Observations & Complaints

A few things of mention:



- Carrots.
The carrots here are delicious (all kinds, all shapes). I have grown to love the carrot coins and the carrot sticks. I think they are meant to be in stews, but I love them raw. (Jenn, you would love them!) I will never taste carrots so sweet and with such perfect texture anywhere else.

- Exercise is not as readily accepted as is in the US.
We have found maybe two gyms throughout all of Dublin thus far. And, you don't see your
neighbor Mr. Jones running every Saturday morning to keep his heart in check.
Generally, people just walk everywhere here...and I guess that suffices for increasing your
heart rate to them. I have grown timid to power walk throughout the neighborhood....
especially after Monica, Elizabeth and I were hooted and hollered at the first weekend
here. Oops... I didn't know that Europeans don't exercise in shorts!

-St. Stephen's Green is beautiful but...
If you want a quiet park to "have a think" (they say this phrase often here) and chill out,
this is probably not the place for you. It is an excellent place to people watch, however.
Luckily, I have found a beautiful park called Merrion Square...to "have a think".

-St. Patrick's Cathedral charges!
Yes, that is right. You have to pay 4 euro to get a glimpse of this tourist attraction. Now,
upon entering the church, the first thing I saw was the lady behind the "pay desk". I
walked right out. I am hoping to get around this fee by attending mass there on an
upcoming Sunday. I just hope I don't get charged to attend mass. Now THAT is would
be a perfect example as to why so many Chreasters (Christmas-Easter only
church-goers) believe the Catholic church to be 'money hungry'. I'll keep you posted.

-Showering.
The first thing I am going to do when I get home is take one long, steamy, until I'm pruny
shower. The water in our shower can be steaming hot if you turn on the water heater and
allow the water to heat for 30 - 45 min...but just pray that it won't turn cold on you after
five minutes. I have yet to have a truly decent shower.

-The metric system.
I do not think that I will ever grasp this concept. I do not read distance in kilometers, and
I do not cook in Celsius degrees. I like the weather read in Fahrenheit, and food
labels read by cups and ounces rather than per 100 grams serving. I do have
to admit, I like their front-of-pack labeling. And, after a summer at IFIC, I know that
good, standardized front-of-pack labeling will hopefully be coming our way to the US soon:)

-Bus Drivers.
Bus drivers in Ireland (from what I have seen on the streets as they pull up to the roadside) dress amazingly. When I think of a bus driver, I often think of a dumpy, frumpy individual. (Note: this is not always true...I love my bus drivers from home.) Here, they wear sweaters and button-down shirts, or ties and a button-down shirt. Let me just say...I am impressed!

-Groceries, heavy-lifing, and the sweats.
Ah, food. It will be heaven to be able to drive to the grocery store, walk a few yards, buy as much food as you could possibly want in a one-stop trip, cart your food to your car, load it, and drive home. I went to the grocery store today to get ingredients for our dinner tomorrow night (It is our turn to have the guys over). I did not even get that much food, but between my book bag, my extra-large reusable Aldi bag, and the 2-liter of off-brand diet pop in my left hand, I was a wreck by the time I got home. I appreciate the exercise, but I'd appreciate it more if I was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. Again, a pity shorts are not well accepted!

-Huff-puff-smoke.
Mom, Dad....if I come home with a black lung, I blame it on the crazily high amounts of people that puff out their second-hand smoke. I don't mind the occasional smoker walking beside me. It reminds me of my childhood when my grandma used to smoke and we would take trips to Lansing to visit my grandparents. Nostalgic, if you will. But, sometimes while walking, there will be a smoker to the left, right, front, and back of me...that's a cloud of puff from which I may never recover.

-Food flavors.
While some of the flavors of foods I have noted to be, well, a little bizarre, I have come to find that there are some foods that taste amazing! They have a delicious pomegranate-filled wheatie (think frosted mini wheats but without frosting and filled with a pomegranate flavored center). Mom, you would love that! I also found a chocolate wheatie but have yet to try it. I'll let you know if I ever do. Their yogurt flavors include hazelnut, melon, and pineapple among others. Oh, and I found this delicious little raisin biscuit covered in a thin layer of milk chocolate. At 2.5 grams of fat per biscuit...I'll take it! I am still not too keen on my milk situation, but I'll manage for the near 2 months that I am here. I miss foods in the states, but I know that I will eventually get to have those again. I fear that once I leave the EU, I'll desire their foods and I won't be able to reconcile my cravings. :) Oh dear...