The name says it all. This is my last day in Ireland, tomorrow afternoon I will be on a boat to Roscoff and then off to Paris. I feel like this is the right moment to start writing. From now on things get interesting. I could hardly see the point in blogging my linenporter career. Trays Bags and dirty rooms for 6 months. nothing too exciting. What I got out of all this is (1) The money I needed to travel in the middle east (2) the possibility to travel in Ireland (3)a much better understanding of the polish language and culture, nie ma huya!
I also got many other things out of living in ireland including incredibly high energy bills, lousy food, floods on Patrick street, etc. but over all it was well worth it. I don't know how much I would change if I got to go back in time and change a couple things, I would probably pay more attention to formalities such as taxes etc. to save myself the effort of learning about the p45 p60 p43 p21 and all the other forms that were thrown in my face when i tried to stop the tax office from taking 50percent of my weekly pay as reparation for somebody else's mistake/procrastination. Of course that somebody else was my former employer, not a surprise eh!
I got to see some interesting places in interesting conditions. Belfast a 5:30AM on a friday night-saturday morning after a 2and a half hour bus ride during which i half slept off a night out in dublin. They say the night life is awesome in Belfast, "they" obviously aren't talking about the town i saw at the time i saw it. My final opinion on belfast after spending three days there on three different occasions is "Interesting but ugly" and certainly more of the latter!
Derry. I think 'Ceol agus Craic' summs it up (Music and Fun). Derry is small quiet and beautiful. it's also full of people who just want to have fun (despite what your history books say). On my last trip there I had the most amazing weather and the city looked more beautiful than ever. The Foyle is great and walking down the bike path along the river and away fromn the city was great. There is one thing I would change though, if I could. Get Pat Jennings out of there. This 'keeper is the worst thing that ever happened to the city!
West Cork and Kerry. great places , lost all my pictures of the ring of kerry but have it all in my head. my only regret is that I didn't have a car so once Julien left I was very limited in my options. Lakes of Kilarney, Ring of Kerry, Clonakilty, Galley head, Old head of Kinsale... all worth seeing. My best Irish breakfast ever was in Sneem on the ring of Kerry.
Donegal. I only got to go there once during this trip, unfortunately. you absolutely need a car. Malin Head, the northern tip of the island is worth every minute of the 10hour bus ride from cork to derry. cliffs, beaches, green hills falling in to the sea , it's all there.
Cliffs of Moher. not all they're said to be, despite the size they were less impressive than the cliffs of dun aengus on Inis Mor for example. Still a nice view though and the beautiful weather and great company I had helped make the experience very enjoyable.
There are many other places I would have liked to see but time and buses worked against me. Tory Island , Inis Meainn/Inis Eer , Giants Causeway, Mizen Head are the names that come off the top of my head.
So after nearly 7 months in Ireland my advice would be this : If you're looking for a place where jobs are easy to come by, well paid and not very demanding, a place where you're always whithin a short bus ride of a beauty spot and a great experience, If you don't mind a little bit of rain and cold now and again then Ireland is the place for you.
I guess this is a could way to start my blog. after a two week rest up in Paris I'll be trading the Irish Rain for the Egyptian Sun so i'll have more stuff to write about. hopefully I can keep whatever readers I have entertained for a short while every couple days.
