Slowly Adjusting; My first week in Dublin!

Hi everybody! Welcome to my blog page! I am going to be posting on here twice a week about everything I get to experience while studying abroad in Ireland.

I left for Dublin on Saturday 5/28 and my flight was about 8 hours long, and was not very restful. When I got to Dublin on Sunday I took a bus into the city and immediately checked into my hotel room and passed out for a few hours. Jet lag was hitting me hard.

When I finally woke up, I decided to go explore the city, and ended up running into another student in my program. I noticed rather quickly that there are a lot of buildings in Dublin with stairs but no elevator, meaning people with physical disabilities are not accommodated. I also noticed, however, that the crosswalks make a noise when it is okay to walk, and continue this noise until the walking sign is red, which is a great accommodation for those who are blind. We walked about 7 miles around the city aimlessly for a while before meeting up with the rest of our group to go out to a pub for dinner. We went to a pub called O’Neill’s and I had my first Guinness! The nine of us that were there decided to walk around and see what we could find, ending up at one more pub before calling it a night. 

On Monday, we finally moved into our dorms, which are extremely nice and more apartment-like. I share a suite with three other girls in the program. We all met up with our advisors and went over the expectations for the next few weeks while snacking on some quality Irish cheese. After our meeting, we all decided to go grocery shopping, as our suites have nice kitchens.

After shopping, we all took some downtime and I did some homework, as we were all still really jet lagged. In the evening, we got ready, and decided to go to Temple Bar. While it was rather touristy, Temple Bar is something you MUST experience when in Dublin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being able to go out together has helped our group bond immensely. None of us really knew one another well before arriving in Dublin, and after our second day together, I felt like I had gotten to know these girls so well.

On Tuesday we visited the Book of Kells, the Long Room, and the Irish Emigration Museum. I am a huge history buff, so it was really cool to see the Book of Kells which is one of the oldest preserved books in history, and learn about Irish Immigration and how Ireland came to be what it is today. I thoroughly enjoyed these tours, but I noticed that many of these exhibits were not that disability-friendly. They often only had stairs with no alternative, information in writing with no brail, and bright lights and loud noises that could be perceived as overstimulating.

 

After the museum, we all took pictures, and a few of us went shopping around Grafton Street. It’s day 3 and sadly, we’re still all jet lagged, so we all turned in for the evening and I did some homework.

On Wednesday 6/1, we had our first site visit to a Nonprofit based in Dublin called Fighting Blindness.

We got to listen to many of the current employees talk about what they do, from communication with the public and political advocacy to research and scientific breakthroughs. We also got to listen to one of the organization’s founders, who is visually impaired himself, and was with Fighting Blindness when it started as a support group almost 40 years ago. It was very interesting to hear about all the work they do, and also to be able to ask them questions. While Fighting Blindness is only in Dublin, they have been able to expand due to the advent of zoom, and can reach people all over Ireland now. They also work with similar nonprofits in other countries. I was particularly interested in the political advocacy aspect, as I am minoring in Social Justice and want to advocate for the disabled community in any way I can. Our first site visit was truly amazing, and I am so excited for many more.

After the visit, our group went out to lunch at Captain America’s and we are planning to have some more bonding time tonight before turning in early due to an early morning on Thursday.

These past four days have been so special. I cannot wait for more adventures to come.