Checklist for Ireland (all bullet points)

Things to prepare for as a Floridian coming to Ireland:

• When you tell people where you’re from the most common reactions will be:
  • “Ohh! No way!”
  • “How’re you enjoying this weather then?”
  • “Disney!”
  • “Why would you ever pick Ireland?!”
• Seriously.. The weather is INSANE, not very constant so it keeps you on your toes. Wind, rain, snow, beautiful weather
• Beaches do exist here.. but you’ll need a winter coat if you go to them despite the weather outside, they’re incredibly windy. I’m not joking, I’ve been physically knocked over a few times.
• Irish humor is fairly dry, I highly recommend watching up on British comedy shows to begin understanding the concept of it. Most humor stems from teasing others.
• Growing up the Irish are all separated in primary and secondary school, so when it comes to social interactions boys tend to favor their groups of guys and girls tend to favor their groups of girls. The only time I’ve ever really seen them mixing together is when they’re getting ready to go out/are out.
• House parties? Not a thing
• Parties on weekends? Nada. At least not in Maynooth, Dublin would be the place to go (but its wildly expensive to go out, so I don’t recommend doing it often)
• There’s 2 (3ish) grocery stores that will end up being your best friend
  • Aldi, cheapest option
  • Dunnes, expensive but has things Aldi doesn’t
  • Tesco is around too but its a much further walk, so it’s a rarity Maynooth students actually go there
• If you want to visit Scotland, Wales, or England while here a ferry will more than likely be your cheapest last minute option
• Make it your mission to try a Guinness (I loathe beer and even I had one) but the Guinness tour itself might not actually be your mission. And after you’ve tried Guinness try Guinness and Black (black currant juice, it mixes well with anything)
• Honestly just try everything black currant, its dope.
• The meat and dairy products are 1000000x better here, most if not all of it is locally sourced.
• The chocolate and peanut-butter taste different here, be prepared, its a hit or miss situation
• Howth has the best fish and chips
• Students on Erasmus (basically EU version of study abroad) will more than likely not want to travel to other countries (they live in the EU and can do that whenever) they’ll only want to travel inside of Ireland
• It only takes like 3 hours to go from one end of Ireland to the other
• Skyscanner will be your best friend if looking for international flights
• BOOK ANY BREAK FLIGHTS EARLY. I love doing weekend trips too but those you can plan last minute, if you’re going on spring break and wait till you’re in Ireland to book the flight the tickets will skyrocket to over 100 euro, to go pretty much anywhere.
• The 66 and 67 bus will become your homies
• Once you learn how any busing/tubing/train/tram system works then you know how it all works in every country
• Europeans freak out when they see orange cheese, and most likely have never had a pb&j before, nor apples and peanut-butter
• You will meet so many interesting people, it’ll be hard to keep track
• You’ll make wonderful life long friends
• You will get sick, don’t think you’re immune
• Most every home in Ireland has a draft, so get used to some chills every now and then
• There are things you just won’t know about until you get here, but once you learn it you’ll never forget it
• You’ll realize studying abroad has been one of the greatest experiences of your life.