Sunday, December 23, 2012

A pint please.

What do international teachers do during Thanksgiving?  We travel!  I haven't had Thanksgiving off from work in years, but this year we lucked out.  So off to Dublin, Ireland we went.

When we walked the campus of Trinity College, Ireland's oldest university (1592), my thought was... Do they have a teacher's college here?  One day, down the road, when I hold a PhD in International Education, I could teach HERE!  It was beautiful.  And cool.  I would feel so cool working there.


It was winter and rainy as we walked the streets of Dublin.  In all honesty, the rain was what I pictured before arriving in Ireland.  Even in the cold and wet, it had an ambiance that made me think, "Even with the rain and cold, I could live here."  It was such a quaint, friendly city.  The bartender in the pub.  The taxi driver.  The pharmacist (that's another story).  So chatty and welcoming.  The Irish are a bit louder and jovial than the Hungarian crowd I've been hanging with.  The weirdest part for us - everyone spoke English.  Very convenient!

First stop the first morning in Dublin - The Guinness Brewery.  Will's mission!  We learned to pour our own pint, which is actually a skill.  Now I know.  The first two glasses below were poured by Will and me.  It was really interesting, especially after having read The Search for God and Guinness.  Good book whether or not you like God or Guinness.


Between pubs and pints of Guinness, we walked and saw the sites.  I know that European pictures start to all look the same country after country, city after city, post after post.  But this city really did feel different than others.  It was like a bunch of little home towns in a big city.  Every corner had a local pub.  Every neighborhood had a different feel.



After four days in Dublin, we've decided that the next time we come to Ireland, we'll rent a car and drive throughout the island.  I know there is so much more to see.

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