Quay to My Heart

Ahhh the Irish accent... full of sarcasm, charm and the scent of sweet fresh Guinness.

I received this lovely gift from Ms. Brown, my grade school principle, when she found out I was studying abroad. I don't know how, but she knew that I would be in desperate need of some help with a good fake accent... I wish I could say it helped, but I did not get good feedback. This will need some work.

It was like a switch that someone flipped. As soon as our plane landed everyone started speaking with an accent. I was hypnotized by their voices... I wonder if they thought it was weird that I was staring and smiling? nahhh. The guard at customs was a bit more relaxed than I anticipated... As he handed me a card and told me I had to pay 150 euro for extended stay insurance, he smirked and said that if I didn't... "Ehh well next time you come to Errland you'll be locked up for years and beat with a leather strap... ha ha ha..." NOT funny. but oh so charming. OK in the country legally. Next mission: COFFEE. Head to the cafe/bar and ask a nice old man for a cup o joe. He says "coffee? Are you sure you're not ready for a beer? (then muttered something most likely highly sarcastic and full of weird slang). It was 7:45am there. He was quite the wise man... told me all I needed to do to have a good time was go with the Irish flow... he also told me that "tomorrow is a holy day, holier than most... I'm not quite sure why but it is... sunday's are pretty holy... Christmas is pretty damn holy. It's too holy that people don't even act holy anymore. There's too much holiness going on." annnddd I'm out. I just google irelanded it and tomorrow is the day of Epiphany.

Ali, our bus driver, took us down the "Quays" (pronounced "keys:" main streets that run parallel to the Liffey River) to our new apartments downtown Dublin. He single handedly made sure that our luggage fit in our bus, even if it was stacked 6 ft tall all the way down the aisle. Fire hazards were not a huge concern for Ali. After a lot of unpacking, testing the electricity cards (ughhh), shopping for the necessities and getting to know everyone in the program, I fell in love right on the Quays. Yes... approximately 12 hrs into my trip and I'm in love with an irish graphic designer named rob. For the record he does not have red hair. Ok well I might just be in love with the Irish accent.