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| From Ireland Trip |
As soon as Andrew and I walked out of the factory, rain started pouring down along with huge gusts of wind. We were completely soaked and ran into the nearest Subway to scarf down two 6” ham subs, which were the cheapest food we could find at 1.99E each. We then headed back to the hostel and booked a tour for the next day (Sunday) to see the Irish countryside of Wicklow and Glendalough.
Around 5pm we headed to the Jameson Whiskey tour. Our tour guide spoke in a really monotone voice and cracked jokes with dry humor. The tour wasn't anything spectacular, and at the end I got a Jameson with Coke. Andrew got to do taste testing between Jameson Whiskey, Scotch Whiskey, and American Whiskey. Scotch has a smoky flavor and is distilled twice, while American Whiskey is distilled once and has a sweeter taste since it is made with corn. Jameson has a clean vanilla taste and is distilled three times.
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| From Ireland Trip |
Andrew and I talked to some of the other people on the tour and met 2 Swedish guys, Cristoph and Frederick. Cristoph lived in Sweden's 2nd biggest city Guthenberg(sp?), and Frederick lived in the northern part of Sweden, almost in the Arctic Circle. We walked with them to O'Shea's, a pub near our hostel. I ordered a pint of Smithwick's beer, which was decent, and conversed more with our new Swedish friends. They were staying in Dublin for the weekend near the big needle structure on O'Connell Street (sp?). Then they headed to Jameson while their girlfriends were out shopping. Frederick was studying civil engineering, but in Sweden they don't have “college” per say, it is more like a continuation of their public school. All of their schooling is paid for by the government, and they even get a student allowance to live off of. However, they said taxes on the middle to upper class in Sweden is something like 56%.
The Swedes asked how many beers that I considered a “drunk” level, and I responded like 5-6 beers. They said their outlook on drinking was different, and for them it was more like 10-14 beers, and that they frequently switched between liquor, wine, and beer all on the same night. Their definition of “drunk” was right on the border of blacking out / passing out. When we brought up that we had planned a trip to Amsterdam, the Swedes said that smoking marijuana was frowned upon in their culture, despite having far fewer negative health effects, and yet it was socially acceptable to binge drink to or past the point of throwing up / passing out.
The Swedes used the phrase “stupid Americans” only in a general manner, since they didn't like our political actions and leaders (I didn't like Bush either), but liked most of the American individuals they had met. They wanted to better understand the “American dream” mentality, and asked us if a rich man is considered a “good man” just because he is wealthy. I didn't agree with that personally, but I could certainly see how other Americans can get caught up in the huge capitalist rat race and forget to enjoy other people and car for their fellow human beings. It was very interesting to compare the Swedish socialist culture and the American capitalist culture and where they have similarities and differences.
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| From Ireland Trip |
We exchanged e-mail addresses with the Swedes and parted ways. Andrew and I headed to the Temple Bar area of the city and wandered around for a while looking for a good pub to hang out at. We ended up stopping at the “International Bar”, and I got a pint of Heineken for 5.10E, which is ridiculously expensive. The bar was lame and so we headed back to the hostel and went to bed around 2am.
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