Culture Shock

Dublin was my home away from home. In many ways, Ireland was very similar to America and I didn’t have a problem at all adjusting to the culture. Dublin itself was similar to Boston in its atmosphere in that it was a city with many people, but a small town feel. It was strange to me that the tallest building was only seventeen stories when right down the street from Northeastern is the Prudential building. The buildings also had more Victorian and Georgian influence with pubs and features similar to what an Irish pub would look like in the US. Therefore, I don’t feel as if I went through any stages of culture shock. Homesickness was a slight issue at times, but it was more missing my friends and family rather than the culture.
A few customs took a few days to adjust to such as tipping culture and the side of the road people drive on. I had to adjust to a slightly different vocabulary as well. One of the most frequent differences I encountered was that chips are called potato crisps because chips mean French fries to them. Some slang words were new to me such as craic (pronounced crack), but I love the phrase “a mighty craic” to describe a really good time. And the Irish love a mighty craic. One of the largest cultural differences was the drinking culture. Pubs are open from early in the morning and it is common to see people grabbing a pint at any time of day. Pubs or public houses are a staple of Irish culture. Many discussions of nationalism and rebellion were had in pubs. There seems to be less of a stigma and judgment surrounding drinking. People of all ages go out on the weekends and during a football match, there are no limitations of who can enter the pub to catch the game. I went into Irish culture with an open mind and I truly enjoyed it. I think because I was so anxious about this trip, the lack of culture shock greatly improved my experience.