Dublin First Impressions

I left my home in Brooklyn towards the end of August. The plan was to touch down in Dublin long enough to stash my biggest suitcase and walk around a little, then set out on the first real leg of my continental tour. Over the course of the next two weeks, I would be traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland for five days, London for three, and Paris for seven, then returning to Dublin to begin my fall semester.

The following is based on notes I took during my first day in Dublin. I meant to write this out a lot earlier and now I'm burdened with the judgment of hindsight. I will try to relate these notes with the wide-eyed, breathless enthusiasm that originally accompanied them so many weeks ago.

The first thing that strikes you about Dublin is how small it is. My first meaning here is that the buildings themselves are generally no more than a few stories. There certainly are tall buildings here and there but they're much more the exception than the rule. But the city itself is also very small. In earlier days I had studied my map of Dublin, hoping I would be able to navigate the twisty streets. When you actually get there you realize that the map is actually larger than the city itself. It's very cool, though.

Among the stereotypical narrow streets and cobblestones there are strange touches of American culture reflected back. For anyone who's been to the Americana diner chain Johnny Rocket's, they have a joint called Eddie Rocket's. According to the in-restaurant literature, Eddie is Johnny's Irish cousin. The diners are not actually affiliated in any way. Guess he's an illegitimate cousin.

I was also pleased to find a gentleman's club that quaintly offers "lap dancing." I picture this as a sort of country amusement akin to square dancing that involves fiddles, jollity and a roaring hearth fire.

I noticed that while the city is quite beautiful, the people seemed to skew toward the, well, ugly side. I don't mean to be cruel, but this was my observation and I am not here to feed you sugarcoated words. Admittedly the average caliber of woman seems to have improved since the start of the Dublin college season.

Wandering the streets and listening to Irish chatter (replete with actual withered, bucktoothed old ladies standing on the street singing the prices of their fruit) was fun for a while, but after a time the accents got to be a bit too much and I had to duck into an Asian convenience store just to hear some voices that would reminded me of New York. There, amongst the Sriracha hot sauce and galangal powder, I was home, if just for a brief moment.

They also have a barbershop called Bedford Stuy Barber's. It makes me feel comforted that no matter where in the world I go, I can be assured of an urban haircut Spike Lee would be proud of.

The final note I wrote in my little notepad was "I'm going to own this town". Not quite sure what to make of that one.

After my day and a half in Dublin, I boarded an airplane to Edinburgh, Scotland.

-Nicky