First Days in Ireland

As I flew in over the west Coast of Ireland, the most amazingly brilliant red sun began to rise over the horizon.  It was so red that it created a rainbow affect, making it look like a Irish rainbow was rising out of the country.  The landscape was first and foremost incredibly green; the Emerald Isle is a truly fitting name.  Hills and mountains quickly gave way to open countryside, which was divided into distinct sectors of land with stone and wood fences.  The property lines are not straight like in America though, and create a green mosaic that could compete with some avaunt garde art.

Once I landed the sun was fully up and there was not a cloud in site.  Daniel, the irishman helping me out with my internship, picked me up from the airport and took me to my B&B in Dun Laoghaire.  The owner was a nice older lady who greeted me by name as soon as she opened the door.  After a quick breakfast and then a three hour nap I was ready to start exploring the area.

Dun Laoghaire is a gorgeous suburb of Dublin that is located right along the coast, but it is technically considered part of Dublin.  In other words, Dublin is divided into county's like Portland is divided into neighborhoods like the Sellwood, Pearl District and downtown.  Dun Laoghaire.  You can look at the pictures I took to get a better idea of what the area looks like.  Went out to a pub that night with another intern named Rebecca and had my first Irish pint of Guinness.  To be honest, it didn't taste that different, but Daniel told me that there are a few places I can go to that pour an amazing pint.  I'll get back to you once I have given these a try.

Saturday I explored how the local light rail (called the DART) worked by taking it to one of the other neighborhoods called Blackrock.  It is really nice with big comfy seats that puts the MAX to shame.  Later that night I moved into my home stay house and met my host mom (Kathy) and dad (Michael).  They are nice couple in there 60's that have hosted two other interns from Oregon in the past.  They have three boys all around my age or older that still live at the house to some extent.  There are also two dogs, including a puppy pug that is absolutely adorable (lennox or lenny for short).  I have had several nice talks with Kathy so far and appear to have really lucked out with a true Irish mom who is super nice with the gift of gab; I couldn't ask for anything better.  My room is at the top of the house and while although small is still bigger than my room at DTD so its no problem.  Photos to come soon.

I start work tomorrow and am a little nervous but much more excited.  I will certainly post an entry tomorrow about Urbun after the first day of work to let you all know what its like.  Check out the other posts right after this for more insight to specifics of Ireland that I have already discovered.