Yesterday's adventures consisted entirely of a day-long visit to Belfast. It was bright and sunny about 70% of the time. The weather here is a bit unpredictable, not unlike back home in Cleveland. Belfast is even more unpredictable though. One minute it would be sunny, and the next it would be overcast and looking like rain. But the rain held off.
In Belfast, I noted another few differences. Many of them I noticed on the bus tour we took. The bus took us all around the city showing some very interesting historical sights, including the shipyard where the Titanic was built. One thing I didn't expect though, was the slight American influence in certain parts of the city, mainly food. I spotted three Subway restaurants, two KFCs, and an Auntie Anne's as well as stores, like Gap.
Another thing that surprised me was how similar the styles are in sense of dress. In fact, some of the young people dress more stereotypically American than most Americans! Plaid button-ups, white Converse, etc. Another note on style is that there were a lot more young guys wearing jeans like a second layer of skin than back home. Hopefully that'll never become popular back home.
Another difference is even their automatic doors. I generally call them automatic sliding doors (if I'm using the full term), but here in Ireland they slide open pushing out/in. They turn and slide. I almost ran into one of the doors not expecting it to come out at me.
For lunch, we went to the Irish equivalent of Panera known as O'Briens. The food was tasty, and the Coke I got tasted just the same as at home. I wasn't sure if it would after tasting some of the different kinds at the Atlanta Coca-Cola museum.
After our bus tour, we all went and hit the "shops". Fun fact: yesterday was the first time I've been into one of the Urban Outfitters stores even though there's an Urban Outfitters about 30 minutes from me. I bought all gifts today, and I'm actually very proud of how I did when I was paying at the cash registers. Honestly, the differences between the GBP and USD aren't that vast. My host, Jim, told me that here in Ireland, banks are allowed to issue their own bills as long as they can prove they have sufficient funds in their vaults to support the cash. So here, you have money printed from many different banks unlike the USA where all the dollar bills look the same.
After Belfast, we all came back to the house to relax and for dinner. Dinner was delicious, as expected, and relaxing was very nice as well. (Here, everything is described as "nice", "quite nice", and "lovely". So, to rephrase...relaxing was quite lovely.)
It wasn't till after 11 that the other relatives that were over, left. It didn't feel nearly as late as it was. But when you're talking and having a good time, time flies.
Today's adventure: Giant's Causeway.
Word difference of the day:
USA: Jeep = brand of car
Ireland: Jeep = SUV aka "big car"
Leanna you should vlog some stuff on your phone!
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