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.