You Look Like Spider Man's Girlfriend

Yesterday we took a bus into the city center for the first time. It really isn't a long trip, and the buses come frequently. The only thing that is obnoxious is that the cost is going to add up very quickly.

Totally worth it though. I am so excited to explore Dublin for the next four months. It's definitely a place I could fall in love with. It's dense like Boston and easily walkable, but it has so much to see and do! Our group went to the Dublin Writer's Museum to meet for a scavenger hunt. The whole concept was kind of lame and we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time anywhere, but it was an excellent way to get a feel for the layout of the city. It's pretty easy to navigate, especially with the river running through it's center and the spire as key landmarks. I was sad we didn't get to tour the Writer's Museum, but I'm sure we'll be going back at some point.

After the scavenger hunt, we went to buy our meteor cell phones and then we split off for lunch. I had lunch with three very nice girls. Everyone in the program is very pleasant and outgoing. It's going to take me awhile to remember all the names though.

Everyone will be happy to hear that I have in fact found someone in the program to go with me on the Oscar Wilde house tour!! Laura is obsessed with Irish lit. :)

Then a bunch of us went back to spend a little more time at Trinity College, just to hang out because it's absolutely beautiful, like an even prettier version of Harvard. I'll be going back to look at the Book of Kells at a later date. I kind of wish we were staying at Trinity since it's in the center of the city and so incredibly nice, not that DCU is bad or anything.

After refreshing ourselves at DCU and getting prepped to go out, we made our way into the city again to go to the Temple Bar area. We went to this really cool pub called Messrs Maguire (Messrs for short). A lot of the pubs here have amazing architecture and really interesting setups because the buildings are so old. Every place I've been to so far plays entirely American music, which is kind of strange and oddly comforting. We danced and had a great time there for a good portion of the night. A bunch of elderly people were really getting into the music on the third floor and breaking it down. It's really interesting, but everywhere you go there's a huge range of ages.

Next we went to a club called Coppers, which was also a ton of fun. I did the robot and other awkward dance moves with a Finnish guy. My group ended up meeting quite a few Finnish people there, and came to a general consensus that the Finnish (atleast the ones at this place) tend to be horribly awkward dancers (and they're aware of it) and poor conversationalists, but are friendly enough. The bad dancing doesn't just apply to the Finnish, though. The Irish tend to do this weird little shuffle thing when they dance and they don't move their arms very well. They're aware of their awkwardness on the dance floor as well. Many people complimented our group (guys and girls) on our ability to dance.

Upon leaving the club, several Irish guys struck up a conversation with us outside the entrance. They wanted to talk politics. Seriously, everywhere around here they want to talk politics, which is excellent for me, and they have their own stereotypes of Americans as Bush loving loudmouths that many of them aren't shy to express. Still, it's all flavored with a sense of humor. So we talked about America, and how they love New York City, they tried to show off their best New York accents and slang, and then they told us we were pronouncing "ATM" wrong when we wanted to find one.

We walked further, but couldn't find one for the life of us, so we stopped another group of Irish guys walking down the crowded streets of Temple Bar area so we could get some directions. They said they'd dance for money, which didn't exactly answer our question, so we explained that WE in fact needed the money more than they did, which was why we wanted to find an ATM. After much prompting this led to me and another girl doing an Irish jig and them giving us a euro. Lucky for us we had found a group of absolute gentlemen, who then walked us to the nearest ATM (don't worry mom, it was an extremely well-lit, crowded, non-sketchy area and they stayed a polite distance away while we took out our money), helped us find a pub that would let us use the restrooms, and even walked us to the nearest taxi stand! In the meantime they again wanted to talk politics and such, so we obliged. They then explained how they know we're Americans before we talk - white socks.

One of them asked me if I was "of Irish stock." He thinks after four months if I can get the accent down I might be able to pass as true Dubliner. I have to get working on my accent!

And to top off the night, I was told I look like Kirsten Dunst. Yes, I guess this is practically a universal consensus by now. I bitterly complained about the comparison, but then they corrected me and told me I was a "riot." Thanks, now I feel much better about the whole thing.

All in all though I couldn't have asked for a better night out in Dublin! Although it may be too early to make the assessment, I'm getting the feeling that Irish people aren't simply outgoing and friendly, it's much too simple. Rather, a better word might be sharp. Generally speaking (which may not apply to all of course), they seem to have an edge. But they're witty as all hell and up for a good time.