I finally made it here safely after a four and half hour delay at the airport (hey, thanks, AerLingus for that $15 meal voucher!). I realized when I was going through customs that I had been to the Dublin airport about 15 times but had never stepped outside, and I was very glad to do so.
After a lovely lunch and a stop back at her apartment to drop off my stuff, Hannah and I walked back into town and she showed me around a bit. We went to an interesting exhibit of a famous illuminated manuscript from the 9th century (the 9th century!) called the Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library, which itself has been around in some form since 1592 (1592!). Then we went to an exhibit on good ol' WB (Yeats, that is). PS, I saw The Circus Animal's Desertion in the flesh, Abby! And then, of course, as good Irish people do, we went and had a cup of tea.
I've been able to make a few project-related observations so far, though I haven't done anything formal yet. For example, Hannah told me that her more British accent makes her self conscious living in Dublin, and people sometimes ask her why she speaks like that, and have even made fun of her. We also watched this Irish sitcom called "Father Ted," which apparently everyone watches, about three rather ridiculous priests who live on an island off the west coast of the Republic. In one scene, the housekeeper and one of the priests have gotten in trouble and need to bailed out of jail, and Father Ted tries to get the police officer to let them off free because he's a priest. The officer replies, "I'm Protestant, Father," and Father Ted looks at him funny and then pays the bail. It's things like that that are making me realize how much attitudes are ingrained. Just from my first day!
And then there are more non-project but interesting things -- for example, abortion is not legal here. And two of Hannah's friends were telling us stories about their very small town in the west, where everyone from the bus driver to the maths teacher to the priest is a drunk.
So, it was a great and interesting day. And at the end of it, I'm happy to be in an apartment where I can talk to a fish named Albert:
And curl up in bed with Hannah and a giant hippopotamus named Hittema:
I head to Belfast tomorrow, so my next post will be from there!Until then,
Sarah
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