Realizing That Where I Am Is Much Like Being Back Home

Being in a foreign country, it is quite a given that there are going to be a lot of differences between that particular country and the country where you are from. Now as stated in previous blog posts, being here in Ireland is a lot, I don't want to say easier, but it is better for me as someone who doesn't speak a foreign language, to be somewhere where English is the main language spoken. Of course with those differences come similarities as well.

Clothing wise a lot of people here dress up more than people back at home. I can only talk for myself and from my own experience, but most college students back in the states do not dress up that much for class. We wear leggings, jeans, a sweater or just any outfit that is simple and easy to throw on. We normally do not put that much thought into what you will be wearing to your 8 a.m. class, well of course unless you do put a lot of thought into that decision, then more power to you. Anyways, college students here, whether they are Irish students or other study abroad/exchange students from other countries, I have noticed that they get more dressed up for class. Not necessarily wearing suit, ties and ball gowns, but the girls wear dresses and skirts a lot as well as heels and boots, but thinking about it, that is the style here. Their casual dress is more of a higher tick on our fancy scale, which I like to see as well as realizing how different it is to actually see it.

Going to the restaurants here is very similar to back home. You walk in, either seat your self or a waiter or waitress seats you. You then receive a food and drink menu, you order a drink, then order your food, then receive both food and drink, consume your meal, then pay and leave. One thing about paying though is tipping. Here in Ireland of course they won't turn down a tip, but they aren't really big on tipping in general. Back in the states we are huge on tipping and especially if everyone were to always tip 20%, the waiters and waitresses are making bank, but as I said, that isn't the case here. They will accept a tip from you, but they are never expecting it. If you don't tip them they won't come up to you saying was it bad service? Did you not like me? And all of those other questions running through the wait staff's mind when they receive a bad tip. Going off of that difference, there is another major difference with the restaurant atmosphere and that is that there are mainly pubs here in Ireland, not really restaurants, so whenever you want to go out for a nice quiet dinner, do not go to a pub, because at a pub all you will get is live music which I couldn't be happier about. Of course not all pubs do live music, especially everyday, but no matter what corner you turn, you will be able to find a pub that suits your needs.

Slang is something that I really haven't been learning while being here. To me if I were to use Irish slang I would feel very fake. I do not want to impersonate the people who live here and treat them like they are a museum exhibit to make fun of, of course not. Now when people come up to me and use slang and I ask what it means, they do not hesitate to tell me, so I am learning it yes, but do I use it, no. I feel comfortable with using some slang the Irish people use, such as something as simple as they call french fries, chips, which I wouldn't really consider slang, but there are things like that where I feel comfortable, but besides that I do not want to be disrespectful.

When I am not traveling on the weekends I try and do some sort of activity here in Dublin so I can still get out of my room and explore. Even if it is just going downtown to a place I have already been, I don't want to be sitting in my room when I have the experience of a life time. Of course with that being said, there are certain circumstances where sitting in your room and taking a breather for a night is completely acceptable. My weekends although are fun and action packed, traveling can take a real toll on you and tire you out. Now since I have been here I have visited multiple different cities in Ireland, as well as Germany, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and this past weekend I was in the Netherlands. I love traveling, I have always loved going to new places so being able to have the opportunity to fly wherever I want for a cheaper price than flying from the states, it is such a deal breaker. Anyone who ever studies abroad, I highly recommend traveling and seeing different parts of the world. I wish I had more money and that there were more weekends in my time here where I don't need to be studying for exams and working on major projects so I could travel to more countries, but I still have a few more up my sleeve that I am really looking forward to.

Safety is a major concern with me. With what is going on in the world, not even just now, but ever since I was young, I have always been someone who likes the follow the rules and be responsible. That particular category, safety falls underneath it for me. It makes me feel very powerless when I do not feel safe and that to me is one of the worst feelings in the world. I do not mean the feeling of "power," I mean feeling defenseless and physically weak. If anything were to ever happen that were to put my family, friends or I in any danger, I would want to be able to take care of us, so safety is a major high on my must need list. Ireland so far has been quite safe. I haven't felt unsafe at any particular point, of course there are certain superstitions with if you are walking alone, you always need to be aware of your surroundings, but no I have not felt unsafe, which I value very much.

Now the celebrations here are a little bit more extravagant than back home. Back home people go all out with parties, but there is more history and traditions here that I loved learning about. Traditionally I always thought that Halloween came from the Mexican celebration of Día de Los Muertos, which means Day of the Dead. I learned about it in school when I was young, but I never really knew where the origin came from. Well being over here in Ireland, Halloween is an even bigger deal than I thought. In some of the classes I am taking here, I am learning about the Irish's Halloween traditions as well as where Halloween actually came from. Now to answer my own question, Halloween originated here in Ireland and people just brought it to other countries. It wasn't originally called Halloween, it was, well is, called Samhain. It is the night of October 31 leading into the morning of November 1 which marks the ending of the Harvest season and the beginning of the winter season. This particular day is apart of the "Quarter Days" and these days are pretty self explanatory. There are four marked days throughout the year, the first is Saint Brigid's Day which is February 1, May Day which is May 1, Lunasa which is August 1 and then Samhain which is November 1. All of these days represent the ending of one season and the beginning of another, which these days are what the Irish people base their entire year and harvest off of.

In the states, people like to carve pumpkins and here in Ireland they do too, but that apparently is an American tradition that after Halloween was brought over to America, the carving of pumpkins was brought back to Ireland. Before carving pumpkins though, children would carve turnips in Ireland. Now imagine it, instead of carving a big orange jack-o'-lantern, putting a candle in it and then setting it out on your front porch, you would carve a tiny turnip instead. It's quite different huh? Besides just the simple tradition of carving pumpkins, also the act of guising is very big in Ireland. For those of you reading who do not know what guising it, it is dressing up in different costumes and disguising yourself as someone else. The Aran Islands have a long lasting tradition where adults would completely disguise themselves as someone opposite from who they were and either cause mischief or just walk around at night confusing people. Tall people would walk with a hunch, young people would hold a cane, if someone was at a bar ordering a drink, they would just point at what they wanted so no one knew who was talking as well as they wouldn't order a drink they would normally get so no one knew who it was. They took guising very seriously and once that was then brought to other countries, it was brought back to Ireland, but now children dress up as their favorite character, or a super hero, or a pumpkin or anything they want and go trick or treating.

Trick or treating is also something that was brought back over to Ireland. At the beginning of Samhain, it was a very mischievous night, which some Americans might associate Halloween as "Mischief Night." Now I have heard it being called that before, but I never put two and two together. Apparently on Halloween, so many people would play pranks that when they were saying "trick or treat" they weren't just waiting for candy, but if the person giving didn't give them any candy, money, etc. then they would get an actual trick played on them. I don't know about you, but when I was younger and if someone didn't give me candy, I wouldn't play a trick on them, but that was the tradition here in Ireland. A very real tradition that in some parts still exist today. Another interesting fact about Halloween in Ireland is they always light off fireworks and around the island, certain towns, if not all, love to light bonfires. Because of this day and age some get too out of hand so they are somewhat dying out, but they are alive enough to where it is just like home. Although specifically we do not light bonfires because of Halloween, but during the time of year Halloween is on, bonfires are still a major thing to do. Now I do wish I would have seen a bonfire, but I'm sort of glad I didn't. If I would have, it would have really made me miss home and that is something that would make me sad, and for that particular holiday, it would take a lot to ruin it for me.

I thouroughly enjoyed Halloween this year because it is one of my absolute favorite holidays and being able to celebrate it where it originated from was so much fun. I did what any normal college student would do, I went out to a costume party, hung out with my friends and had a great Halloween night. It was so cool to hear fire works and to look out my window while getting ready and see them light up the sky. It was so enjoyable to be able to experience such a big festival in a different country and it is something I will always remember.