Dublin and now Paris

Last weekend I was in Dublin and I didn't have time to write. Now I am in Paris and thought I would give you a little bit of info about the last trip.

We stayed in a hostel called the Four Courts Hostel. It was interesting because I was with a Heather (a girl from the school) and we shared a room with 6 beds, i.e. 4 people we didn't know. This is not an usual situation in Europe but I know that it's a little strange from the US perspective. Anyways, the hostel was interesting. Lots of folks staying there for longer than a couple of nights. Folks from all over Europe (particularly the former Yugoslavia) who moved to Dublin to get work and improve their English. I met a lot of different people there but there was one young man (didn't catch his name) who I met that said something that I think was pretty insightful about the state of Eastern Europe after Milosovich. We were talking about culture and such, as well as communism. He was from Bulgaria. And he told me that many of the older folks thought life was better under Communism. He said that under communism, at least they had a secure job and knew how they were going to pay their bills (food & house) but now there is a lot of choice but people don't have job security.

Another bit that he said which was why I wrote bothered to include this in the blog was about culture. He said that many people feel that Eastern Europe is "backwards, Barbarian, uncivilized" and that it wasn't a fair way to see them. He said it's all about the economy. In his country, it is difficult to earn a living, so time is spent working or thinking about ways to earn a living. There just isn't enough free time left to spend your time thinking about things which are unnecessary to your survival. Further he added, now that communism is gone, people are free to do what they want, but that doesn't really change them. He said sure I can go out and buy a plasma tv, but I never watched tv before so I probably won't now. He then said the most crucial bit, that since people didn't know much of this stuff existed before, they didn't really miss not having it in their lives. Something to think about.

So, while we were in Dublin we made it to the "Guinness Factory" which was pretty cool (we spent about 5 hours there and it wasn't even to drink a lot of Guinness) oh...btw...Did you know that it's the same Guinness who made the beer that is responsible for the Book of World Records? Didn't put 2 & 2 together before I saw it there. Anyways after Guinness we stopped into a little pub to use the toilets and ended up meeting some really interesting Irish folks and having a couple of pints with them. One guy, Danny, even took us for a short walk down the street to point out a couple of interesting Churches and to show us some of the buildings that the Guinness factory build/owned for it's workforce to live in. He swore us to not mention that he showed us around (as it would probably be a blow to his coolness or something) but too bad. I am giving him props here for being a really cool guy and showing us the sights. I am sure he won't ever happen across this blog anyways.

That was pretty much it for Dublin...Chilling out at the hostel and checking out the Temple Bar area. I came back to London for 48 hours and now I am in Paris!

Yesterday we went to the Louvre and saw many of the sites of the city. It's pretty cool. Today not sure what I am going to do. I am uploading my photos as I blog (over 550) and I will put those on sometime soon.

So, I need to plan the day.

Talk to you later!
~Jenn