My First Impressions of Dublin

Hello lovely people!

If you know me really well, you know that I have been talking about starting a blog for literally probably years now. And if you don’t, well then you don’t know that and can forget I mentioned it. Regardless, the day of reckoning is here. It’s finally happening. 

For those who don’t know me, my name is Sierra Sage Poore, and I am currently studying abroad at Dublin City University in Ireland. My home university is Arizona State where I study journalism. I am a junior and an avid listener of the My Favorite Murder podcast. I love painting, the outdoors and working as a duck tour guide in Alaska during my summers.  

This blog is where I will be writing about everything Dublin as well as everything study abroad. So whether you’re looking to travel to Dublin or anywhere else I go, study abroad or simply keep up on what I’m doing, I genuinely hope you find all the useful and wholesome content you could ever want right here. Okay, maybe not all of it. That’s a high bar to set. 

In honor of my first blog and and first week ever in Dublin, here are my first impressions of this new and strange city that’s very much different than my hometown of Glendale, Arizona. Also here’s the first picture I’ve had taken of myself while here.

Dublin is quaint. Unlike Ketchikan, Alaska, or a select few places in Arizona such as New River and Flagstaff, almost all the homes here look the same. Each is made of brown or red brick. Each has no less than six windows on the front of it. Each has a chimney. 

The gates here surrounding the homes are much more decorative and elaborate than any I’ve ever seen. The trees are grand but bare. Vines climb the walls of buildings like they’re playgrounds. 

Dublin is gloomy, misty. Though, it’s currently winter and can be a tad chilly at times, I’ve been surprised by how warm I’ve been able to keep myself. A good pair of pants, boots, a coat and maybe a scarf on a particularly cold day are more than enough to keep me warm, and I’m always cold so that’s saying something. 

The sun comes out for only an hour or so at a time in my experience, and I haven’t seen the moon once since I’ve been here, though, I haven’t exactly been wandering around at night looking for it either. 

Dublin City Centre is rather amazing. The housing I live in is near Glasnevin—about a 20 minute drive away from the heart of the city, which is very different from where I currently live in Dublin. Though, I haven’t explored it in its entirety yet, I can tell you based off a Dublin bus tour I took that doing a thorough job of such is going to take me awhile, if I’ll even be to at all in the few months I’m here. 

In addition to being extensive, the city is packed full of shops and eateries. There’s so much crammed per mile it hardly seems real. Shop after shop makes way only for beautifully crafted architecture or a historic building here and there. I saw an H&M of all things inside an almost ridiculously majestic looking structure and felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. 

My favorite thing, though, thus far about Dublin is its people. They really are as nice as they’re made out to be. That is, of course, other than the bartender who told the customer next to me to “feck off” for ordering coffee when he was trying to serve food. I wish I could have seen my own face when that happened. 

If you know me, you’re probably rolling your eyes right now because “nice” is my favorite thing to call people I’ve had a pleasant experience with, but when I say nice in this case, I mean so much more than the bare minimum of what the word typically entails. I mean exceedingly helpful, immensely reassuring. 

Everyone I’ve met (besides the select few who tell you to “feck off” for ordering something on the menu) has an attitude that says, “I’m happy with my life and therefore want to make yours as happy and carefree as it can be, too.” Regardless of what kind of job each person does or what kind of service they provide, everyone appears to feel genuinely fulfilled by doing it.  People carry themselves with a sense of purpose that to me says, “the role I play in society is just as important as everyone else’s,” which is absolutely delightful to see. Having had my fair share of jobs that I wasn’t happy to be doing, I wish I would have had such a fantastic attitude. 

People here go above and beyond to help you, too. And when they can’t help you, they do everything they can to point you in the direction of someone who they think can. Whether that means offering to walk you to a different store in the mall so you don’t get lost or letting you occupy their shop space and use their own personal hotspot while you sit sniffling on the phone waiting to hear back from your mom who’s on hold with your network carrier from home, people in Ireland are seriously. very. nice. 

I even had a cab driver who was being so reassuring and considerate about the fact that I was a young girl traveling alone at night to my housing for the first time ever that he was actually starting to freak me out. Like, is he telling me I’m going to get there safe so many times because I’m really not? And did he point to his information on the dash in case something goes wrong because that’s not actually his information?

While perhaps I just haven’t come across people here who are having a bad day or don’t like their job, it definitely seems that spirits in Dublin are a little higher than most places, and honestly I’m a really big fan of that. The general Irish attitude is something I hope to take home with me, which is a great segue into one more thing I wanted to leave anyone still reading with.

Here are some goals that I have for myself while in Ireland:

• To get into a routine. Yes, like a three meals a day, working out, brushing my teeth twice a day and showering every night before bed, looking my best every morning, and going to church sort of routine.

• To find a good group of people to surround myself with.

• To keep up with all my relationships at home while still making time for myself to form new ones here, bearing in mind that the ones at home are the ones I am excited to return to when everything in Ireland is said and done. 

• To create often and unapologetically.

• To be kind to myself and keep in mind that everyone has to start somewhere.

• To genuinely get something out of my classes. To try my hardest and be academically challenged in a way that I haven’t been in a long time. 

• To gain full control over my emotions. To not be disturbed and worried by things I can’t and will never be able to control.

• To never say no to adventure and to spend this trip as if I’ll never be back to Ireland because for all I know I won’t.

• To make decisions for the betterment of myself. Because if I don’t, who will?

• And, as mentioned before, to bring that good ole Irish cheerfulness and fulfillment back home with me. 

My hope in creating this list is not only to keep myself accountable but also to offer some potential ideas to anyone wanting to set goals of their own. If you’ve gotten this far, thank you. And if not, I don’t care because I don’t know any different. 🙂