'Happy' Christmas from Dublin!

Hello all! I hope everyone is enjoying Christmas (and the 5^th day of Hannukah) at home right now as the Hyder family continues to wander through Ireland. It is currently 12:46 PM here, which means it is 7:46 AM in the states. It is truly Shabbas for us Jews here in Ireland since everything is shut down to the MAX. Later today we are going to go on a [forced] Shabbas walk through the town we are in since there isn’t really much for us to do, other than play a twelfth game of Skip-Bo or watch another Youtube clip of cute cats. 

           

This is super exciting as this is my first ‘real’ post from abroad. While I haven’t been in class or officially ‘registered’ yet, my two days in London and one day (so far) in Ireland has been jammed pack with tourist sites, walking, and the continual questioning of the purpose of 1 pence (does anyone really use them?).

The journey to London began with a nice 6ish hour flight, as I sat next to a faux-Canadian guy, who was relatively enjoyable to talk to. My mother purposely booked my sister and I a red eye flight to the UK most likely with the thought, “Hey, they will land there at 9 AM and have the whole day to spend touring!!!” Of course instead of getting well rested for my long day ahead, I watched the movie ‘The Help’ and a plethora of TV. After no more than 2 hours of sleep, I landed in London, customs stamped my student visa into my passport, and the journey of finding my hotel began. Erica and I enjoyed the 30 minutes we spent wandering around the airport looking for the proper tube to ‘Earl’s Court,’ but once found, the comfort of sitting was well welcomed.

The tube ride was approximately 30 minutes long to our stop and once we got off and started for the street, we realized that WOW! We did not have the address for our hotel! This ignorance of knowledge was only reassuring because it is a Hyder tradition to have nothing go smoothly…and we wouldn’t want to break tradition, right? Off we go, lugging two suitcases, a duffle, and huge pack around the streets of London. Once finding the hotel, we were informed that we were on the second floor. “Awesome,” we thought, “We only need to lug our stuff up one flight of stairs!”  Now, for people that think that there are no REAL cultural differences between London and America, pay close attention here: The British idea of a second floor is what we Americans consider the third floor. Moreover with attention to detail: so far it seems that all hallways in London are uncomfortably narrow. I got my workout that day lugging my 150 lbs of luggage up those three flights of stairs, while having to navigate through hallways that really seemed like tunnels.

After dropping our stuff off in the hotel room, Erica and I planned our walking for that day. Goals of sight seeing: Kensington Palace (to visit Kate Middleton of course), Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, the Parliament Building with Big Ben, and the London Eye. Proud to say after approximately 8 miles of walking, we hit up all those sites. A quick overview:

1. Kate was sadly not home, but we did get to see her London palace. After splurging on a book about the royal family. I learned that King William & Queen Mary first inhabited the Kensington palace and that Queen Victoria was born within. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is in good hands.
2. Erica and I randomly ran into my mum Franklyn and his girlfriend Sammy in front of the Buckingham Palace.  I not only had the pleasure of scaring the pants off of Franklyn, but I got to give him one last goodbye.

From left to right: Sammy,  Franklyn,  me

3. We ran into some friendly squirrels in St. James Park that have no fear of humans. I quietly gave a lil’ shout out to Haverford.

4. I kept on falling asleep at dinner and Erica had the honor of kicking me to keep me up. 

Day two consisted of finding my dorm, locating Guy’s Hospital where I will be working, creeping on the famous Tower Bridge, and fulfilling my royal quota for the day by visiting the Tower of London. Highlights:

1. Accidentally going to the London Bridge first thinking that it was the Tower Bridge. This mistake was obviously made by many as I heard all around me, “Wait…this isn’t it.” THANKS Fergie by popularizing the song “London Bridge” and getting everyone confused.
2. A past Kings student at Haverford let me know that my dorm is “right next to a shady park.” That is exactly what I wanted to hear about my new living condition and a great landmark. Too bad there were ‘shady’ parks all over King’s campus because we spent around an hour wandering and searching. At the end, we were informed that we actually walked by my dorm like twice and that if were actually paying attention, we would have found it. My final report: We found it and it looks very nice. And the park isn’t too shady….during the day?
3. Learning that being a beefeater is an honor given by the queen to soldiers and it’s a position for life. And also, on every birthday and Christmas they celebrate, the gin named ‘Beefeater’ sends them a free bottle.

Tower Bridge & River Thames at night.

Random tidbits learned so far:

1. In America, everyone says ‘have a good holiday!’ in hopes to be politically correct. I realized that this line does not really work in London since the word ‘holiday’ means vacation and my wishing for them is to enjoy their days off.
2. They have great Indian food here.
3. I always knew it was going to be expensive here, but so far I have not found a real ‘good meal’ for less than 9 pounds…which is almost $14. Hopefully I learn how to cook well.
4. One should tip 10% at restaurants, but you do not need to tip the bartender. (Yessss.)
5. Even though people drive on the left side of the rode, you should still walk to right.
6. The exchange rate is on average 1.6. I wish I knew that from the beginning. 

Now in Dublin, we are waiting for Christmas to come and go so we can continue our travels. Next we are traveling to Cork in the southern part of Ireland. Everyone enjoy home and I miss all! Happy New Years too!