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Here I am, reporting back from Ireland under my umbrella (go ahead sing the Rihanna song - I know I would), which apparently is where I will be spending my first few months.... no snow, but plenty of rain.
I chatted with a local at the supermarket, who merely shrugged and made some remark about the rain when I commented on how beautiful her country is. Sometimes people forget to notice the beauty of things right in front of them, even here in Ireland. I asked her if it always rained a lot and she replied in a thick Irish accent: "Pretty much. It gets a bit better starting in March and April though."
That would be why Ireland is so green. I don't mean the kind of green you see on your front lawn, I mean green like you see in those tropical calendars; the kind of green that you think must be digitally edited.
It was January and on our bus ride into the city, we were being welcomed by bright luscious green hills as far as the eye can see. You would think the grounds of the college had been spray painted it was so flawless. It gives a sense of warmth when something is that beautiful regardless of the fact that it is constantly raining and 40 degrees. That may explain why everyone, so far, has been extremely welcoming.
Even our brief stop in London, where we changed planes, was pleasant thanks to the good-natured security man who chatted with us about our trip while making sure there were no explosives in my laptop (there weren't). He gave us three "musts" to add to our list of places to visit: Krakow, Poland, Prague, Czech Republic and Budapest, Hungary.
Once we had settled into our apartment, after spending the night in the 'Hotel de Starbucks,' which had an abundance of wooden chairs and tables in the center of Cork Airport, we began to explore. Just so you know, if an Irish person says, "It's just down the road," you should clarify on their idea of "just down the road." I promise you, "just down the road," could be anywhere from 100 yards to two miles. The locals do in fact use miles to give directions, which makes life a little easier; according to one of our wonderfully chatty cab drivers, it was only two years ago that they changed to the metric system.
In any case, we walked for hours, rarely towards a destination, simply for the journey. We saw castles tucked between houses in the hills and endless horizons of green, and eventually made our way to a mall near our apartment which thankfully had a Tesco Supermarket.
Unfortunately, it wasn't until we had made our way through the checkout line, where cashiers sit in chairs and there are no 'baggers,' that we became aware that those plastic bags you get your groceries in at the stores in the United States are not free in Ireland (20 cents a piece!) and are rarely used. Everywhere I looked, people had their own canvas bags, heavy-duty plastic bags, or backpacks. I thought, "John Gerber would be pleased with this situation. Ireland is very sustainable."
As we headed out, new canvas bags in hands and our backpacks stuffed with pasta and pasta sauces and our favorite finds (peanut butter and strawberry jam), it officially became clear to me that one of the most imperative items I had left on my bedroom floor at home: my umbrella. It would be a few more days, and one day of downpours that left me looking like I had showered with my clothes on, until I would finally buy an umbrella.
Brittany Dalphond can be reached at bdalphon@student.umass.edu.
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