Two Weeks In Ireland: Guinness and Rain and Getting Lost

Second day in the city. I am getting used to the constant drizzle of rain, but I think I still prefer my 300 days of sunshine in Colorado. We went around and explored the city a bit...well, actually, we went out trying to find this place called The Long Hall that's supposed to be amazing, but we got lost so many times we just called it exploring. Apparently there is a North King Georges St and a South King Georges St and they are nowhere near each other. Clearly, navigating Dublin has proved to be a little tricky, we've all been so spoiled with Denver's neat little grid layout.

Dublin is not an exact grid and streets are not labeled super clearly, so it makes following directions a bit difficult. There's nothing wrong with that; locals obviously know exactly where they are going, it's just a learning curve for foreigners. Luckily, people on the streets and in shops are very helpful and always willing to give directions. While we're on the subject of getting lost, what should have been a 10-minute walk to Temple Bar, Dublin's iconic night-life neighborhood, turned into a 90-minute trek to the outskirts of the city.

Here's a recipe for success: two American girls coming off jet lag + scantily labeled map + no sense of direction. What did this get us? Mostly cold, wet and hungry. We knew we just had to cross the Liffey River to get to Temple Bar, but we went the wrong way and just kept walking, convinced we would soon find the river. Spoiler alert: we did not. Finally we had the sense to turn around and finally got to TB. We went to Foggy's Bar and ordered some fish and chips and a pint of Guinness. It's sort of funny, all the Americans order Guinness because it's the 'thing to do' but literally every Irish person I've heard order a beer orders Budweiser or Coors.

Anyway, we were so hungry after skipping lunch and walking around all day, we downed dinner in like 10 minutes and headed back to the hotel. We managed not to get lost on the way back and walked through O'Connell Street to our hotel. O'Connell Street is sort of like the 16th Street Mall of Dublin, but only in the sense that it's a hub for downtown shopping and dining. Otherwise, there's very different feel between the two. O'Connell dwarfs 16th St.; it's absolutely enormous and filled to the brim with every type of shop, cafe, pub or restaurant imaginable.

Tomorrow everyone will be here so we will officially start our course and working with our companies, but for now that's it!