The First 5 Things We Should Know About Ireland

Hellooooo! God...how long has it been? I haven't visited my blog for so long. Oops, watch out..spider-web!

Ireland, yes I am here. I really can't believe how fast time has gone past. I literally have only 42 days left here. Too sad! But hold on, so long as my journey here hasn't finished, there is always something to talk about. To be honest, Ireland was not a country I desperately wanted to go to on Erasmus. (Erasmus is quite similar to exchange program, the only difference is it's funded by the European Union and only for and within EU countries and needless to say some other countries given certain privileges by the EU). Though I put it as my third option, it's not really the preferred one. But guys...I got Ireland, nothing I can do. Nyum.

At that time, I was a bit disappointed and kinda thought of not going. But screw it, why not give it a try?? I fled to Limerick, Ireland.

When I was on the plane going to Ireland, there were so many questions going around in my mind. What is Ireland like? What is Limerick like? How's the people? What kind of housemates I will have? What is the weather like there? How's life there? These questions kind of boosted my feelings up a bit as these questions remained unanswered and seemed a bit challenging. As Ireland is the first European country I've even been to, though I've lived in Turkey for 3 years and been to Istanbul on the European side, Ireland is definitely something new and mysterious to me. Aha!

Having had a small piece of excitement, I arrived here knowing no one, except my friend from Buddy programme that University of Limerick provided. - did I mention about in which university I'm doing my Erasmus? - Anyway, the first thing everybody and I would say is that Ireland is soooo green! Love it! *1st thing you should know about Ireland

I landed in Dublin and had to take a bus to Limerick. I sat close at front close to the driver. But I kept having one bothering thought in my mind all the way from Dublin to Limerick. I felt like there was something wrong. I was pretty sure, there was something not going right in this bus, but I couldn't figure out what it was. That's annoying :/

Once I arrived in Limerick, my Buddy took me to a grocery shop called Aldi (it's like Indonesian name by the way - my friend's name indeed haha you're rich man!). I was in the car with him and I eventually figured out what bothered me. I completely forgot that here they drive on the left side as in Indonesia. However, I'm used to seeing people drive on the right side as in Turkey that's how it is. So, when I came here, I knew there was something not right (not in a way that they're not supposed to be driving on the right side, but you know what I mean). *2nd thing: they drive on the left side as in Indonesia

I was already settled in my second day. I had had enough food to survive for another week. I had my room cleaned. I met my three housemates, Kirsten, Javier and Clemence - they are amazing people by the way! We went to the city center together. Javier showed us around as Kirsten happened to be new as well in Limerick. It was such a nice day up until it rained, had the sun, had the wind, hailed, and rained again. Ireland has such an unpredictable weather. You can never guess whether today is going to be raining or not. Sometimes you can, but most of the time I failed guessing. So I gave up doing it. The unpredictable weather is actually as in my country Indonesia. The only difference is we don't have that much wind. So, for you Indonesians, I'm going to write it in Bahasa Indonesia (for those who are interested to know can use Google translate) "Kalau tinggal di Ireland, siap-siap galau setiap saat ya kawan :D". Unpredictable weather makes life here even more interesting and challenging at the same time *3rd thing about Ireland.

Well, at least I can apply as well as improve my SWOT ability in choosing what to wear and what to bring considering the unpredictable weather :P

Oh..almost forgot. This is the most important part you should now about Ireland, particularly the city I'm in, Limerick. The people here are incredibly nice! One day I was cycling to school and dropped my hat. One car honked at me, but I was confused why they did that as I wasn't blocking their way. Then the car stopped honking, I stopped cycling and looked back. The driver got out of the car, took my hat which was far behind me, and ran towards me to give me the hat. How sweet! I was like...oh my, this has never happened to me before. I mean, you may find some people (maybe in increasing number) who are apathetic and just don't care. Moreover, one day I lost one library book. I dropped it somewhere on the way to campus. When I went to the library to return the book, it wasn't there. I was scared that someone might have just picked it up and brought it home as I was sure I dropped it not on campus area. I managed to trace my way back and hoped to find the book. Nothing I found. So, I decided to go to the information desk and explained what happened. I said "I hope someone may have picked it up and returned it here", then she said "Yeah, someone did, just a few minutes ago". I couldn't believe it! I don't know who did it, but whoever returned the book, is my lifesaver! *4th thing about Limerick, Ireland: the people are super nice and helpful!!

Sooo, here are the first 4 things you should now about Ireland.

The 5th one I will present it to my Indonesian friends. Unlike Turkey, there are only few Indonesian students here. Maybe thinking of doing exchange or full time program in University of Limerick or somewhere in Ireland can be an option to consider?? ;)

Alright, I'm going to post some other interesting things you can learn about Ireland, especially Limerick through my eyes in the next postings. See ya! Thanks for reading :)