Mental Picture Perfect: Too Little Time in Ireland

I have found one thing to be true in my travels thus far: no city is exactly what you expect it to be.  It is inevitably a great experience in its own way, but when you step off the plane/train/bus, you realize that the city isn’t exactly what you pictured in your head.

 

Ireland—both Dublin and the Irish countryside at my friend’s grandma’s house—broke this truism for me. 

 

I have actually studied a bit of Irish history and literature, so I realized when I got there I actually knew a thing or two about Ireland—at least more so than a lot of the Central European countries I have gotten used to visiting.  My grandpa is also Irish, and very proud of our heritage, so I have heard a bit about the Irish from him growing up.  And of course, being a 22-year-old girl, I enjoyed the movie P.S. I Love You more than I usually like to admit. 

 

All of my high expectations based on these pre-perceptions of Ireland turned about to be true.  My grandpa loves to tell me that the Irish are good storytellers (“that’s why you write blogs…storytelling is in your blood”) and generally friendly people, and it’s true.  We were shocked by how many people were willing to give us directions—without us even asking—because that never happens in Prague.  Czechs are polite, but they are not particularly known for their friendliness.  The man who drove us up to my friend’s grandma’s house—a quintessential friendly Irishman—talked to us the whole half hour drive.  When I heard him say “So there’s this story about a Chinese girl who wanted to learn Gaelic…” I almost started laughing because that’s exactly how my grandpa starts his many, many stories.    

I was also surprised at how much the history of Ireland came alive in Dublin—especially the literary history. I got to see the Book of Kells—the oldest book in the world—and “nerded out” (as my friend Raine called it) over finding the house James Joyce’s “The Dead” was based off of. I have heard that you can never understand Joyce unless you fully understand Ireland and its history, and I can see how it’s true. Although I don’t understand Joyce’s book Dubliners any better after visiting Dublin, I appreciate how difficult it must have been to capture as many details and nuances of the city as he did.

Finally, the Irish countryside was all that P.S. I Love You promised me and every other girl in America it. Think green, lochs, mountains, winding little roads down to a filled with castle ruins and warm, crowded pubs. I got to stay in little house perched up on the hillside with a view of it all. My friend’s grandma cooked us more Irish food than we could ever eat, and we all wish we could have stayed much, much longer.

So as much as I usually love coming home to Prague, this time all I wanted to do was head back to Ireland with its live music in the pubs, beautiful countryside, and friendly people. I have to get back there, and to so many other places in the world. As the Irishman who talked to me the entire plane ride back to Prague told me,“Once you get the wanderlust, there’ll be no working for ya.” If only I could skip the working someday and just travel.

 

Trinity College

 

"Nerding Out"

 

Goooood morning Ireland!