African Sunrise

I’m in Dublin. Need I say more? I feel like that sentence alone is enough to express the sheer amazing, incredible, outstanding (and every other synonym) time I am having. I arrived on a beautiful sunny Saturday, a rarity I am told. The weather wasn’t the only sunny thing I encountered; the Dubliners all had dispositions to match. I should’ve started off a bit on the grumpy side after Delta broke the handle on my big suitcase so that it wouldn’t come up for me to wheel it around with ease, and then they have the nerve to claim ‘not liable for damages to handles and wheels’ but it is impossible to stay upset when the people you are complaining to apologize in an adorable accent and top it off with a ‘Cheers!’ as you leave. I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous I must have looked bending over so much that I was practically crawling on my knees just to get my suitcase to wheel along behind me.  Once I was out of the airport, I met a cheery bus ticket salesman, and then a cheery bus driver, and then a cheery cab driver. By the time I made it to my flat I was downright chipper. And then I was greeted by a cheery, though hard to understand through his accent, front desk attendant.

After unloading all my stuff in my flat, my roommate and I joined a few other girls to get cleaning supplies and groceries. We made our way up to Grafton St., one of Dublin’s shopping hubs. It’s an adorable street filled with a variety of shops, street performers, and human statues. We had lunch at this cute little café on a side street where we found a friendly Brazilian waiter who filled us in on all the must see sites of Dublin. How do you top off a great first day? With a fabulous first night of course! I am lucky enough to be joined here by my favorite person in the whole state of Arizona for the first 5 days of my stay. We met up to enjoy Dublin’s night life together, and I got to meet some really fun girls in her program. I look forward to as many more Irish adventures as we can fit in and a weekend trip out to Scotland to visit her after she leaves me.

Even a ‘showery and blustery’ Sunday couldn’t ruin my spirits. Why? Because I am in Dublin. 30 of us Americans met up for a little PowerPoint orientation, and then a ride on the Viking Splash Tour. It was a car shaped as a boat. We got to wear Viking hats and scream at unsuspecting victims on the sidewalk. Besides all the silliness, it was actually really interesting because Dublin is full of beautiful, old and interesting buildings but I had no idea what any of them where. The tour went all around Dublin, and we learned about anything and everything the city has to offer. Then, at the end, we discover this is not just a car shaped as a boat, it is an actual boat. They strapped giant floaties on the sides of the boat and we set sail in this small lake formed by a lock in the River Liffey. It was on this lake that we saw the old boathouse were U2 has recorded all but 2 albums, as well as a new arena, many posh apartments, and boats from WWII made from cement. After the tour, we went to dinner and a show at the restaurant of a hotel. While enjoying a tasty 3-course Irish meal, I got to listen to an Irish band and then watch some Irish dancing. It is incredible how fast their feet were moving. It is safe to say they were a little more advanced than I ever was in my Irish dancing days. To top off the night, I bonded with an Irish boy over our matching hair colors, and he introduced me to a new color description for it, “African Sunrise.”

My first day on the job was both about what I expected and better than I expected. I have a short 15 minute walk past a canal, bustling shop and restaurant area of Baggot St., and shady residential area. The small collection of offices resides in an old fashioned apartment building. I jumped into a team of two Portuguese interns that have been there since January and will stay until July, a graphic designer, and a researcher/associate producer. There wasn’t much for me to do today, which is what I expected, but that is because they are going to have me editing, unexpected (at least this early), and the director was out shooting footage so there was nothing for me to edit yet. So, my day was spent reading up on Gaelic football, predominantly about the women’s league, because I will be working on a documentary series that follows a women’s Gaelic football team. After the summer, they will be making a spinoff documentary series that follows the star player as she comes to America on a soccer scholarship at Northwestern.

After chatting with the associate producer, I learned that she joined the company in April and before she had worked with a company that was bringing gambling into Dublin. The gambling system was designed by Penn State grads, the same grads that created the LionMenus website us Nittany Lions have come to know and love. Small world!

Walking on the way back from work, I was loving life. I felt so assimilated already. I know three different ways to get to the St. Stephen’s Green and Grafton St. area from my flat. Granted I had to get lost three times for that to be the case, but now I know every way possible to get there and back. I was told I look Irish today at work, and on my walk home, I definitely felt Irish. Strutting along, alone, not lost, with my African Sunrise hair, I felt like I belonged here. If I just don’t open my mouth, I could pass as a Dubliner. Until I try and cross the street and almost get hit by a car because I’m looking the wrong way and don’t see it coming from my right. As long as I keep my mouth shut and stay on the sidewalk, I can totally pass as a native Irish person. I’m not just making this up. Twice I have been asked for directions. The first was by tourists but the second time was today by an Irish women. Just as I was getting back to my apartment building a car pulls over and a female Irish accent comes out the window asking how to get to such and such. For a brief instant, I thought about whipping out a fake accent to go along with some fake directions to give her, but I decided against it and replied in my plain old Yankee accent, “Sorry, but I have no idea.” It’s okay, though. Why? Because I’m in Dublin.