronomical Clock tower which we visited on our last day there. We spent a day shopping for gifts (which could have easily stretched to other days with that exchange rate) and enjoying the area. We got to experience a bit of the wild Prague night life during our stay and it was wild. The Old Town Square which we visited on our last day there was very reminiscent of the Market Square in Bruges. The whole square was festive and bustling which made me anxious for Christmas. It also felt very inviting there so that is where we spent a good part of our day. It made for a very relaxing end to our trip which was much needed.

Like I said, I have never been so happy to see Dublin than when we arrived back after that exhausting trip. The trip really was unforgettable though and I encourage everyone to make good use of their time off if you decide to come here.

Halloween

This will likely be a shorter blog as I’m trying to take it easy for the next couple weeks in order to save for my trip over Thanksgiving break. Lately I’ve been keeping things kind of low key and catching up on some homework (yes there is homework here). It may sound boring, but everyone needs to take a break sometimes. I will attempt to put some notable things into text, however.

Halloween

Most of you reading this are coming in the spring and therefore this may not seem relevant, but who knows, other holidays could be similar. Halloween here was a lot of fun. Back in the states, as you all may know, Halloween is a rather big day for college students. Burlington gets quite festive and active on Halloween night and we were all curious how that festivity translated over here, if it did at all. Lucky for us, it translated well.

I believe the modern celebration of Halloween here began in the ‘60s and continues to this day. The streets at night become littered with people in costumes and the pubs become packed. I took a stroll through Temple Bar and I could barely make my way through there were so many people. It is really quite a sight to behold. This is also probably the loudest night you will ever experience in Dublin. From around 6pm until after midnight you can hear and see fireworks being set off all over the city. I was told by one of my professors that fireworks are the most popular act of the celebration here. That is on top of the noise of the entire city mobilized until late at night so don’t plan on going to bed early.

We made sure to celebrate the Burlington way before venturing out into Dublin. One of the apartments was heavily decorated in cheap Halloween decorations that would make any college dorm room proud. Every Champlain student that I saw that night had a costume on. It is also worth noting that I saw more Champlain students celebrating that night than any other night so far. Needless to say, we had a fun night.

I suppose that will have to wrap it up for now. As I said, I have been trying to keep it low key for money purposes. Hope to have a little more to report on next time.

So, You Want to Travel?

I’ve got travel on my mind so I feel inclined to discuss it a little here. From our talks and ice breakers (yes, they’re here too) at the beginning of the semester, I quickly found that the majority of students go abroad to travel and see the world. For me, it was basically the same, although I had a particular interest in seeing Ireland itself in addition. Hopefully then, I can shed some light on travel out here on the Emerald Isle.

Four-Day Weekend

Assuming future semesters are similar to my own, the college advertises and encourages two times in particular for travel, although since you have every Friday off, short travel dates every weekend (class fieldtrips permitting) are not undoable. For us, we have a four-day weekend in October and all of Thanksgiving week off which lend themselves nicely to longer travel plans. I don’t know how the Spring schedule is set up but I would imagine it is similar with Spring Break.

Since the four-day weekend has now passed, I can discuss it with a little more certainty. I put off planning for it until about two weeks prior, which probably isn’t a good idea if you have more ambitious plans than I did. I couldn’t think of any particular travel destinations because all of the places I wanted to visit could also easily be done in a weekend and I didn’t want to waste the extra day. What I ended up doing is taking a short plane ride to Leeds, England to catch an all-day rock and metal festival. I knew nothing about Leeds beforehand so it was a little bit of a gamble, but I knew I would likely never see it otherwise so I didn’t care. It actually turned out pretty well (ignoring the fact that it rained the entire time I was there) and the festival was huge fun. If anyone is interested in music, Leeds seems to be a great city to visit. It is also littered with colleges so you are bound to meet other students. Note: I forgot my camera so please excuse the external images.

If you aren’t a music lover, my plans might seem dull so I will try to recall what I can remember of others’ travel plans. Some people went to Galway which is only a 3 hour bus ride from Dublin and a wicked fun city, some went to Barcelona, Spain which I’m told was also a fun city with great night life, awesome food, and warm weather, some went hiking in the Scottish highlands, some went to Norway and others to Italy. So if going to a music festival isn’t your thing, there are certainly other options available. Be creative.

Longer Weekend (Thanksgiving)

This is the week you came here for. We get an entire week (from Friday to Sunday the following week for a total of ten days) off and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to use it to travel. The week has not yet arrived so I can’t give any feedback on it yet but I certainly plan to when I get back. For now though, I can obviously talk about my plans and a little bit of the planning process for a big trip.

I am planning on making my trip with two other friends and although I can’t verify for sure yet, I would have to say making a group trip is a lot more fun than going solo. We have decided to sort of travel across northern Europe, beginning in Bruges, proceeding to Amsterdam, and finally landing in Prague before returning back to Dublin at the end of the week. Although it may sound ambitious and pricey, we have so far, in the final steps of the planning stage, managed to find an excellent schedule of relatively cheap transportation.

Before planning your trip, discuss your prospective destinations with the professors and staff over here; I can guarantee someone has been there and will give you useful feedback. Some cities sound a lot better than they really are. When you begin the planning process, look on the internet for guides and blogs of others who have made certain trips between two cities because you can gain a lot of useful transportation information from them. By doing this, we found an overnight bus that travels from Amsterdam to Prague a couple times a week and saved ourselves around $150 by not flying. On that same note, don’t set in stone the order in which you visit your destinations, it can be much cheaper to check every possibility. If you have the patience, try to check each mode of transportation. For longer trips, a plane will almost always be cheaper, but on occasion, some buses and trains will give you a better deal depending on the popularity of the trip.

If you want to visit England and Scotland, take a plane. Although there are ferries that run frequently between popular ports, you will spend a lot more using them in addition to busses and trains to get to your final destination than you will if you just take a direct flight. And when it comes to airlines, don’t assume Ryanair will always be the cheapest. A lot of times Aer Lingus will have better rates if you travel on the right days. Just make it a rule of thumb for your trips to look at all of the possibilities when it comes to transportation.

Concert and Hen Party

Concert in Dublin:
I just got back from my first concert in Dublin so, naturally, I feel like writing about it. I went to see Opeth play at the Olympia Theatre, but since people have varying tastes in music and I don’t feel like shamelessly promoting my own, I’ll leave out the details. I will say they played a great set, though.

Instead, I want to talk about the theater itself in case anyone has plans to attend a show there. From outside, it’s difficult to make a judgment on its appearance because it kind of blends in with the rest of Temple Bar, but it does have one of those theater awnings so it is easy enough to spot. Entering the theater, you immediately notice that the place is old (or at least has that appearance) and is an actual theater. The cramped halls open up into the main room and make it look much larger than it really is. I would say the floor is around the size of Higher Ground in Burlington, but with the addition of a balcony and four boxes. The main room is very ornate looking with red and gold all over everything from floor to ceiling. Pretty neat place to see a show, and I suspect many plays are put on as well.

Music in the North:

I want to talk a little bit about our trip to Northern Ireland this weekend. Besides the fun of the run of the mill tourist stops around Belfast, the Giant’s Causeway, et al, we had quite a unique experience in Ballintoy. The town is small and is home to only two pubs (unheard of in Ireland) so keep that in mind when I explain part of the night. After our hostel dinner, we all took a walk down to the pubs to enjoy a drink. Upon arriving, we found out there was going to be a hen party in one of the pubs that night so we were thrilled. Long story short, the pub filled completely with American college kids and locals singing songs and playing guitar for hours. The group really got into the affair and quite a few of us took a jab at the microphone; I ended up playing a Pogues song on the guitar, much to the pleasure of the bride to be. All in all it was a fun night that hopefully both we and the townspeople will remember for a long time.

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Music in Dublin

I’m going to change up this blog a little bit and divert from the topic of travel for a while. As much fun as traveling is, it is only one element of the study abroad experience and I hate to focus solely on the one element. Because I consider myself a music lover and I’m sure there are others out there, I’m going to try to keep a somewhat recurrent theme of music in these posts from now on. With a bit of luck, that should give this blog a little more individuality and separate it from the others so if people are in fact reading all of them, or even more than one, they aren’t reading the same recycled accounts.

Something I thought when first coming to Dublin, a sentiment that perhaps others shared, was that Dublin would be filled with traditional Irish folk music. I’m not sure how the thought got implanted in my mind, but somehow it got there and I was ready to enjoy hearing some old Irish guys jamming on their banjos, mandolins, tin whistles, and bodhrans. I soon found out, however, that Dublin is not really a folksy city. That isn’t to say traditional Irish music is not played in Dublin, but that it is not a rampant music scene here. The pubs are typically filled with cover bands playing (mostly) the same handful of songs everywhere you go.

After a couple of nights, you will quickly discover the bands

here have some weird fascination with the Rolling Stones—they love Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Other common tunes include Roadhouse Blues, Sex Machine, Come Together, and Cocaine. There are obviously others, but you get the idea—blues rock is pretty damn popular here. I haven’t investigated deep enough to discover whether this is a phenomenon exclusive to the pub scene or not, but I’ll report back when I find out.

So what about popular music? As much as I love the Burlington music scene, we don’t get a lot of big bands to grace our small city. Dublin, although not terribly large, is still leaps and bounds ahead of Burlington in population and the music scene reflects that. I already have tickets to see two bands here in Dublin, with plans for a third. In 10 days, I’ll be going to see Opeth, a popular progressive metal band, at a venue less than 15 minutes walking distance from our apartments. I’ve also got a ticket to see Canadian riff-rockers The Tragically Hip in December. Although they’ve played several times in Vermont, they are about the biggest band we see. And they kick ass, just putting that out there. As for my third concert, prospective Dubliners may know of a band called The Pogues, a popular folk-punk group from the ‘80s. Well, they are one of my favorite bands and just so happen to be playing for three nights in Dublin in December, and if their first show wasn’t on the same night as T-Hip, I’d be at all three.

So the bands I’ve mentioned are my own preference, but not everyone has the same taste in music so here are a few other bands playing in Dublin during my stay here that might peak some people’s interests. Pixies (I’d see them too but the show sold out), Massive Attack, Motorhead, Thin Lizzy (canceled), Toby Keith, Yes, The Mars Volta, Paramore, Fleetwood Mac, Green Day, Muse, Elton John, Beyonce, Depeche Mode, The Prodigy, Pink, Miley Cyrus, Backstreet Boys, Yusef Islam (Cat Stevens), and Jonas Brothers. That’s a decent sized list of big-name bands and artists, most of whom you would be hard pressed to find playing in Burlington. I’m sure there are others as well, that was just a quick throw-together of search results I recognized at a glance.

So I’ll leave it there for now, but I think you get the idea. The music scene in Dublin is more than just folk instruments; it has a little to offer for everyone no matter their musical preference.

Malahide and Western Ireland

This week I want to cover the major trips we took to give an idea of the local traveling experience. To give a kind of introduction, we visited Malahide on Saturday the 5th and beginning last Friday, we took a three day trip to the West coast of Ireland visiting a handful of locations during that time. So without wasting any more lines, I’ll just hop right into it.

Malahide:
We found out early on that Champlain would schedule several day trips throughout the semester on the weekends. The first of these day trips was to a small town North of Dublin called Malahide. The major attraction Tom told us about was Malahide Castle, a well preserved castle that had been inhabited by private owners until the 1970’s. Champlain was kind enough to buy us each round-trip DART tickets (the local train system) so our trip was made that much easier. One thing I’ve come to appreciate is the load off a pre-scheduled and pre-planned trip gives you. Anyway, we arrived in Malahide after a short train ride and proceeded to the castle. Quickly the town turned into a medieval setting surrounded by thick trees and stone walls. We passed a park-like area with a cricket field boarded by a stone wall with a game being played. The path through the trees was very cool; everything was covered in a thick layer of ivy. Toward the end of the path we could see the start of the courtyard and a large wall covered in overgrown vegetation. I skipped past most of the courtyard area because it was mostly touristy and the attractions were all closed.

After another few minutes of walking we crossed around a bend and into an open field where we could see the castle on the right. I was surprised to see how well preserved it looked. As we got closer, I noticed that even that castle itself was very much covered in ivy and other plants as well as surrounded by a thick layer of tall trees; luckily the front of the castle was clear enough to see and get a couple good pictures of. The overgrown state of it also added to the atmosphere and gave it an older look. I didn’t actually enter the castle because, from what I was told by other students, it’s mostly just a tourist trap and you see very little for the 7 Euro entry fee. I didn’t feel like I was missing much because there was plenty to photograph outside. Following the path took me around to the back side of the castle where I could see more of the castle itself as well as some of the more interesting parts of the inside.

The rest of Malahide itself didn’t overly impress me. I felt it was mostly just an expensive small town with a lot of tourists crowding the streets. The castle itself was more than worth the train ticket though.

Western Ireland: Galway
Our first big weekend trip was held last weekend, beginning bright and early on Friday and ending late Sunday night. The bus picked us up around noon and we set off straight for Galway. After around a three hour ride with one stop for lunch, we arrived in Galway outside of our hostel. We received our keys, found our rooms, unpacked, and were set free to do what we wanted for the rest of the day. Of course upon hearing this, we immediately set off for the beach. My immediate impression was that this was the Burlington of Ireland. Galway is an active, young beach town with a market street running down to the water that radiates Church Street vibes. By the canal, at the edge of the city, were close to a hundred people just relaxing on the grass. When we made it to the actual beach, we found some Irish hippies playing the drums and some of us went for a swim.

After our beach adventure, a couple of us made our way back into town for the best fish n’ chips I’ve had since arriving in Ireland. Back at the apartment we played a little GAA Hurling in the courtyard and gained a new appreciation for the sport. I was lucky enough to catch the Hurling Finals on TV the week before where Kilkenny took their 4th straight victory. To finish off the night, we met up at a pub called the King’s Head for some drinks and live music.

The Burren and the Cliffs of Moher:
Our destinations for day two were many. We began with an old abbey in the countryside that made for some good pictures. Our next stop was to a tomb of standing stones in the Burren. The standing stones themselves were really interesting, but I found the ground to be the better sight to see. The whole ground was made up of limestone that has been worn away by rain so it is covered in cracks and divots. It’s difficult to describe in words so I will attach a picture to give a better idea of what I’m talking about. After spending some time in the area, we began our trip to the Cliffs of Moher. From what I have heard, the Cliffs of Moher is perhaps one of the best spots to see in all of Ireland and from my limited amount of time spent here, I would have to agree; the experience is breathtaking. There is a great angle of viewing from the top of the cliffs as you can walk around most of the edge and see the adjacent cliff faces from where you stand. The feeling of being on one of these 600+ foot cliffs and looking around you is surreal; it is something everyone should experience. I could easily see myself spending an entire day looking out over the various cliffs to the ocean down below.

We proceeded from the cliffs to Doolin, the town we would be staying in for the night. Rather than spending much time in the hostel, we decided to go check out the far side of some of the cliffs from the beach. We had to hop a few fences and pass by a dead dog but we did make it to the beach. The beach itself was pretty much covered in small rocks, but the view of the cliffs was worth seeing nonetheless. A couple others even went for another swim. From the beach, we went to a pub in town for a meal on Champlain’s tab. I am happy to report as well that it was some of the best food I’ve had—Champlain’s Ireland staff know how to pick the right restaurants. We even got to see some Irish folk music being played by a few locals in the pub after dinner. Nothing beats ending the day with a few pints of Guinness, great food, and great music.

The Aran Islands:
Day three was a little different than the previous two; we began our morning by heading to another area of the beach by the docks to check out the limestone terrain and relax while we waited for a ferry to take us out to the Aran Islands. The boat ride was quite exhausting, clocking in at over an hour, but we had the opportunity to see some of the islands and Ireland itself from a different perspective than before. The reason I said that this day was different from the previous two was because once we landed on the island, we were free to do whatever we wanted until the last ferry left the island at 4:00. A large majority of us thought the best idea would be to rent some bicycles and ride around the island to see what was there. The bike ride itself was rewarding in that we were able to cruise through the countryside at a brisk pace and take in our surroundings as we rode. This was very much a farming island, many people had horses and cows on their lawns and everyone had stone walls surrounding their properties. We made our way down the road to find a beach that looked out of place amidst all the limestone and old rock houses. You would swear your were in the Bahamas standing on this sandy beach on the West coast of Ireland.

The rest of our time on the island was spent on the beach, biking around to take in the sights, and relaxing back by the docks. I had a lot of fun on the island and really appreciated the openness and simplicity of our experience there. There isn’t a whole lot to say about the rest of the trip, we spent the next 6 hours or so between a boat ride and a bus ride and I was more than happy to arrive back at my apartment in Dublin. I found myself feeling very pleased with the trip and thankful that Champlain was kind enough to subsidize most of it for us. Now I can start planning my own trips out of Dublin…

Arriving, orientation, and week 1

So this is week one. I am in Dublin, oriented, adjusted, and ready to see the country. I've decided to include my arrival and orientation in this week as I'm sure anyone interested in studying abroad is wondering about the situation. My apologies if this seems to jump around, it has been a hectic but exciting first week and there is a lot to include. As I've adjusted to my new surroundings, I've been able to plan and coordinate my time in the city a little better.

Where to begin except the flight over? Personally, I took Ireland's major airline Aer Lingus as it was the cheapest and easiest to schedule flight available. I wasn't the only one to come to this conclusion either, there were 10 or so other Champlain students on my flight. We arrived a little before 5:00 AM in Dublin which meant midnight back in New England so we all knew we were in for some serious jet lag. The excitement of arriving in a new country was enough to keep me awake however. After the Dublin Campus Administrator, Stephen, bought us all cabs to the apartments, one of my roommates and I unpacked and got settled in. We met up with a few other students that had finished unpacking and tried to find some breakfast; unfortunately for us nothing in Dublin opens until around 9:30. The next big shocker was the price tags. I assumed coming here that because the Euro held a larger value over the Dollar that prices would reflect that--much to my surprise, all of the food had roughly the same price tag you would expect in the states if not higher. We figured out pretty quick that grocery shopping was the way to go.

Day 1:
Most of the first day was spent exploring the city. We covered a good chunk of the south side of the Liffey (the river that splits Dublin in half) on our own and the north side with the Head Resident, Tom. We crowded into an Asian noodle house and had some great Chinese food while we listened to some hilarious karaoke next door. All in all a good day, but we all slept easy that night. Day two was a little less eventful for those of us who arrived the previous day. It was spent mostly exploring the city, hanging out, and grocery shopping--a pretty good day to relax and finish getting over jet lag.

Orientation:
Then orientation started. We got the first taste of the hike we'll be making many more times over the next four months. It can be daunting at first, but a week in I've already gotten used to it. We were all pleasantly surprised to see what the academic building looked like. It is very elegant inside with fireplaces and large windows in nearly every room. There is a garden area outback that could be nice to study in. I think everyone's favorite room, though, was the lounge area at the top of the stairs with the biggest bean bag chairs you've ever seen. The whole room is very cool with a big TV on the wall, coffee tables, and colorful seats; all of that on top of the bean bag chairs of course. Needless to say, our time spent in the academic center is comfortable.

After going over some preliminary information, we were put into groups and set out onto a scavenger hunt with the winning group getting a free meal at a nice restaurant. The scavenger hunt definitely got us walking around and seeing parts of the city we had missed up to that point. Some of the items on the hunt were a little difficult to achieve and my group certainly didn't complete it, but we had fun. After recovering in our apartments for a little while, we met back up and walked to the Porterhouse for a meal on Champlain's tab. I really liked the Porterhouse--it had a very modern pub layout consisting of several stories of small dining areas and bars and a stage surrounded by the winding staircase. Unfortunately there was no one performing at the time, but the atmosphere was cool nonetheless. Much to my surprise the food was very good. I hadn't come to Ireland expecting much for food but my fish n' chips were delicious. I heard similar comments from the others so it wasn't a fluke--just don't order a steak, it's not like back home. Day two of orientation was much the same layout as the first except the scavenger hunt took place on the north side of the Liffey. Food that night was served at the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin. This place had a very old traditional feel to it which was cool. They maintained the original layout with a courtyard out front that you can eat and drink at. We had a decent variety of stews to choose from on the menu; I personally chose the Beef & Guinness Stew which was a kind of spiced beef stew with Guinness cooked into the broth and was delicious. In between each course we were entertained by stories from a former tour guide on the subject of Irish history, specifically about the famine and their belief in fairies. I enjoyed the stories very much, the guy was a great story teller and captivated us well.

The third day of orientation was a little different. We were given train tickets and brought to a small seaside village north of Dublin called Howth. Upon exiting the train, the coordinators said, "That's the end of orientation, see you back in Dublin" and we were on our own to explore Howth as we wished. Howth is a beautiful village with some great spots for taking pictures. We all hiked up the hill on the coast and spent a good deal of time up there. I plan on going back while I'm here because there is a lot to see there and I didn't catch all of it that day.

Classes:
Nothing was planned for Sunday so I made use of it and slept in. Classes began the next day and I got my first taste of school in Dublin. I may not be the best example since I only had one class that day but I like my Mondays easy. The first instance of every class I had was just an introduction to the course so it was an easy week. I ended up with assignments in two or three classes but nothing too serious. There isn't really much to report on the classes at this point since they've just started but they all sound interesting so far. The week ended on Thursday since everyone has Fridays off so that was a relief--the first week of classes is always a downer. Then today rolled around and a couple of us decided to go to the zoo. We didn't know much about the Dublin Zoo but we were curious enough to walk the 20 minutes and pay the 12.50 student entry fee. Again I was pleasantly surprised because the zoo was quite large and had some fascinating exhibits. We were even so fortunate as to arrive at feeding time for the arctic wolves. All in all it was a good trip and a great way to spend a friday afternoon.

That is about it for orientation and the first week. I'm looking forward to getting out of the city sometime soon, Howth was a lot of fun and we have a trip planned for Malahide tomorrow. Next weekend is our Western Ireland trip so I'll be sure to report back with the details from that. I can't wait.