Would You Like Sugar For Your Tea?
Did you know they offer tea on the airplane? It is a strange thing to be thinking about at the close of my second week in Ireland, but it is a good place to start this post. I have flown a total of five times. I flew to Massachusetts and back with my family for my brother to tour Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I flew to Arizona and back for a Mission Trip with my high school, and I flew to Ireland by myself. I like to ask for Ginger-Ale when I fly because it reminds me of my mom and it’s a fun drink. The lady next to me asked for tea. Since then, tea has been everywhere.
I arrived at the airport in Dublin, walked up to the immigration desk, and my brain stopped. What did he say? “Can you repeat that?” “I’m sorry?” “What was that?” I needed to ask the Irish man at immigration to repeat every instruction and question he asked me. He spoke with a thick accent and his words were soft, they hid under his mask.
After making it through immigration, I found the bus driver who was picking up all the students going to the University of Limerick. We piled on and I drifted in and out of consciousness. I would wake up to another thick Irish accent, this one even harder to understand than the last. It could have been because of how tired I was, or how far away I was sitting, but I am betting the real reason I had such a hard time understanding what was being said was because the bus driver was slipping in and out of speaking Irish or Gaeilge. Depending on where you go and who you meet in Ireland, you might hear this language too. All of the road signs have the Irish name on top and the English name underneath. It is hard to miss, even when you are half asleep finishing your twenty hours of travel.
We arrived at the University of Limerick and were off to our villages. The villages are like a collection of dorms. I am staying in a house that is connected to other houses with buildings of more houses nearby. All of these buildings form a village. They are housing for students and close to campus. The University of Limerick gave my housemates and me a few supplies so we would not immediately need to go to the store when we arrived. One of those supplies was a box of tea bags, black tea in particular. There are two brands of Irish tea that have a firm following: Barry’s and Lyons. I will see if I can try both while I am here.
I have been to the store a few times since arriving. I bought towels at TKMaxx and groceries at Aldi. Lidl and SuperValu are grocery stores that are a little farther out of my way. They are not far if you take the bus. Taking the bus is the best way to get around here. The bus will take you into the city of Limerick where you will find other stores like Penneys/Primark, Brown Thomas, and Dunnes. I made it to Penneys while traveling to the city of Cork, but I have not been to the other two yet. People shop differently here, at least in the grocery store. Food does not keep as long in Ireland as it does in the United States. This means people shop more frequently for food and buy less at one time. They are in a hurry when they shop. People want to get in and out. I feel quite out of place staring at every little item trying to find where anything on my list could be and determining if laundry liquid is the same as laundry detergent.
The roads in Ireland are set up so that they drive on the left, but what side of the sidewalk should I walk on? I have seen people walking on both sides. I have seen signs for bikes to stay to the right. I have seen doors that say stay on the left, but the left door is made in such a way that the right door must be opened first to allow the left door to open. I stay on the side of the sidewalk that the person ahead of me is walking on and swerve back and forth to avoid people walking on the right and left coming towards me.
Drinking is also strange here. I have been having a fair amount of culture shock from the other people from the United States, but the Irish too. Swearing is very common here. I have seen a fair amount of people smoking and vaping too. Drinking is prevalent, but pubs are for much more than drinking. Pubs serve food, they have good paninis, I hear they even have tea.
I have been drinking tea since arriving in Ireland. I like drinking tea because it reminds me of having tea with Anna when we roomed together, and the chamomile tea Sammi makes me. My International Study Abroad (the agency I used to study abroad) contact person, took the four of us in Limerick who are using the ISA program, out for lunch. She taught me how she takes her tea, and I have been playing around with how I take my tea. So far, I am a two sugars kind of gal.
