dublin
Out of context: Reply #22
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- rafalski0
I've been living here for seven months now and the funny thing is I had never even thought of visiting Ireland until a few months before that. Then I thought.. why not?
If you come here keeping in mind that it's a town on an island at the far end of Europe rather than an "European capital", you will spare youself some disappointment. Dublin is one of those places where having their unique character has to make up for whatever this character is like.
People - most of the Irish are very nice, helpful, etc. They accept foreigners easily. On the other hand, there are some savage scumbags you don't want to meet. Some fucked up kids' fun is throwing things at people. I've seen it and heard from people who were thrown stones, eggs and stuff at. I must've been lucky, I only had an empty plastic bottle thrown at from a passing car on my second day here. They missed, but wtf? A friend was hurt by a stone thrown at her for no reason!
Architecture - the center is small, but likeable. Lots of gregorian and other sorts of brick houses. A lot of the residential areas seem to be ugly wood-and-plaster splattered with daub houses built from one template. Sadly, due to the recent property boom, the quality of the new built houses is quite shitty - people will buy anything and the prices skyrocket anyway. I think the nicest places to live are on the south, by the seaside.
Some locals say, the north of the city is supposed to be shittier. For an unknown reason, I hardly ever go there.Weather - I hate cold snowy winters that last longer than three weeks, so the last winter wasn't bad at all for me.
It's often a little dark here, probably due to very low clouds that can look stormy even on a rainless day. The humidity is very high, which makes the temperature feel colder. And yes, it rains more than it should.
The Irish seem weatherproof, people in t-shirts on a winter day are not unlikely to be seen. Even sober ones.Over 10% of Irish population are foreigners and even if a lot of them will spend the rest of their lifes here, I have yet to see one who says he wants to stay. Everyone seems to have an escape plan.
You can feel the city is on the rise, it's growing. Even if sometimes you might get upset with how backwards some stuff seems (I waited 2 months for broadband), it all develops in your eyes. If there ever was time to be here, it is probably now.
A friend of mine said his reason to move to Ireland was to "get the Dublin accent, because when you've got it, you'll find a drinking buddy in every bar in the world"