You Can´t Go Back

Trip Start Apr 27, 2006
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Trip End Apr 01, 2008


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Monday, August 28, 2006

These are going to get short since I am running out of time, so Dublin can be summed up as looking the same sixteen years since I did my summer semester at Trinity College, but not feeling the same. (I actually stayed on campus in student housing, not the same room though.)

The accent is blessedly more comprehensible than in the South, but it seems there arenīt many Irish left, at least in the center of town. Dublin has become a cosmopolitan city full of Eastern Europeans, Americans, and Africans. Sixteen years ago there was one Mexican restaurant - Judge Roy Beanīs, and it was awful - and now there are restaurants for every ethicity. For instance, I had tapas and Thai one day, and actually struggled to find traditional pub grub. Similarly, I was at one pub where the singer seemed to feel the need to preface very well-known Irish ballads with explanations and was surprised when she learned that there were actually quite a few Irish in the audience My Fetish
My Fetish
 . It was a little bizarre. That said, the influx of Eastern Europeans has definitely benefitted the female gene pool.

As for the Irish I did meet and discuss this with, most seemed fine with it, but for expressing a desire that the immigrants would assimilate better, rather than be insular, but I think that is universal - it is the second generation that integrates. Interestingly, in contrast to the influx of non-native Irish, was the prevalance of Gaelic. Not just in Dublin, but everywhere I went, I heard much more Gaelic spoken than I did sixteen years ago, and all of the street signs are now in both Gaelic and English. There was a even an Irish-language television station, and Irish proficiency can be used as a means to get into college.

There were several other notable changes (divorce is now legal, women can legally receive information about abortions and to to England to get one, gay bars and publications are prevalent), but they are probably only of interest to me, so I will wrap this by saying that nothing particularly exciting happened personally, other than revisiting some old haunts (e.g. The Stagīs Head, a great pub on Dame Street for anyone planning to visit soon), but I was there from Monday through Wednesday and mostly went to pubs where they played trad, rather than bars/clubs.

Next: Belfast, Ireland
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