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Culture Shock

Find a routine, find a friend

Victoria Wallace

26 Aug 2009

Ireland

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The hardest part about adjusting to a new culture is changing your daily routine. Find the nearest grocery store, and visit it every Sunday. Find a coffee shop to visit every morning. Find your favorite lunch place and try to visit it a few times a week. Before you know it, you'll get to know the local shopkeepers and they'll get to know you. You'll also get to know locals as well as other students. More than anything else, when you wake up in the morning, you'll know exactly what to do and where to go. It will make the adjustment to a new culture much easier. My advice? Wait two months before making a judgment call on whether or not you like where you are. You'll be pleasantly surprised .

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Slang

'Craic' is not a drug

Erin Dillon

18 Mar 2009

Ireland

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In Ireland, you may hear people asking you, "What's the craic?" (pronounced "crack"). No, they aren't offering you drugs -- it's simply their way of asking, "What's up?"

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Nightlife

Dress in layers when pub hopping

Naira Kuzmich

22 Sep 2009

Ireland

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When pub-hopping through Ireland in the winter, make sure you layer your clothing. Pair a t-shirt or a light-sweater with a heavy coat that you don't mind getting dirty. Ireland's bar-culture doesn't have a dress-code but even when it's freezing cold outside, the pubs are bustling with heat and activity---so don't wear anything you can't take off or put back on within a moment's notice! And ladies, if you're going to wear short little dresses, take a long, thick scarf with you. It'll keep you warm until you get inside and it'll also act as a backup top when some 18-year-old bumps into you with his first legal Guinness!

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