Irish You Were Here

Wow. That is the only word I can manage to say. After my first week in Dublin I am awestruck each and every day as I walk out of my flat into the busy city streets. Accents from all over the world melt together as I attempt (with my poor directional skills) to navigate the curving streets and busy intersections.

Pictured: My view from the plane, after less than 3 hours of sleep my neighbor was less than enthusiastic when I leaned over him to take this picture. I however was ecstatic. 

After wandering around today during the All Ireland Final for close to 2 hours in an attempt to make my way back to campus, I am realizing the importance of camaraderie.

Let me back up; 2 days ago, my group of study abroad students took a trip to Croke Park where this championship game would be happening and our guide continuously emphasized the importance of the teams of Gaelic football in creating a sense of unity throughout the country. While originally this sounded backwards, we learned that Gaelic sports like Hurling and Gaelic Football were emphasized during a time when it seemed that all of Ireland's traditions were becoming extinct in favor of British traditions. This meant that the entire country got behind the sport regardless of  the team, sharing a camaraderie unable to be broken by silly things such as county lines.

Pictured: Me, wishing they would let me walk on the pitch at Croke Park. Something about you have to "earn it." I walked 20 minutes to get there, I feel like I earned it.

 This same attitude can be found in my study abroad group. While we are from all over the country, the fact that we are suddenly in this foreign place with minimal knowledge of customs (you describe your illness to the pharmacist and they tell you which medicine to get? Are they doctors?) brought us together in amazing ways.

So when I chose to leave our group and strike out on my own, and subsequently wound up wandering the Dublin streets in the rain for almost 2 hours, I realized how much I appreciate our little group and the easy camaraderie that formed, allowing us to each utilize the other's unique talent. While someone (me) may not be good at navigating or someone else (also me) may not be good at approaching strangers, there is bound to be one person in the group who is great at it. This balance of give and take is what makes me confident that the friendships I make here both within my study abroad group and without will be lasting and deep relationships.

I'll end this post with an Irish saying that I've found to be particularly true and one of my favorite pictures from my first week in Dublin:

"There are only two types of people in the world, the Irish and those who wish they were."