Careful: it's good craic, not "crack"

Last week two new American friends from church arrived in Dublin. After church we had dinner at their place and a girl who has lived here awhile asked them, or what they thought she asked, "Do you have good crack in America?" They were so confused it was hilarious. Uhhhh? Really she was asking, "Do you have good craic in America?" Basically what it comes down to is all about having a good time, good entertainment, conversation and such. I'll let wikipedia do some of the work for the definition of craic, but here it's something you have to feel. Like some places have good craic, some don't. 

This day was good craic. After my friends mentioned above, Juni and Tanner, got off work, we took the train up to Malahide just to explore- typical Wednesday afternoon. Went to the castle, walked around the peninsula, all around the town, and ate at The Greedy Goose where we had the most delicious seafood! We plan on going back just so we can do a three course meal there. After that we took the train back and went to their company's equivalent of flag rugby game which was so fun! I wanted to get out there and play. After that we all went to the pub up the street for diet coke of course, and it was good times. 

I love my days off. I love that I have the night shift the rest of the week so I get to sleep in. But most importantly, I love my life and feel so grateful to my Heavenly Father each day that this is where I'm supposed to be. 

Tanner calling to his Rapunzel 

Malahide Castle 

Tanner and Juni

I have an accent? Red hair is still cool here?

So I keep forgetting to mention this but I find it all amusing. Last week when I met one of my roommates, soon after I was first talking to her she goes "I love your accent!!" That is one thing I've never had anyone tell me before, but it's true I guess! For the first time I'm living somewhere where the way I speak is different than everyone else, and where in America the Irish have accents to us, here I have an accent to them. I love it. Today someone said "You sound like the movies!"

Here is also something that I definitely wasn't expecting: So the Irish are known for their red hair right? So I thought moving here I would just be a little more "normal" and not stand out so much for my hair. But let me tell you.... I've never had so many compliments on my hair! Seriously everywhere I go people (Irish people in fact) are telling me how much they love my hair. Whether it's one of my supervisors at work, a taxi driver, or a random person at the store... Everyday I get at least one compliment. I mean I don't mind it, but I didn't see that coming.

And yes, I have started work. Oh have I started. I never thought I needed sleep to function, but that was before I ever had 6am shifts at a hotel, standing and running around all day, walking home, wanting to be social with friends or roommates, getting 4 (or less... Don't tell my mother) hours of sleep, then starting at 6am again the next day. But I can still say that I love working in hotels. I love Dublin and the international and multicultural diversity it brings. I love meeting and chatting with guests, and I love helping them have such a great time while visiting. And that's why I keep getting up so early each day.

Green, Green Rocky Road

That's the name of a song from one of my favorite albums,"Inside Llewyn Davis," and as we climbed up, through, and around Killiney Hill, that song just kept playing over and over in my head. My mama and I started the day by catching the railway, deciding along the way to make our destination Bray. It's another cute little coastal town with a rather large beach. We walked along the boardwalk and I kept thinking how much it reminded me of all of the houses down by Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. I swear that every new place I go, I can always find many similarities from across the world. And that makes me happy.

We ate lunch at a funky fresh pizza place called Platform, finding out after we ate that they were recently crowned the best pizza in all of Ireland. Nice! Then back on the train up to Dalkey/Killiney where we found the most peaceful and quiet town on a Saturday afternoon. Let me tell you, I could live in that area. Every single house was picture perfect. And Killiney Hill that I mentioned earlier... not sure there's anything like it. Wowza. Pictures didn't turn out too great because of the clouds, but you know what? Not everything is about the pictures. Actually, most things shouldn't be about the pictures. It should all be about the experience and how you felt, what you learned, how you grew in that experience.

Bray. So fun to walk along the shore. I plan on coming here in the summer.

Climbing Killiney Hill

It really is the Emerald Isle...

So if you're friends with me on Facebook, you already know this from all of my pictures, but I have arrived! My mom, who couldn't resist coming for the first week, and I flew in on April 29. I fell in love with it from the very first day I was down walking around the City Centre. Here's the rundown:

Day 1: Arrived in the morning. Checked-in. Walked down to St. Stephen's Greene and saw the hotel I will be working at for the first time. I loved St. Stephen's! It's like a mini Central Park; I will definitely be spending a lot of time there. Then I got my phone set up and after walked around Grafton Street- the coolest little shopping street. Then it was back to the hotel for dinner and constant searching online for housing, which was stressful to say the least; good location+reasonable price is hard to find!

Day 2: Hadn't heard from any landlords so we made our way down to the Archaeology Museum which was totally fascinating with all of the Viking and Gaelic history. Then a girl for a house listing called me, met me, and took me see the house.What a house it was... such an awesome neighborhood, way cool roommates, newly remodeled and clean. And the price was oh so good... I wanted it so badly, but about 20 other girls came to see it so I wasn't positive I would get it. Then we headed up to the cultural Temple Bar District for the most amazing dinner at Elephant and Castle.

Day 3: Got the call: I got the spot in the house! I was so relieved and that meant I could get everything else done. I then met with my Human Resources Manager. Can I just say that The Shelbourne Hotel is breathtaking inside?! After meeting, I got down to business. In the next 5 hours I had an Irish bank account, an Irish PPS (social security) number, and my official visa card. Oh and I rode the bus for the first time, which of course was much easier than I imagined in my head haha. So that was a crazy successful day.

Day 4: Worry. Free. My mom and I felt so relieved that now we could just play tourists. So we hopped on the railway up to a beautiful harbour called Howth (sounds like "Hoath"). Here a monumental thing happened: I literally had the BEST chips (fries) of my entire life at The Brass Monkey. Who knew that was even something that could happen- that chips could be that big of a deal?! Not me. Then another monumental thing happened: I had the BEST hot chocolate of my entire life at Chocolate Compulsion, and I'm no stranger to good hot chocolate. She literally put spoonfuls of chocolate fondue into my hot chocolate... so really how could you top that? Then we walked around Howth Castle, and that's when it really hit me: this place is beautiful and I actually live here.

Time for cheesiness. I really just feel super grateful. I honestly don't know how everything worked out, but it just did. And that makes me feel like I'm supposed to be here. Which makes me so overwhelmed with gratitude to those who made it possible like my friends, family, and my Heavenly Father. He knows me way better than I know myself, so it's clearly better to follow where He guides me. How lucky-"Luck o' the Irish!"- am I that He guided me here. First Hawaii, now Ireland. I am so blessed and I don't know why.

Below is my bait for you to come visit me. It really is that green. PICTURE OVERLOAD:

O'Connell Bridge, Dublin

Grafton Street

Howth

Howth Castle. I promise it really is that green.

Two buds chillin' behind the castle.

"Why Ireland?"

That's one good question. That's been asked by almost everyone who knew I was making the move, including the Human Resources Director at The Shelbourne Hotel where I will be starting my internship next week. To most, my first reply is "Honestly, I don't really know (haha)" and then I start going on about how it seemed like for about one year, I kept having all of these little messages that sent Ireland *brainwashing effect* into the back of my mind. It's always been on the top of my list to visit so I loved talking to people about it. But it seemed for so long that somehow so many of my conversations, mostly with guests at the hotel I worked at in Texas, just kept resulting in Ireland chitchat.Then an internship opportunity was needed/wanted, and of course I wanted to go international, so I'm sure you could guess where my first choice was. I didn't know if it was possible, but I knew I had to shoot for it or otherwise regret not trying. My friends were encouraging along the way, one even saying "It may be impossible, but if anyone can do it, it's you Caroline." I didn't believe her, but that sure did help motivate me. Where would I be without my friends and family who make all of this possible? Probably working at a donut shop. Mmmmm.

So obviously I've started a blog, not unlike many others in the world... buy hey, many people asked me to start one and I should probably record what I'm up to. So here it is. It ain't fancy because I'm not capable of that, and I probably will rant on about things you readers might not care about, but I'm doing this for myself and for those who want to be updated. And be warned: there will be a LOT of pictures :)