Dave Evan's Hometown

Three guesses where I went this weekend. I'll give you a hint. It's a place renown for leprechauns, being the reason people in Boston like to get into fights, black beer, homemade explosives, shamrocks, explaining half the tattoos on all police officers and fire fighters, and guy named Paul Hewson who has a messiah complex.

The answer is of course Ireland. Specifically, Dublin. And I had a lot of fun. Thanks to Erin for convincing me to go.

Now you may be saying, "Hold on Wade. Your barely two sentences in and your already rattling off cultural stereotypes like some sort of racist machine gun. Isn't the point of study abroad to help break down cultural preconceptions and to help Americans broaden their views on the rest of the world? Aren't Americans ready to move past such petty views of foreign societies? I mean, we have a black president now..." And I say to that: Codswollop! Nah! I have come to view traveling not as a chance to change my perceptions, but to verify my stereotypes. Ireland was most refreshing in this manner. Recently in my travels, I have found myself woefully (waefully, if I am speaking Scots) disappointed in this regard. India, despite what my diligent watching of Johnny Quest would have me believe, was not a land of turbans, temples and elephants. In Italy, there was nary a mobster, mustachioed pizza maker or or vespa-riding-wine-swigging fashion starlet to be seen. Scotland has be tragically devoid of blue-face painted, claymore wielding, bagpipe playing freedom fighters. I was beginning to worry that everything Americans had been taught since birth about the rest of the world was a lie.

Fortunately Ireland restored my faith. Me and Erin went on a walking tour provided by Sandemans New Europe. (Great Guys. If your ever doing some traveling, check them out and see if they do a tour where you are. The tour is free, and the guides are college students working for tips. Some may see this as a way for some enterprising hucksters to play tourists for saps, but these guys have an organization at their backs that vets them.) Our guide gave us an awesome tour of the city, filled with history and culture, both ancient and modern. And he did it all while confirming every stereotype there is about the Emerald Isle. I was pleased to learn that the Irish have a long (and well documented) history of brazenly defying all rules of convention, logic, sanity and sobriety, proudly boasting several botched revolutions, pointless civil wars, important milestones in their history revolving around booze, and a general attitude towards history of "we'll figure something out as we go", "This would go much better with some alcohol" and "Eh, why bother thinking this one through? I am sure it will go fine. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

This is the Worst That Could Happen

And they are very proud of it, which makes the country all the more fun. What however, did I actually do? Well the short answer is visit 2 churches, 3 parks, 1 brewery, a whole slew of monuments, (republican and otherwise), walk through the temple bar area, saw where the Bono and U2 got their start in Dublin, crossed the Liffey on the Ha'penny bridge, checked out Dublin Castle, City Hall, Trinity College and Viking ruins.

Hopefully in the next couple days I will get my photo's together and be able to tell some more stories about my time in Dublin. To be continued.

P.S. The plight of Irish republicanism is no joking matter. Please don't let anyone at Sinn Fein known I am writing this.