Just because Kate said my post was too tame...

Here's me drinking some fantastic Bulmers at a local pub!

Day 4: Delicious Dublin

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti

I must say one of the best things about Dublin so far is the food! The first night I met up with Norah she made a fantastic soup using all fresh ingredients from the market (she is far more gifted in the culinary arts than I). One of my favorite parts of the meal was a loaf of honey rye bread and butter, the bread here is just fantastic! Even the cheapest loaves taste like they're from panera, and so fresh!

Here is my grocery loot from a couple days ago

Notice how tiny and cute and impractical the milk sizes are? Dairy products expire in like three days here, as Missy informed me before departure, because they don't use the same preservatives as American food.

I've been eating the porridge and soup the past few days for every meal I've eaten here, the soup is especially good if you add a little milk and cut up some fresh carrots!

Fruit and fibre is fantastic! It tastes like cobbler cereal! It's like raisin bran, but in addition to raisins there are also dried apples and bananas, quite excellent.

But here's my lifesaving favorite...Panda Butter!

It says "American Style" right on the label, and it is pretty convincing! I've tried to avoid just eating it straight out of the jar like I do with Skippy and Jiff!

Catching up with Norah has been fantastic, we've done a lot of bonding at this coffee shop by her apartment and my school called The Bald Barista. It's owned by a (bald) Australian who likes to call everyone "gorgeous." He's also a fantastic artist as evidenced by Norah's latte and my white mocha...

Last night I had my first taste of Indian food, in Ireland nonetheless, and today Norah and I tried a fish and chips place literally right around the corner from my apartment. They have a five euro fish and chips takeout special, I'm already looking forward to Lent Fridays.

All these fantastic ingredients and meals have got me inspired to whip up something creative in the kitchen, maybe I'll look up a soup recipe or go all-out crazy and get some walnuts for my porridge. We'll see.

Tonight I went to Whitefriar church. The 7pm mass isn't too popular, probably because there wasn't any music and the pews are extremely uncomfortable. They somehow designed them so you HAVE to sit up straight, its an engineering miracle probably patented by the Catholic church.

Day 1: Just Touched Down in Dublin Town

There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror. - Orson Welles

Thankfully my travel experience was mostly just plain boring. From Pittsburgh to JFK, and then the 7 hour flight from JFK to Dublin went swimmingly. I had two seats to myself and attempted to maneuver myself into something resembling a common sleeping position, but only succeeding in partially falling into the aisle as a man rocking his baby walked by. I opted out of the in-flight movies, read an Irish Times, surprisingly enjoyed the pasta and mimicked rest for four hours.

I was relieved this afternoon once I was completely moved into my apartment, even if my closet doesn't have a bar in it to hang things up. I like my band tees perfectly uncreased. Seriously, I did bring one nice outfit that deserves a hanger!

Besides that, the room is pretty nice. I'm the first of four to arrive. Plans changed, I was supposed to just have one roommate but now there's four and I'm actually kind of excited. Let's be serious, I don't have friends right now so being forced to socialize with two more people isn't a bad thing. I'm enjoying my night alone to settle in and watch Friends, Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother on ITV. So much for culture.

I walked over by St. Stephen's Green, which I can't wait to explore more. I got a pre-pay cell phone which will rarely be used, but I kept reaching frantically into my coat pocket thinking I lost my phone...oh, wait, I don't have one. Only 40 euros to replace that phantom limb. I had big plans of going to the market, but, alas, at 5pm I was ready for bed. I'm going to make it to at least 10pm!

The shower was interesting at first...
But I figured it out, it's actually kind of better than American showers because the bathtub and the shower head are separate water connections. That's what was tripping me up!

Rest of my room...



Off to see Norah!!