Culture Shock

On Saturday I went to the Guiness Storehouse for a self guided tour. Even though it's a touristy thing to do, it was amazing. The tour is mostly audio/video, with some places for light reading. They have a lot of the original machines and stories about the Guiness family. They had 21 children and buried 11. Arthur Guinness' wife, Olivia Whitmore, was pregnant for 16 years of her life! She helped create their family legacy through her family influence. Their family was similar to the Morgan family in the U.S. They financed a lot of places in Dublin for repairs and held the city together economically. 

You, of course, get free samples on the tour. One is small and you go through a sensory stimulation first before you have it. Unfortunately I couldn't have any of the samples because it contains gluten, but my friends enjoyed mine for me. 

We ended the tour in the Gravity Bar around 5pm, so all the lights were on in the city. 

I booked a tour of the Jameson Distillery for February 2nd. Booking flights, tours, buses, and hostels is stressful, but a good stress- eustress. I got a round trip flight to Scotland for less than 30€ (about $35). I also have a trip planned for visiting Cork soon to see the Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone. I really want to go to Italy for spring break, but I don't want to go alone. 

I took a class last semester on international business and we discussed the topic of culture shock. At the time, I thought there was probably some truth to it, but that I would probably not experience it to a great extent because I have wanted to come to Ireland for so long and there isn't a big language barrier. I was VERY wrong. The first stage is the Honeymoon stage, filled with overwhelming positivity and excitement. This is what most people feel while they are on short vacations with a set return date. What the graph below calls the next stage is Argh, which has anger, frustration, homesickness, etc.

There are 20,000 more students on campus now and it seems like everyone was walking in groups catching up with each other. I think I started to hit the Argh stage yesterday. I wanted to find all my classes yesterday because I have no class on Mondays. I found one classroom in the Law building:

Then I got lost, very lost. I was using google maps on my phone to find my way through campus. 

Today I found the class I was looking for and I'm waiting for the class before me to get out now. Wish me good luck!