The Beard Abroad

For anyone who lives on or has lived on a college campus, it is always apparent in the morning whether there was a big party the night before.

You have the walks of shame, the large trash bags full of beer cans, and the clutter around the common rooms. However, in Europe it is much more wide spread. Because the legal drinking age is 18, everyone is college is able to drink. Not everyone chooses to, but the number of those that can choose is doubled.

Instead of the “morning-after” effect being applied only to the dorms, it is applied to the entire city. On Friday, Saturday, or Sunday morning you can see what happened the night before.

Broken glass, Supermac’s bags, empty beer cans, etc. are usually a common sight throughout town. You can tell the glasses that came from apartments and those that came from pubs, and you can tell where the party was held based on the shape of the sidewalk in front of the popular pubs.

Every time I venture into Dublin I wonder how much money it would take to convince one of the street cleaners to make the trip into our little college town.

When people think of Ireland they are often taken to rolling plains and sheep roaming across the hillside. This is very true. If you know where to go you can find these images. If this is what you want then The Coast is the place for you, where the people choose to live a few years in the past and the sheep are just as free as the humans.

However, I’ve since learned that even though it may not always LOOK like this, you can always find people who have chosen the comfort of yester year.

Exhibit A. Tractors have just as much right on the road as the Audi’s and BMW’s.

Exhibit B. People will drive these tractors anywhere. Including the walking path.

Exhibit C. People will park these tractors anywhere. Including in front of dorm buildings.

Because this is a common occurrence, NHNT and I have gotten into the habit of calling this as we see them. When the sun is in the sky and it begins to rain or when we see a tractor holding up traffic we saw just what it is:

Ireland.

Since I’ve never been abroad I find it strange to have to deal with Immigration. It was always something that I had heard about in the news and I know that it is an issue in politics. It was something that I never thought I would have to deal with though.

I had to sign up for a meeting, wait for a call, go to the police station in town, and get my Immigration Card so that I was officially a resident of Ireland.

As a Cub Scout I remember going to the police station and being put into the system. I got my fingers prints taken, pictures taken, the whole ordeal. Since then I’ve always put finger printing and crime together.

I went through the whole process again. Except this time it was a Police uniform I was looking at but a Garda uniform. Pictures were taken, my papers were studied, finger prints were taken, etc. I had done nothing wrong but felt like I had.

I guess it is American pride, or blindness, but without thinking I assumed that I could live here without an Immigration Card and travel wherever and whenever I wanted; because I was American.

Studying abroad: a growing experience.

I’ve been in Ireland for a little over a month and while I don’t think I’m picking up any kind of accent, I am picking up the lingo. 

It’s small things honestly, such as calling fries ‘chips,’ and chips ‘crisps.’ Such as saying ‘cheers’ instead of thank you or saying that things are ‘class’ instead of good.

However, even though I know what all these things mean I still find myself slipping into what I know. Into my American slang. I joke about the words with family and friends and use them when I talk to them, but when I’m confronted by an Irish person out in Dublin or on the coast, I use my American slang, forcing me back into the role of a tourist.

When I left for my first year of college I was worried that being so far away from home would hinder my ability to take part in my family’s life. However, I discovered that with planning and more than a week of notice I was able to find a way to be there for all the important moments in my family’s life.

While I’m still only a flight away from home, I’m finding that the difference is not distance, but the time difference. This has been the hardest part of living away from home. I leave my laptop to the time back home so that when I look at it I am able to see where they are, what they’re doing, etc.

I’m stuck in two time zones when it comes to planning. I have to take into account where my roommates are, the noise they will make, or when I eat dinner before I can think about when to Skype home. Then I have to consider where my parents will be, what they are doing, and if they’ll be home.

I’ve had an interview and had to change plans because of classes that conflict with my life back home. When I finally worked it out I found that by the time I was interviewing for the job my day was nearly done while my interviewer was only just getting in.

While it is a simple thing to do, adding 5 hours to any plans, it still feels as if I am in the middle of two worlds, my life here and back home.

Ever since I was young I told myself that one day I would be a world traveler. I loved to plan things out and I loved the idea of going out of my comfort zone for a while. Well it’s harder than it sounds. You have to take into account so many things when you think about travelling:

Where you’ll fly in, how to get around when you’re there, what to see, where you’ll stay, how long you’ll stay, etc.

Unlike other Americans we’ve met, our trips and visits weren’t finalized before we left. This is both good and bad. It offers us the freedom to choose the location and the time, but also forces us to make plans on a shoe string budget.

Thankfully, unlike other Americans, my travel companion, NHNT, has family and friends all over the world and more importantly, where I want to visit.

This idea of having family or friends around the world that are willing to allow house guests is a new and exciting idea for me that I would like to experience