My First 24-Hours

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Currently, it is 3am here in County Wicklow, just 17 miles south of Dublin, Ireland. I should be sleeping, however my sleep schedule is quite thrown at the moment as it is only 10pm back home. When I arrived at the Dublin Airport Saturday morning I was tired from the flight but so excited about all the new things I would see in the moments to come. My flight over was filled with Irish citizens wishing to return to their native country from a visit in the States. All of the citizens I met were kind and full of life.
Once I picked up my baggage (all of it thank goodness) and met up with Sarah, a girl from Minnesota who is also teaching and living in the same host family, we left Dublin on a bus to a hotel where our host dad would pick us up. When we arrived at the hotel Alistair greeted us with a warm welcome and coffee. After a brief conversation and a cup of coffee, we were off to see the rest of our host family.
The city of Dublin is much different than most American cities. The city has a much older look but it is absolutely beautiful. Many of the doors on the homes in the city were colored bright blue, red, and pink; it was quite interesting.
Some of the most apparent differences I have noticed in the past 24-hours is that in Ireland, drivers drive on the opposite side of the street, light switches to rooms are located on the outside of rooms, not the inside, there is not a central heating system, rather a heater located in every room (which I might add is not always on), and there are many new phrases I must learn.
Some of the new phrases I have learned are, "lay late" which means "sleep in," and in Ireland it's "half nine," not "nine-thirty."
Well, I am off to bed now, I will write tomorrow.

Love you all,
Kim

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