Things about Ireland

     I'm here again! Sorry this was late... I had 25 hours of work last week plus the first week of school, so it was a little insane. I was going to do this post earlier, but I sorta forgot about it. When we were in Ireland, I made a list of things there that were different or seemed funny/strange to me. Even though we spoke the same language and lived in more or less the same way, there were so many things that were different and caught me off guard.

     I thought I'd share some of them with you so you can see the differences in culture and maybe get a peek at what to expect if you ever visit Ireland. First up is actual things that I found strange. Without further ado, here's the list!

1. Narrow roads - this is something I guess I should have expected but I was shocked with how narrow and windy the roads were. It was really cool though.

2. Square toilets - not all of the toilets were square, but there were a lot of very square-ish toilets. That might be TMI but it was definitely something I was not expecting. XD

3. The steering wheel is on the right of the car, they drive on the left side of the road, and most of the cars are stick-shift - these things I also knew, but it was so different to experience it. I would go to the passenger side of the car and realize it was actually the driver's side. *facepalm

4. Roundabouts (and they're clockwise!) - there were so many roundabouts. There were hardly any actual intersections, which was strange.

5. Lights turn yellow before they turn green as well as the other way. It's hard to explain, so here's a link to a video (https://youtu.be/Nk3h1UWlO14). We decided that it does that so that people driving stick shift cars - which is almost everyone - has time to shift so they can go right when it turns green. It makes sense but was still weird to see for the first time.

6. How much tea they drink - also something I was told to expect but not something I was really prepared for. SO much tea. I probably drank tea on average three times a day. This is actually something I miss a lot. And their tea kettles were huge, especially in Newtownards. It was amazing.

     I might be back later with another list at some point, cause the second list did not save. *exasperation. So (maybe) stay tuned for that one! Otherwise, I'll be back next week!!

~ Anna

Have you ever been to a different country? What was different there? Or even something different in the country you live in (a different state, city, province, etc.)?