Potatoes and Guinness in Ireland

I'm now in the land of potatoes and Guinness... I arrived in Dublin on Tuesday to begin my year of work and travel.

My first impressions of Dublin are pretty good- lots of pretty buildings and rivers winding through the city. The bars really fit the Irish pub stereotype- old, quaint and rowdy with people playing fiddles in the corner and drinking pints of Guinness.

The one thing that has struck me about Dublin is the lack of Irish.... everywhere I go I hear Spanish, Italian, German, French, Swedish, Polish etc etc. And the English I do hear is not that of the Irish variety. You can really see the money here, and the prices reflect it- 5.50 Euros for a beer (thats NZ $11!) It would have been really interesting to see the city 20 years ago, I imagine it would have been a much different place.

I also love how everyone pretends its not really cold here- there are girls wearing cocktail dresses at midnight- even worse than the Loaded Hog in mid-winter!

I'm in the process of trying to find a flat and job, which is proving more difficult than I thought. I'm going into a temp agency tomorrow to see what I can find, and flat hunting is sporadic.

Its hard getting used to being in one place again, although I think it will feel good to have my own room again after 4 months in dorm rooms. And my own pillow. Luxury!

I will post photos soon.