BONUS: The Great Shave

By popular demand, here is the photo documentation of my shaving experience!

A Very Busy Week (Week 4)

It always seems that just when you start to get settled in somewhere, things change. There's never time for a "normal" week. That's how last week felt. Just as I was starting to get into a routine, we had one of those weeks where there's something going on every day. As I've said before, I'm here in Dublin as part of a fellowship through the University of Washington. The professor in charge of the fellowship, Professor Walsh, needed to come over here at some point to do a site visit. Basically, he had to come and make sure we were actually here and working at real places. We knew he was going to do that, but we had no idea when. Then we got an email the Thursday before last telling us he would be here last week. We had no clue what that would entail.

The Honeymoon is Over (Week 3)

When you first meet someone new and start to get to know them (whether it's in a platonic, romantic, or even professional context), you really only see the person they want you see. They're witty, knowledgeable, daring, funny, kind, polite, or whatever other practiced persona they've chosen. But as you spend more time with them you begin to look through the cracks in this front and see who they actually are. That's what happened to me this week with my experience of Dublin. I stopped seeing the city as it wanted to be seen and started to see it as it really is.

The Barbecue, the Street Fair, and the Pizza Bus (Weekend 2)

This Friday the NCLC hosted a fundraising barbecue and it was a great opportunity for me realize that people here think that America is still the Wild West. In order to dress like "Americans," people were encouraged to wear checkered shirts ("checked shirts," as they say - nothing can be the same here), jeans, neckerchiefs, and cowboy hats if they had them. It seemed rather ironic that I had to go to a store in Dublin to buy a checked shirt so that I could dress up as an American.

Not a Vacation (Week 2)

I'm still trying to figure out the best schedule for putting up new entries. I'm gonna try doing just one post for all of last week. Let's see how this goes!

Last week was my second week at the Northside Community Law Centre. It was a great week because I was able to really start sinking my teeth into some cool projects, and I'm getting prepared for a couple really big projects that will probably last me the whole summer. While I was going to work, I had a really interesting (if not somewhat obvious) revelation: this trip is not a vacation. There are vacation-like aspects to it, but it requires a much different mentality than a typical vacation.

Hurling, As She is Played (Weekend 1, Part 3)

The plan for Sunday was that in the morning James, Kendra and I would go to church and in the evening, we were going to watch a match of some game called "hurling." James found a cool old cathedral called St. Patrick's in the center of Dublin so we decided to go there. The previous week the church we had been too was much less formal than all these old cathedrals, so I figured this would be a good contrast. I'm planning on writing more about this experience but suffice to say, I realized about halfway through that this was an Anglican church. Whoops! But don't worry, I ended up running a couple miles to get to Mass that evening. Like I said, that's another story.

The Old Jameson Distillery (Weekend 1, Part 2)

The next thing James wanted to do was go to the Jameson Distillery. We had been advised that this tour was better than the one at the Guinness Storehouse because this one was really a museum and not just an impressive way to sell us beer. I really enjoyed the Guinness tour, so I figured I would like this one too! We got off our tour bus right by the Distillery and got our tickets. It was pretty packed, so our tour wasn't for almost an hour. So, of course, we decided to buy some really overpriced food - our favorite pass-time in Dublin so far.

Tour of Dublin (Weekend 1, Part 1)

This weekend was technically our second one here, but it was our first weekend since really getting accustomed to being in Ireland. And because James was here, we decided we would do a really touristy weekend to get more familiar with Dublin and everything it had to offer. On Friday we went to the Guinness Storehouse (hopefully you got to see what I wrote about that experience). Saturday morning James, Kendra and I had planned on going on a Viking bus tour, but they were all booked so we decided to do one of the regular city bus tours. And we were not disappointed!

BONUS: How to Properly Drink Beer, with Illustrations

In case you don't know how to properly drink your Guinness (or other beers, I assume), here's a handy guide! I have done demonstrations in case you were confused.

A Brew from the Top (Week 1, Day 5)

I had a half day at work today, came home, cleaned, and then got ready for today's festivities. I won't waste your time with boring words. Here are the awesome pictures of our tour of the Guinness Storehouse:

Patriots (Week 1, Day 4)

Thursday was the Fourth of July, and apparently no one here celebrates it! I know, I was shocked too. So I asked the people at my work where the most American place in Dublin was, and they told me there was an American-themed restaurant called Captain America's in the city center. That sounded promising.

Pub Times (Week 1, Day 3)

One of the obvious hard parts of jet lag is staying awake when your body wants to sleep. One of the not-so-obvious hard parts is going to sleep when your body wants to be awake. Thanks to this wonderful little conundrum, I wasn't able to go to sleep Tuesday until pretty late. So Wednesday was the first day since we've gotten here that I've really been dragging around. It was tough to stay focused during work.

Fitting In (Week 1, Day 2)

On Tuesday I tried getting a later bus than Monday, and still got to work on time. I was already figuring out exactly how late I could sleep in without being late, and it was looking pretty good. My first project was really cool because it gave me an opportunity to learn about the place I was working.

The New Kid (Week 1, Day 1)

Alright, and we're back! Sorry for the long hiatus. Judging by how this week went, I think that I'm going to do all my posts Friday about my week at work, and then probably one post on Sunday about my weekend. I'll see how it goes. Thanks for everyone who has given me feedback on my writing! I'm glad so many people enjoy it.

Intro - Landing, City, and Church

A few things. First, our internet has been sketchy at best so I haven't been able to update recently. Second, I received feedback that my first real post was "too long," so I'm going to try to trim them down. And, related to that, third, I am going to combine my entries for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'll mix in my revelations from those three days as I go forward and just list the events. I'm sorry I got behind but I don't want to let that hold me back, so I'm gonna zoom through this weekend.