Some cultural differences
I'm listening to Christmas music, but that's not a cultural difference, just me being strange. But lots of people have been asking me questions about how different it is here from America, and what those differences are, so here we go, guys.
People:
Dublin is very young city. It's not uncommon to see a lot of older guys in a pub, but as far as walking down the street, mostly everyone is in the 20-30 crowd. We've seen a lot of younger looking girls, my age or around, with two kids. I think it's because it's so expensive to live in the city that a lot of older people live outside and commute in, while the people here were either born here, or are young executive types.
The people here walk very quickly; when I walk with another person or a group, we're forever getting passed by Irish people. Maybe that's more of a city thing, but I don't feel as though I'm a particularly slow walker. There is kind of a crush of people, but people don't really say sorry or excuse me. They'll just bump you and assume you understand, because it's a crowded place.
It seems that, as a general rule, more people here wear nicer clothes, like nice pants or skirts. Lots of collared shirts, nice shoes. The younger crowd seems to have a lot of the American/Japanese goth influence, heavy boots, weird striped colored socks. This isn't to say there aren't people in jeans and tee shirts, but I feel like I'm seeing it much less often than at home.
The mohawk is in here. As is the mullet.
Out in the pubs, though, people are very friendly. Every Irishman I've met's been nothing but drunk and utterly charming. It's not unusual to find men in their 30s chatting up considerably younger girls in the pubs. Or maybe that's because we're American girls and everyone loves us. Siobhan told us that Irish boys really like American girls, because they're shy and we're very chatty. But so far, we've not run into any American-hating Irish. Let's just hope GWB doesn't do something even more ridiculous while we're over here, like...I don't know, try to conquer the country. I think our popularity would take a hit.
Drinking is central to everything, be it tea or beer. And if an Irish person offers you tea, it's customary to refuse the first time, maybe even the second, and not accept 'til the third time. Unless, you know, you're in a restaurant. It's always, "Let's meet for a drink" or "Yeah, we'll get a drink sometime." Never supper or a walk in the park. Always a drink.
The Flat:
Was very bizarre for the first couple days. They're very big into conservation of energy and recycling over here, so there are seperate switches for things. Like, outside our bathroom, there's a red switch that we have to flip on to have hot water for our shower. Also, the lightswitches are all outside the room. Same in the kitchen, big red switch to make the outlets and the stove work. Think of it as having breakers everywhere to have to throw every time you wanted to do something.
Air conditioning is not really a big thing here. It's almost always cold and damp, so not many places have it. Our beds were very warm, though; they put on three big blankets, plus a couple of sheets for each of us.
The water almost always comes out of seperate taps. I have no idea why. Maybe it's another conservation thing. And even in our kitchen, where the water comes out of the same tap, it's weird, because the cold water comes out straight down and the hot water comes out around it, so you still burn or freeze your hands while washing a dish.
Vocabulary:
This is by far the most interesting to me. Here's a short list of words I've heard, or new ones and what they mean.
Obliged- it seems to be used more frequently here, as in "Students are obliged to meet once a month with their tutors."
Rota- a shortened version of the word rotation
One down- Megan said that when she didn't have enough papers to hand out. "Oh, it seems I'm one down."
veg- for vegetable, instead of veggie
take away- this is used instead of take out, like for food
Have also heard used in coversation: dodgy, snarky, mad, brilliant, mental :) I feel like I'm in a Harry Potter book.
General:
Phones here are weird, cell phones in particular. It doesn't seem to me that one can get a phone plan like we're used to in the states, with paying a certain amount every month for so many minutes or unlimited calls. They all seem to be pre-paid, and you can go anywhere to "top up" your minutes. You put some money in a machine, 10, 20, or 40 euro and it gives you a little receipt with a number you call and a PIN number to access your minutes, which are then credited to the phone. You have a month to use them, and then you lose them.
Calls are insanely expensive. It's between 50 and 65 cents a minute during the day, but only 6 cents for text messages, so that's what nearly everyone does here. It doesn't cost anything to receive messages either, so that's generally the way people here go. Mom, you'd die if you ever moved here, I think :).
Food is...weird. A lot more fresh produce and for cheap here, if you buy if from the street vendors. And always bring your own grocery bag to the store; you'll be charge 15 cents per plastic bag. More of that conservation thing. :)
I think that's all for now. I need a shower. But if you have any other culture questions, leave them in the comment section. I love comments, so as many as you want would be fantastic!
People:
Dublin is very young city. It's not uncommon to see a lot of older guys in a pub, but as far as walking down the street, mostly everyone is in the 20-30 crowd. We've seen a lot of younger looking girls, my age or around, with two kids. I think it's because it's so expensive to live in the city that a lot of older people live outside and commute in, while the people here were either born here, or are young executive types.
The people here walk very quickly; when I walk with another person or a group, we're forever getting passed by Irish people. Maybe that's more of a city thing, but I don't feel as though I'm a particularly slow walker. There is kind of a crush of people, but people don't really say sorry or excuse me. They'll just bump you and assume you understand, because it's a crowded place.
It seems that, as a general rule, more people here wear nicer clothes, like nice pants or skirts. Lots of collared shirts, nice shoes. The younger crowd seems to have a lot of the American/Japanese goth influence, heavy boots, weird striped colored socks. This isn't to say there aren't people in jeans and tee shirts, but I feel like I'm seeing it much less often than at home.
The mohawk is in here. As is the mullet.
Out in the pubs, though, people are very friendly. Every Irishman I've met's been nothing but drunk and utterly charming. It's not unusual to find men in their 30s chatting up considerably younger girls in the pubs. Or maybe that's because we're American girls and everyone loves us. Siobhan told us that Irish boys really like American girls, because they're shy and we're very chatty. But so far, we've not run into any American-hating Irish. Let's just hope GWB doesn't do something even more ridiculous while we're over here, like...I don't know, try to conquer the country. I think our popularity would take a hit.
Drinking is central to everything, be it tea or beer. And if an Irish person offers you tea, it's customary to refuse the first time, maybe even the second, and not accept 'til the third time. Unless, you know, you're in a restaurant. It's always, "Let's meet for a drink" or "Yeah, we'll get a drink sometime." Never supper or a walk in the park. Always a drink.
The Flat:
Was very bizarre for the first couple days. They're very big into conservation of energy and recycling over here, so there are seperate switches for things. Like, outside our bathroom, there's a red switch that we have to flip on to have hot water for our shower. Also, the lightswitches are all outside the room. Same in the kitchen, big red switch to make the outlets and the stove work. Think of it as having breakers everywhere to have to throw every time you wanted to do something.
Air conditioning is not really a big thing here. It's almost always cold and damp, so not many places have it. Our beds were very warm, though; they put on three big blankets, plus a couple of sheets for each of us.
The water almost always comes out of seperate taps. I have no idea why. Maybe it's another conservation thing. And even in our kitchen, where the water comes out of the same tap, it's weird, because the cold water comes out straight down and the hot water comes out around it, so you still burn or freeze your hands while washing a dish.
Vocabulary:
This is by far the most interesting to me. Here's a short list of words I've heard, or new ones and what they mean.
Obliged- it seems to be used more frequently here, as in "Students are obliged to meet once a month with their tutors."
Rota- a shortened version of the word rotation
One down- Megan said that when she didn't have enough papers to hand out. "Oh, it seems I'm one down."
veg- for vegetable, instead of veggie
take away- this is used instead of take out, like for food
Have also heard used in coversation: dodgy, snarky, mad, brilliant, mental :) I feel like I'm in a Harry Potter book.
General:
Phones here are weird, cell phones in particular. It doesn't seem to me that one can get a phone plan like we're used to in the states, with paying a certain amount every month for so many minutes or unlimited calls. They all seem to be pre-paid, and you can go anywhere to "top up" your minutes. You put some money in a machine, 10, 20, or 40 euro and it gives you a little receipt with a number you call and a PIN number to access your minutes, which are then credited to the phone. You have a month to use them, and then you lose them.
Calls are insanely expensive. It's between 50 and 65 cents a minute during the day, but only 6 cents for text messages, so that's what nearly everyone does here. It doesn't cost anything to receive messages either, so that's generally the way people here go. Mom, you'd die if you ever moved here, I think :).
Food is...weird. A lot more fresh produce and for cheap here, if you buy if from the street vendors. And always bring your own grocery bag to the store; you'll be charge 15 cents per plastic bag. More of that conservation thing. :)
I think that's all for now. I need a shower. But if you have any other culture questions, leave them in the comment section. I love comments, so as many as you want would be fantastic!
posted by Bookhead at 2:02 AM
4 Comments:
Yeah, the cell phone thing in Spain was ridiculous like that too. By the end of six weeks I was communicating JUST by text message. It was weird getting home and actually TALKING on a phone..
Glad to hear you're having an awesome time so far though!! (Oh yeah, this is Mel, by the way. Don't delete me. ;) )
'Kay, I won't delete you, 'cause you're cool. Yeah, it's just been fun touristy stuff so far, classes don't start for me 'til Tuesday. But I followed all your pictures posts, and it was beautiful. Dublin's more just like...a city.
Someone can correct me if I infer wrongly, but the old sinks here in America always had two faucets. It is probably easier to insert water lines through two separate faucets, and it probably also is a sign of Ireland's slightly antiquated ways. At least in the Engineering Sciences. Conservation may also be an issue, but on this one topic I'm betting on antiquity.
You could be right; it might just be antiquity, as might be a lot of things, like the not having a dryer for clothing. But I just assumed it was more conservation, as more of the pub places have "normal" faucets.
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