June 16

Today was the most stressful, hectic, frustrating, tiring, and hilarious days of my life.

If you've got some time.. I have a story for you...

So Jenny and I both had our job interviews today. Please note we have only been in Ireland for two days, we don't know our way around, AT ALL, and we were "kinda" given directions to where we needed to go, but it required several bus and luas trips and it seemed like a very big task, to just GET to the interview. My interview was at 10am and hers was at 2pm, so we decided to accompany each other to help ease the stress and help when we would inevitably get lost.

Jenny, Meghan and I met outside at 8am, and walked to the bus stop. Although we had two hours to spare the the trip was only supposed to take 40 minutes, we knew we needed to plan ahead. And good thing we did.

(The 8am bus crowd.)

So, according to the directions, we should take the bus to the main street in the city, O'Connell Street, walk to Lower Abbey Street, and jump on the luas from there. When we got to Abbey Street we split off from Meghan and saw the stop for the luas! Yay! We found it. It was like a scavenger hunt for us! So right as we walk up to the luas stop, here comes the red line, stopping right in front of us. This is exactly what we needed, so we quickly jump on.

Note: On the buses in Ireland, if you don't have a bus pass, you pay the euro-sixty in cash (coins) when you get on the bus. You walk on and drop the exact change into a box. We had never taken the luas before, and assumed the system was the same. So we run and jump on the luas. When we get in, we realize something's different.. there's no where to place money, and no one collecting it.

Should we have gotten tickets somewhere else? Were we supposed to pay before we got on? We had no clue... So we sat down and just had the money ready in case someone asked. Well someone did ask... like a train, a man came around and punched your tickets or asked to see your passes. Of course Jenny and I played the dumb American card and apologized profusely. The man sighed, and very nicely...kicked us off the luas.

We bought tickets at the stop where we were thrown out, and then jumped back on the next luas that went by. Now we understand the system :) We then followed the directions given to us, and jumped off the luas at the stop called "Black Horse."

(This is the stop we were told to get off the luas at.)

The directions, next, said "cross a small bridge."

(Alright! We found the small bridge...)

We were supposed to take a left, next, on Emmet Street then turn on Tyrconnell Road and six doors down would be Common Ground (the company I'm interning for.) Simple enough. So I took pictures along the walk.

(Pretty church/school on the way.)

So after like... a half hour of not finding the address, we start to panic. Long, long, long, story short... the trip that was supposed to take 40 minutes ended up taking the full two hours we allotted. It turns out the sheet had told us to get off one stop later than we should have. We'll know better for next time. We eventually found the place, in an unmarked door with no signs anywhere, in an area of town extremely similar to downtown Richmond (like the really dirty parts of Cary Street.) I set Jenny up in a cafe with her coffee and Dear John and I went on in.

The interview was at 10, so I was in the door by 9:50, being the typical American as the Irish say. The Irish, on the other hand, don't really listen to clocks. The director with whom the interview was scheduled came in around 10:30. It calmed me down alot when she came in though, because she seems very nice and very laid back.

We talked for about 30 minutes. They seem to have a lot of youth programs and outreach art programs going on right now, and this summer, and I will be helping organize the paperwork for these events, as well as taking photos at the events. It's a very small organization, maybe 5 or 6 staffers, but they work very hard in collaboration with artists to provide mentoring, roundtables, and crits for artists so their art will help improve the inner city area they live in.

After the interview, I picked up Jenny, and we went to grab the luas and go back to where we came from. We wanted to get back to Abbey Street and head to Jenny's interview location, again, allowing ourselves plenty of time.

(This time we head to the luas stop I should have used the first time.)

(Artwork at the luas stop.)

(The stop I was supposed to use. Yeah, by the way, finding our way around is hard enough, but when all the street names are in Gaelic, it makes it much more difficult to ask strangers for directions and not look foolish.)

So. As the story goes. Jenny and I are outside the luas stop and we meet this woman while waiting for the tram. We never got her name, so for the purpose of the story, we will call her "Jill." The luas seems to be taking a while, and this "bing" sound comes from a speaker, and over a random PA system, a voice says that the luas is broken because of an "incident" and who knows how long it will take to fix.

So we silently begin to panic. We are VERY far away from anything remotely familiar, and Jenny has an appointment to get to. Without even saying anything, Jill asks us where we are headed. We answer "Lower Abbey Street." She goes, "ok, come with me, love, I'll show you another way." (And yes, she really did add a "love" to the end of her sentences. It was awesome.)

So... we follow her.

(The best picture of Jill I could take discretely.)

So Jenny and I follow Jill to a freaking random area in the middle of some suburbs where Jill seems to know every passing stranger by their first name. Here, we stand, at a bus stop, that Jill promises will eventually get us back to Abbey Road. She promises. And she boards the bus with us. We take the bus for about 10 minutes and it starts to make noises....

Ptttt...
Pttt.....

We see lots... of black smoke. The bus starts skidding. We are questioning what to do and Jill turns around from her seat and points to us and slags "you jinxed us!" (See my use of Irish slang there... yeah that's right, learning the lingo, haha.)

Soooo... the bus is broken now in a random place. We exit the bus, and are told the bus pulling up behind us will take over the route and take us to Abbey Street. We walk towards the bus, and Jill pulls us away. She says we should walk. It's faster at this point, it's a gorgeous day, and she'll show us the prettiest walk on the Boardwalk.

Jill is super nice and not creepy and just an honest, good woman. So we weren't scared, and followed Jill. "Just a ten minute walk, love, and a beautiful walk. Lovely, just lovely."

(On the way to the Boardwalk.)

(Jenny and Jill.)

(Barrels of Guinness leaving the distillery.)

So about 5 minutes into our "10" minute walk, Jill reveals that the walk is actually more like 20 minutes. Jenny and I shoot each other looks and just keep walking. Jill then decides, sweetly of course, to play tour guide. She pointed out to us the "famous HayPenny Bridge."


(The River Liffy again as we walked by.)


Then we saw another bridge. And she corrected herself. THIS bridge was indeed the famous one, not the one previously mentioned.

(The Boardwalk and a bridge. Not the famous one.)

(The actual, famous HayPenny Bridge.)

She did this same thing four or five times. And then told us we would pass about 10 more bridges before we got back to City Centre. This 10 minute, beautiful walk was turning into a journey.

She pointed out Four Courts to us, the famous old sporting arena where people were killed for sport, basically.

She then corrected herself, when we got to the real Four Courts.

(Jenny poses at a stop light, right after I almost got crushed by a bus.)

(I thought my mom would like this because of the bird on the top of the statue's head.)

Anyways...Jill was nice. But a little off.

So we finally arrived at Abbey Street. Jill didn't just point out the way when we got back to O'Connell... she literally walked us TO the busstop we needed.

So.. here we go again. We hopped on the bus. This time we were heading towards Jenny's workplace, in the complete opposite direction to anywhere we had ever been. We were looking for the "Hertz Building" which actually turned out to be this enormous Hertz Rental Car Headquarters. According to Jenny's directions, we were supposed to find this landmark and her building would be right next door.

So we did what lost Americans do... as soon as we got on the bus, we turned around and asked this guy if he knew where to go. He nodded and told us that it was quite a ways down and we should get off the bus when we see the "main street." We asked him if the road was actually called "Main Street" or if it was just a major road. He said "don't worry, you won't miss it."

Ok?

We relaxed for about 30 seconds. Every couple streets, we would turn around and verify that we hadn't missed the stop. He was quickly getting annoyed. So this other random man form the back of the bus runs up the aisle and sits behind us. He says he heard us talking and he has clearer directions for us. He whips out his iPhone and shows us googlemaps. He says "get off at the main road. You'll know it because you'll see the castle. Then go up there and over the big roundabout and then the small roundabout and just up this way and there will be a school and lots of speed bumps and it's right there across from Woodies."

Mmmm.. thanks, ok?

He nicely told us "it's about five more minutes ok?" when he exited the bus. Taking the annoyed boy with him. Just so you know, also, when your stop is coming up on Dublin buses, you have to be DOWNSTAIRS, AT the door before the bus stops. The busdrivers seriously open the door for about 4 seconds and then begin driving again. So if you are unsure about the stop, too bad. He isn't waiting for you to look around and make sure. So, immediately, we are timidly looking around. "Do you think that's a castle?" "Should we go downstairs yet?"

ANOTHER random man sitting a few seats away looks at us and goes, "it's ok girls, I'll tell you when to get off."

Everyone on this bus has now heard the panic in our touristy voices and is helping. One thing about the Irish, they are honestly the friendliest people in the world. We haven't met one person yet who hasn't been willing to help us with anything.

(Swords Castle.)

So we get off and see the castle. One day, when we aren't in a rush, we will go back and actually look at Swords Castle. We asked about ten more people on the street for directions and after the LONGEST walk ever to the most remote, secluded, area ever, we find the Hertz building. Whew! We ask some people who WORK at the Hertz Building, where this "next-door" building is. Another Gaelic name, "The Abbco-Kovex House." They had no freaking clue. At all.

We walked around more and more and Jenny screamed when we found it! It was 1:30. This building was ALL ALONE in the world. There was no little cafe for me to sit and wait in. There wasn't even a bench or a curb. So I laid in the grass on my jacket and read my book. The weather was lovely, so it wasn't bad at all. Except that her interview took an hour and a half, because her guy was 40 minutes late (Irish timekeeping again) and the grass I was laying on wasn't grass...it was squishy, plush moss.

(Jenny going in.)

(The grass/moss.)

(Entertaining myself while laying in the sun. The weather in Dublin has been perfect so far. Knock on wood...or tree bark I guess.)

(Another picture for you, mom, to show I was using the little journal you got me.)

(Reading the paper.)

So after Jenny's interview finally ended, and she emerged from the isolated building, we decided our last stop before returning home would be to Tesco (the grocery store.) We really need to stop eating out and save money by grocery shopping and cooking at home. So we made a list and went to buy groceries.

(Grocery store signs.)

So while shopping, we discovered why Americans are fat (compared to Irish people, in this example)...
#1- The portions of EVERYTHING are much, much smaller in Ireland.
#2- Things are more expensive in Ireland.
#3- You have to pay to use a shopping cart (trolley)...meaning Irish people probably don't use shopping carts, and therefore buy less groceries.
#4- You have to pay for plastic bags. Individually. Same reasoning as number three.
#5- You have to walk home carrying your groceries. Ok, not all Irish people have to do that, but many Irish don't have cars. Let me tell you... Jenny and I had the HARDEST time carrying two or three bags a piece back to the apartments. It was insane. We stopped probably ten times because our circulation was getting cut off. The bags were freaking heavy. And we didn't buy much food...

(We have to cook for seven weeks ok?)

So we got home, and cooked one of the fabulous meals we bought together at Tesco.. frozen pizza! It was quick and easy and allowed us to crash at home after our hectic day. It feels never ending. I have to get up again tomorrow morning at 7 to go back to work and do this all over again. Hopefully I'll have an easier time getting there... but for those of you who know me well... I should really leave myself a bunch of extra time again.

(We cook in Celsius here, by the way.)


(Jenny, her pizza, and the closest thing to napkins we had.)



Goodnight all. Comments are appreciated :)