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Published: September 23rd 2008
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pirates
Pirates steal drinks off tables Cougar Hunter
We spent our last day in Dublin burnt out and lounging around Dublin like hobos. At one point during the day Tara did her best to burn the house down by plugging in her hair dryer set on the wrong voltage. She ended up just frying her hair dryer and catching the converter on fire. I still believe I saved the day when she was about to use her laptop to see if the converter and adaptor still worked. I
Rob took us to another American style bar last night. It was a three-floored wonderland of goofy Greek and Egyptian artwork, lights and Vegas dance music. It was like a really bad counterfeit Vegas nightclub without all the drugs and $9 beers. Instead the beers were only $7 a piece. I miss free booze at the Banshee like a fat kid misses cake the day after his birthday. After spending an hour in this bar I have officially dubbed it, the largest cougar bar in the world. Botox and face-lifts aren’t popular here, and it’s pleasantly, unpleasantly noticeable.
Today’s Topic of Social Importance (please skip ahead if you are only here for the fun stuff)
Pub Crawl Home
Scrubs voice over, "as we walked home, i couldn't help but wonder what Rob would look like naked." Xenophobia. Def; An intense fear or dislike of foreign people, their customs and culture or foreign things.
I got into an intense discussion with several Irish people last night that I felt important to share. See the grass is always greener on the other side. I’ve been working on trying to realize the grass is green everywhere, depending on you and your reasons for being there or traveling there. I came to Ireland on a long-term vacation and adventure in search of a new perspective and approach to life, not that my last pasture had anything wrong with it. It must be noted that I didn’t leave for dislike of Chico. Chico is my home, my Mecca, my Graceland, my wonderland.
All the people I have encountered here believe that America is the promise land so full of wonderful opportunities. In some ways they are right and some ways they are wrong, just like some parts of Ireland are fantastic and some parts are terrible. I’ll go over some of the Irish points that are great. Most of us already know what sucks in the states. Ireland is part of the Kyoto plan so they’re very strict on
Laundry
uh, i don't know, i just like this picture waste, no bags at the grocery store, one packet of sugar, salt pepper at the food place, gas is fucking outrageously priced (which I think is a wonderful thing) and bike lanes and public transportation span from ocean to ocean. Their health care is practically free and college is paid for by the man. My personal favorite is that every plug comes with a switch, so you can leave all your shit plugged in, hit the switch and it doesn’t used electricity when left plugged in, it totally kills the flow to the plug. My major concern with the people I have met so far is their misconception of xenophobia. Everyone constantly makes racist remarks about every other race especially non Irish born races, but, and I swear by this, follows every statement with, “I’m not racist or anything.”
Warning, harsh opinions ahead! This is my ongoing thoughts and study of the people I living with. These thoughts and opinions can and will change often as time moves on. Proceed with caution.
Now I’m sure you are all completely confused, but here is where it all ties together. Irish lads tend to believe that grass is greener on
Where's Waldo
It's like Where's Waldo, but here we call it, "Where's the Cougar." the other side, but really, they live in a place where they have grown up subjected to island fever and constant meet, greet and fleets of visiting nomads, tourists, students and journeymen. All of these people and experiences have a heavy influence on their current perspectives. All the people who they meet are visiting or on vacation and have few cares in the world, hence they all seem so happy, void of worry and care free, which is far from the way we are back home where we have school, work, gossip and bosses who attack us. I can understand how easy it is to see all of us as; “the sunny side of the earth,” while the people of Ireland are stuck under the clouds of an inescapable island fate. In such a state of being, you look for someone to blame, so naturally I have been flooded with stories of dodgy people as drug dealers and tales of other races. This serves good because drugs aren’t a big thing here and it changes the landscape and nature of Irish crime, but bad because everyone seems to be walking around poorly concealing their discontent with other people. People tend
Loud Noises
This is what happens when you get home and don't know the alarm code. to just rattle off tales and misconceptions about people from other lands solely on what they heard or fairytale, stereotype stories passed down from college kids who studied abroad. The biggest one about the states is that if you go to Los Angeles or New York City you will be shot and killed no matter where you go or what you do. My personal favorite, San Francisco is a homosexual hideaway paradise while the businessmen have a section of the city guarded just for them like a corporate playground. No shit, people think this crap. Even though, the San Francisco story does have some merit worth thinking about.
Overall it should be noted that this editorial wasn’t meant to be negative and hopefully people reading it don’t get he impression that I hate it here or hate the people. In fact its just the opposite, I love it here, I love almost all of the people I have met, and more than anything I’m excited to study, learn and share my thoughts with everyone here. If I came here looking for perspective and understanding about the world and myself, than I believe I have begun the journey, though it may seem like a drastic and dramatic way to start.
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