Today we finally got some resting time. Orientation was supposed to take us on a walking tour around Trinity Campus and Medieval Viking Dublin- the Oldest section of Dublin and that which we live in- however, the tour was postponed. Amber and I took this time as an opportunity to get some grocery shopping in. The school would not be buying us dinner tonight so we were on our own.
The shopping experience itself was much different than what we are used to. It took us about 20 minutes of walking up and down the isles in Tesco (which is about the size of our local Cumberland Farms) to finally find pasta and tomato sauce. Everything was in strange spots and the packaging was a little misleading. They have different brands than we do in the US, so the colors you would normally be looking for that you associate with a box of Barilla penne pasta wasn't there. Instead you find a red bag of pasta with some name that means nothing to you. Being broke-ass college students who only want to spend money at the pubs, we did the safe thing and bought the cheapest brand of everything we needed. To our surprise the 95 cent Oak Lane discount ketchup wasn't half bad. We also checked out Centra and Lidl, two other small grocery stores that were equally confusing. We decided to leave the butcher, market, and bakery for another day because it was getting late and figured that was something else that needed a lot of time.
After dinner a few of us made our way to The Brazen Head.
We had all heard quite a bit about it, being that it is the oldest pub in Ireland. It was built in 1198. damn. You can tell by looking at it that it is very old. It looks a little funny because it is the shortest building on the block and really stands out. James Joyce made a reference to it in his classic book 'Ulysses', which helps to show that it was a popular place to hang out even back then.
Anyway, we didn't really know what to expect for the inside once we got there. The building seemed very nice. The walls were stone, it was dimly lit, and just being in there made you feel like you were sent back in time. There were locals playing live music in one room and in another there were people sitting down having drinks. The place was packed, but not necessarily the kind of people that we wanted to hang out with. They weren't kidding, it was the OLDEST pub in Ireland. It seemed like the average age of the crowd was about 60. We figured we would make the best of it, order one drink and chill until we thought of somewhere else to go. When we were sitting I started chatting up the 4 older people sitting next to us. They were very friendly and gave us some tips on where to go and where not to go. Just as they left 2 younger men came and sat with us. They were excited to learn that we were from America and couldn't stop enthusing about how we needed to see the west of Ireland. Apparently that's where all the craic is. They were both drinking this orange drink that looked delicious. They wouldn't tell us what it was called but insisted that we "lap it in". It tasted exactly like an orange creamsicle. It was so good. According to them it had more alcohol than anything else at the bar. This was hard to believe because it tasted so good. Hours passed and soon we had to say goodbye to our new friends because the pub was closing. Here's to hoping that maybe we will run into them again! Cheers.
Sun Jan 16, 2011
More resting and grocery shopping during the day today. But the night was fun. The sports scene in Ireland, not so much like it is in the US. Here they don't care as much for football or basketball it is mostly about soccer and rugby and other Irish sports. So for me its a little troubling because I miss my Celitcs =( its a bummer. Not being able to see Marquis a few times a week really makes me sad. Now, tonight was one of the playoff games for the NFL, Patriots vs. Jets, and I'm not into football as much as basketball, but many of my friends are. And being around American sports makes me feel at home. Luckily we found sports bar that was showing the game so we decided to make the 25 minute trek to get there. Even though I'm not really into it I consider myself a Pats fan, and Louis and some of his friends are all Jets fans. So it was pretty interesting watching it with them, until the Pats lost. That wasn't so good. The adventure was worth it though. The bar was really crowded and everyone was having a good time. Maybe we will go back sometime.
The shopping experience itself was much different than what we are used to. It took us about 20 minutes of walking up and down the isles in Tesco (which is about the size of our local Cumberland Farms) to finally find pasta and tomato sauce. Everything was in strange spots and the packaging was a little misleading. They have different brands than we do in the US, so the colors you would normally be looking for that you associate with a box of Barilla penne pasta wasn't there. Instead you find a red bag of pasta with some name that means nothing to you. Being broke-ass college students who only want to spend money at the pubs, we did the safe thing and bought the cheapest brand of everything we needed. To our surprise the 95 cent Oak Lane discount ketchup wasn't half bad. We also checked out Centra and Lidl, two other small grocery stores that were equally confusing. We decided to leave the butcher, market, and bakery for another day because it was getting late and figured that was something else that needed a lot of time.
After dinner a few of us made our way to The Brazen Head.
We had all heard quite a bit about it, being that it is the oldest pub in Ireland. It was built in 1198. damn. You can tell by looking at it that it is very old. It looks a little funny because it is the shortest building on the block and really stands out. James Joyce made a reference to it in his classic book 'Ulysses', which helps to show that it was a popular place to hang out even back then. Anyway, we didn't really know what to expect for the inside once we got there. The building seemed very nice. The walls were stone, it was dimly lit, and just being in there made you feel like you were sent back in time. There were locals playing live music in one room and in another there were people sitting down having drinks. The place was packed, but not necessarily the kind of people that we wanted to hang out with. They weren't kidding, it was the OLDEST pub in Ireland. It seemed like the average age of the crowd was about 60. We figured we would make the best of it, order one drink and chill until we thought of somewhere else to go. When we were sitting I started chatting up the 4 older people sitting next to us. They were very friendly and gave us some tips on where to go and where not to go. Just as they left 2 younger men came and sat with us. They were excited to learn that we were from America and couldn't stop enthusing about how we needed to see the west of Ireland. Apparently that's where all the craic is. They were both drinking this orange drink that looked delicious. They wouldn't tell us what it was called but insisted that we "lap it in". It tasted exactly like an orange creamsicle. It was so good. According to them it had more alcohol than anything else at the bar. This was hard to believe because it tasted so good. Hours passed and soon we had to say goodbye to our new friends because the pub was closing. Here's to hoping that maybe we will run into them again! Cheers.
Sun Jan 16, 2011
More resting and grocery shopping during the day today. But the night was fun. The sports scene in Ireland, not so much like it is in the US. Here they don't care as much for football or basketball it is mostly about soccer and rugby and other Irish sports. So for me its a little troubling because I miss my Celitcs =( its a bummer. Not being able to see Marquis a few times a week really makes me sad. Now, tonight was one of the playoff games for the NFL, Patriots vs. Jets, and I'm not into football as much as basketball, but many of my friends are. And being around American sports makes me feel at home. Luckily we found sports bar that was showing the game so we decided to make the 25 minute trek to get there. Even though I'm not really into it I consider myself a Pats fan, and Louis and some of his friends are all Jets fans. So it was pretty interesting watching it with them, until the Pats lost. That wasn't so good. The adventure was worth it though. The bar was really crowded and everyone was having a good time. Maybe we will go back sometime.
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