It is so easy to take for granted the ability to communicate and be understood by the people around you. As a quiet girl who is constantly working on her communication skills and reminding herself that people can’t read her mind, I’ve learned from this trip how vital communication truly is and how difficult and secluded it can be when there is a language barrier added to the equation. Simultaneously, it has made me increasingly appreciative of people that are able to understand not only the meaning of what it is you’re trying to convey but the actual words themselves. For weekend two a group of 14 and I traveled to Dublin, Ireland and I am not joking when I say the comfort brought on by the English language and extreme hospitality by everyone we met had me in tears. Happy tears of course, but I seriously cried 6 separate times in the span of the weekend.
It all started Friday afternoon as the 15 of us jumped on a train in Bonn and headed for Düsseldorf airport. Unfortunately, there was a delay in Cologne, as has become typical of our train trips, putting us about 30 minutes behind schedule and at risk of running late for our flight. To top it all off we had no idea what was going on because all of the train announcements were in German (see what I meant by difficult?), but God smiled on us and placed a man on the train next to Sydney who was able to translate for us and tell us which train to take to make it to the airport on time. From there we had to take the sky train to the correct terminal, run to security, and wait in line at customs just to arrive at our gate in time to hear our flight was delayed an hour. So we were able to take a breath and grab a snack before boarding the plane to Ireland. Once we arrived in Dublin we taxied to our AirBnB which was a six bedroom apartment in a student housing complex. It wasn’t in the most ideal location comparable to the city but it was cheap and it did the trick. We dropped off our stuff and then went to a bar called the Ivy House where we hung out for the rest of the night before grabbing some late night fish and chips and taxiing back to the apartment with the consensus that we would sleep in a little bit and then try to go for a hike.
Saturday was seriously so fun. We woke up, got ready, and took a taxi to Howth - a small town right outside of Dublin and on the edge of the island. Our taxi driver’s name was Oliver and he was a truly great guy telling us where to go on our visit, cracking jokes, and low key talking about politics in a way that wasn’t uncomfortable or disrespectful but rather thought provoking. Oliver dropped us off in the center of Howth and we walked around looking for a place to eat before stopping at Crabby Jo’s. As we walked in we were greeted by extremely attractive waiters with thick Irish accents that showed us to our table and gave us free water. I repeat, FREE water. This was the first time I cried. The girls and I giggled over our waiters and I enjoyed some shrimp and chorizo with roasted veggies. We then walked all over the town from the harbor to the cliffs, and even ran across another Texas A&M study abroad group. Despite being in slip-on Vans, I hiked with the girls down from the summit on what we later found was the more difficult route and then further down the cliffs to the ocean. It was overall just an amazing day, and when we were ready to go we boarded a train into the city. Also on the train though were several kids that looked about 14 years old and drunk as can be, playing their music though a speaker, dancing, screaming, and whistling as loud as possible. At first we thought it was funny but then it didn’t stop. Even after several train stops the high pitched whistling had not skipped a beat. Finally, the security guards got on at one stop and kicked them off, which of course they didn’t take very well but we had gotten a laugh, seats opened up, and we were almost to Dublin. The rest of the evening was spent bar hopping but our favorite place was The Ginger Man where we sat and talked with Pip the bar tender about beer, life, Ireland, and American stereotypes for a good hour or two.
Sunday morning started with another fun taxi trip, this time to attend the Choral Matins service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The music and the cathedral were beautiful and the sermon hit close to home, but the service was much different than the Catholic service that I am accustomed to. The rest of the day was spent touring the Guinness distillery, checking out the Book of Kells and Old Library exhibit at Trinity College, and enjoying dinner and quality time at several different pubs around Dublin. We then went back to the AirBnB and packed up for our 6:00a.m. flight the next morning. Leaving Dublin was bitter sweet knowing that it meant going back to the difficulty of having a language barrier, but it also meant we were a day closer to going to the spa island, Norderney. Once back in Bonn, the rest of the day was spent in pharmacology class discussing the roles of the public and private sectors in the development of new drugs and then preparing for our class trip to Norderney the next day.
Sarah Bohac
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