Thursday, June 23, 2011

First Impressions of Ireland

well we've been in Ireland for a few days now and I love it! I've been pretty exhausted from traveling and jet lag and not having anytime to rest for the first couple of days, but I think now I'm finally rested...So far we have been to Dublin, Wateford, Kilkenny, Tramore, and now we are in Cork.

So these our my first impressions:

Green--You really don't know the color green unless you've been to Ireland.  Ryan always was telling us that you can see every shade of green while you are in Ireland and I believe he was right.  All of the hills and trees and everything is just so beautiful.

Driving--wow. driving has been an adventure.  To begin with we already had problems with our rental car....my mom ordered a minivan so we would have enough room to put all of our luggage. But minivans are different here....they only have small cars in europe.  Honestly unless you get a bus there are no big cars. So we had to shove everything into the car and it barely all fit.  Then driving on the left side of the road is weird enough. plus they all drive soooo fast over here and the lanes are super small.  Also there are lots of one-way streets and if I had a dollar for everytime i've been on a round-a-bout while i've been here, I would be rich.  The streets can be soooo confusing....and thank goodness we went and got a GPS.  Ryan has been driving us around (even though its illegal with his age apparently) but he has been doing great, I'm amazed at how well he can drive here even though it is so different.

Rain--Well the weather is pretty bipolar over here.  I used to think Utah was bad but we kind of exaggerate a little bit. Because honestly it literally changes every 10 minutes here.  But I must say........I LOVE THE RAIN <3  oh my gosh it is amazing over here.  When it rains it is kind of like a light mist.  You can barely feel it raining on you but you can see it.  There are times when it will come down a little harder during more of a downpour. but wow. really i love the rain.

Accent--The irish people have the funniest accent! I love listening to people talk over here...on different parts of the island the accent is a little different but I love listening to all of it.  Sometimes it can be kinda hard to understand the people but thats okay.  Yesterday we were just sitting in the car while my brother was talking to someone and there were a group of little kids playing outside and they had thee cutest little accents.  They were so funny to listen too.

Sites--The sites have been neat.  We haven't been to a ton of sites yet, but they are interesting.  We went to Kilkenny Castle yesterday and that was really cool.  I love going in the old castles and it is so weird to think people actually used to live like that.  The first day we went to Trinity College and went into the library where they have really old books and bibles that were translated by irish people...I don't know its kinda hard to explain.  But there was a scene in Harry Potter that was filmed there and it was really neat.  The ceiling in the library was so tall and there were sooooooo many old old old books there.  My favorite place that we've been so far was in Tramore just going to the Ocean.  It was so pretty and I know the water was probably really cold but it was just pretty to be along the beach.  We also kind of climbed up on some cliffs while we were there and that was a really pretty view.

People--Honestly I think the best part of this trip so far has been meeting the people.  I'm so glad that my brother came here on his mission and that he is introducing us to all of the people he met.  A lot of his companions have been visiting with their families as well but they have just been siteseeing not seeing people too, and meeting the people has been the best part.  The people of Ireland are sooo nice and to add to it they are hilarious.  Some of them have been serving us meals and it has all been delicious.  A lady we had breakfast with yesterday morning works at the cadbury chocolate factory and gave us two whole bags of chocolate! Yesterday we also met an older lady who seriously is exactly like a leprechaun. She is super short and so hilarious and she has the coolest accent.  She even sang us a little song and then gave us some chocolate coins haha.  Our first day we also met a lot of other people.  One girl gave me a bracelet when we were leaving and I barely even got to talk to her that long and I had just met her.  They are all sooo sweet and loving.  It amazes me how strong in the church they all are.  They talk about making trips to go to temple and I take for granted how close I live to one.  It is also so neat to just see how my brother has changed these peoples lives and how they have changed his all because of his mission.  I can't wait to meet more people Ireland.

and these are just my first impressions...I still have a little more then a week left here!  It has been amazing and I'm so grateful I have the opportunity to come here and experience different cultures.

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