Packing in all the TRAVEL!!

So I've pretty much stayed around the Dublin area so far, and met a lot of cool people and gotten to know Ireland fairly well...but starting this weekend, I'll be traveling a bit more and seeing more of Europe. This weekend I'll be going to Galway, which is the countryside of Ireland. Should be fun, some friends from Smurfit are going and possibly some of my other Irish dentist friends. The weekend after, I will be in Edinburgh with my Google peeps. Then I'm here in Dublin for 3 days, cramming in as much school work as I can before I'm off to Rome to meet Candace. The week after I will be visiting Madrid and seeing the Denises and Mike Roth. I'm here in the Dublin the next three weekends, which includes Thanksgiving, then I'm off to Brussels! Woo! Talk about squeezing a lot of trips into two months! Can't wait tho!!! The studying will have to be secondary to the travel, but as they say, when in Rome!!

Dublin vs London vs Los Angeles

So it's October (my does time fly) and I've been living in Dublin for just over a month now. Thought it was time to do a little comparison of the cities I've lived in to see how it holds up. I've now lived in four major cities - LA for most of my life which includes Monterey Park, Westwood and Santa Monica, then Davis for two but we'll leave that out of this comparison, studied abroad in London as an undergrad and now studying in Dublin as a grad student. Overall, London and Dublin are somewhat similar, but London is a bit more fast paced and crazy. LA is quite busy as well, everyone is always in a hurry racing from one destination to another. Dubin has a nice balance and the people here are more relaxed and take the time to enjoy themselves, which I think is awesome.

So here is my comparative breakdown:

WEATHER

Weather-wise, LA has to take the cake. Both London and Dublin are rainy, windy and cold. Kinda reminds me of my two years at Davis. But I have to admit its nice to have actual seasons, whereas in LA its sunny and 75 most days. Here in Dublin, good weather has been in the mid 50's and no rain. My perspective on a nice day has definitely changed. What I consider a lovely day here would be a cold ass day in LA. But I guess the rain is what makes Dublin so green and beautiful! When I was living in London, it was summer, but it rained quite a bit, in fact, probably as much as it does in the winter. It was just warm and rainy. I can deal with rain in LA (the little of it that occurs) more so because I have a car and can drive. But in Dublin and in London, walking and taking public transportation sucks when its raining, which leads me to the next topic...

TRANSPORTATION

Not having a car has been a bit of an adjustment here, but taking the DART has been awesome and convenient, not to mention affordable. I get a weekly pass for about 16 Euro, which is close to 21-22 bucks. At home, I was filling up the tank at about 50 bucks a pop each week. The only downside to taking the train is that it stops running at midnight, so social actitivies either have to end early, or I am forced to take a taxi. And as I mentioned above, trying to find a bus stop in the rain is not fun. Last weekend, I went to my new friend's place for drinks and had to take a bus. Simple enough rite? Well, as most of you know my sense of direction sucks and Taking the train in London was comparable, although we took the bus more, to places like ASDA, the UK Walmart.

FOOD

Food, oh boy! One of my favorite things, being the "foodie" that I am. I could probably write an entire blog about food.
The cuisine here in Dublin is not healthy, for one. The Irish sure do love their potatoes and carbs! Everyone here eats chips (fries) and crisps (chips). You'd think they'd be fatter, but for some strange reason they're not. (I do fear that I'll be much fatter when I go back to the States!) I finally tried some traditional Irish food the other day. My friends and I had a shephard's pie, guiness beef pie and Irish stew. It was pretty delicious, but very filling. And of course, it came with our choice of mashed potatoes or chips (fries). I haven't had a traditional full Irish breakfast yet, which includes something called blood pudding that has liver and other stuff...probably won't try it while I'm here. The food is a bit similar to British food, lotsa meat pies and peas and carrots. One thing I love is that they have Hob Nobs here. I fell in love with the yummy cookie when I was studying in Brighton and was happy to find that they have it here.

The funniest thing I found here is that with Chinese food, you have the option of either getting white rice or chips (french fries). No offense, but I just find that bizarre. Asian food here hasn't been great, a bit disappointing. My roommate Will has had two bad Kung Pao Chicken dishes here so far. But Lydia, a new friend from Google introduced me and Katherine to a great hot pot place in Temple Bar. The service was really good and the staff was friendly, which is rare for a Chinese restaurant.

My roommates and I recently went to a korean bbq place, which was pretty decent - I had the bi bimbop, which was delicious! Will got a pretty tasty sweet and sour chicken, but we found it funny how none of the chicken dishes here are breaded. Lydia also brought us to a great place for Thai down the street from my apartment, which was yummy!

I have been craving a bowl of Pho since I left the states, so I searched online and I found a Vietnamese restaurant in Temple Bar. Its called Ho Sen, and it is literally the only Vietnamese restaurant in Dublin. Kathy and I tried to go the other day, but it was closed for lunch. I'm excited to try it because they have actual Vietnamese spring rolls. All the spring rolls I've had here have basically been fried egg rolls. In general, Asian food here is pretty pricey. At Ho Sen, the Pho is like 15 Euro, which is crazy cause I can get Pho at home for like 5 bucks.

Have also not found good Japanese yet. They have a Wagamama, which is a chain around Europe. Haven't had it here, but had it back in London. Ramen was mediocre. The sushi here is expensive and also average. Their spicy tuna roll is not like what we have back home. The tuna itself is not mixed with spice, but the outer roll itself has a Mexican chili powder layer around it...just bizarre!

People that I've talked to about the food say its because all the restaurants have changed their food to suit the Irish palate. Oh well...whatcha gonna do?

Italian food is pretty good here, as is Indian food. Am planning to try Polish food soon, wish me luck!

DRESS

Despite the rain, women here are super fashionable. I myself have had to readjust my waredrobe. Its usually damn cold, so I would never think to wear a skirt or dress when it rains. When we go out at home, I'll wear dark jeans and a nice top, but here that is really casual. Girls here wear dresses and tights, high boots. They look fabulous so I have had to buy a few things since coming here.

$$$

What can I say? London, Dublin and Los Angeles are all expensive cities. However, I know LA much better and can find things for cheaper, like food and clothes. Plus with the Euro and the Pound and the fact that the dollar is crap, LA is much more price friendly.

Still getting used to the Euro Money, not a fan of all the 1 and 2 Euro coins. Gets all bulky in my wallet.

Neither Dublin or London feels like a foreign country. I think that I chose the city that is the most like America. It kinda feels like the East Coast but with accents.

Overall, I love Dublin. I am really glad that I decided to study abroad. I've been having lotsa fun and meeting awesome people. I am sad that I have to leave here in a few months but I am looking forward to seeing all my friends and family.

What I'm missing back home

Look at this cutie pie growing up so fast and I'm missing it. Alexis is already a month old and getting bigger and cuter every day. Luckily Cando and I figured out how to Skype and I got to see my lil niece via web cam and talk to my sister. It was great, gotta love technology! So skyping will definitely help me cope with my home sickness and missing this cutie patottie! If anyone back home is on Skype, look me up - rachelquach. Would love to talk and see your lovely faces!!

Bray to Greystones Cliff Walk

So today was the last day of decent weather, at least according to weather predictions. So I decided to make the most of it, and take a train to Bray. I had read about a great hike (or cliffs walk) that was approximately 5 miles. Figured why not? Since I don't have gym access here, figured it would be good exercise and I'd get to see some cool stuff. So I took the DART to bray and walked a bit on the beach. I had to ask around and found the path for the Cliff Walk from Bray to Greystones. The ground was a bit stoney and rocky, and I realized I don't have the best hiking shoes. It was an awesome hike, but it was tiring! I walked and walked and took some pictures along the way. There were all sorts of people walking the trails - young, old, Irish, French and German. When I saw the older people walking, I figured it would be easy...boy was I wrong! haha. It wasn't bad, but it was a lot of walking and by the end my feet were killing me. It was definitely worth it though. The weather was beautiful and I got to hang out on the Greystones Beach afterwards. The beaches in Ireland are obviously a lot different than in Los Angeles, but nonetheless, it was a lovely beach. Afterwards, I took the DART back to Bray, had some seafood chowder and headed home.

Kilkenny & Kells Priory

So, taking advantage of the lovely weather here in Dublin this past weekend, we decided to take a bus out to the countryside.  It was a 2 and 1/2 hour bus ride to Kilkenny.  I took one dramamene thinking it would be enough, but since we rushed to get to the bus and barely made it, we got a seat in the back and it was hot and crowded. I seriously wanted to die, was sweating and felt like crap. It was the longest 2 1/2 hours of my life.  We finally got off the bus and went to see the Kilkenny Castle.  It was a guided tour and we got a little bit of the history and background of the city.  Apparently the Victorian people were much shorter and the beds were kinda small. Overall it was pretty interesting and it never hurts to see a cool castle.

  

We walked around town a bit, had lunch and then took a cab to Kells Priory, one of the largest and most magnificent monuments of all of Ireland.  Of course, we read about it in our Ireland travel books and it said it was a must.  The cab driver was a bit surprised that we would even want to go there.  It was a 20 Euro cab drive there, but it was worth it.  It was a very cool place, and there wasn't anyone there.  We got to explore the ruins and walk around, play with the sheep.  Well Will tried to play with them, but they

 ran away.  It was a cool experience and was great to see a bit of the countryside. Not to mention the weather was fantastic. I brought a big jacket thinking it would be cold didn't need it at all.  The bus ride back was much better. I took two dramamene and ran to the front of the bus line to get the front seat.   I know now that I am going to need a lot more dramanene if i'm going to take more bus rides around Ireland...

Lovely Weather

Just a sidenote, the weather has been absolutely grand here the past few days! Its been dry and sunny and I just love it!!!

Taco Tuesday & Tonic

Amit, Talia's brother came to visit for a week. So we did our best to keep him entertained. He came in on Tuesday, so we had Taco Tuesday night. Mexican food is not very common here in Ireland, and real authentic ingredients are hard to come by. Their sour cream is more like crem fresh. Despite that, we got some taco mix and stuff from Moor Street and Fresh supermarket and Chef Will Kaner, and his su chef Amit cooked up some yummy beef tacos with guacamole and salsa. It was delicious and very filling.

On Thursday night, Talia organized a Smurfit Mixer at the request of other fellow international students. We have appointed ourselves the social chairs of the school, since there the social activities are a bit lacking at the school. Its not like Pepperdine at all, where we have weekly mixers and events. Apparently all of the students here are super serious, at least the people in the MBA Program. Guess its not as common getting MBA's in Ireland and the students are always studying. Since we don't take the same classes, the Exchange students are kind of left hanging. So we planned to have a mixer at Tonic, a local bar/lounge in Blackrock. We found out later that the school had planned Smurfit Thursdays at Tonic for later that night, so it appeared that we went all out for the event. It was fun, we had some drinks and met some cool people and got to know some MBS and other fellow "International" Students. Feels weird to be considered "international." Hopefully we can have a few more fun events and get to know some more UCD students.