Well hello and welcome to episode two of Marty’s Ireland blog. Today was an action filled day combined with no sleep but hey, it’s the travel life.  Anyways, we got our first taste of Ireland and the general consensus is it’s beautiful here. While I wish they were still behind in the pollen cycle so I didn’t go from getting destroyed in PGH to getting destroyed part 2 in Ireland, I can still appreciate the culture and beauty of Dublin.

One thing that is really interesting is I knew before coming here about the referendum vote on abortion, but I had no idea how prevalent it would be in this country. Each block had multiple signs saying to vote yes or vote no to the referendum.  While there are many intense issues in the United States, this seemed to be a vote of a greater magnitude than what I have seen before.  I believe that this is most likely a result of the difference in the way our governments are structured since in the United States the government does most of the voting after the citizens elect their officials.

One thing that was told to us prior to the trip and that has proved to be true today is how kind and helpful the Irish people are.  This was especially apparent with our CAPA leaders as they were very welcoming to us.  One parallel I found between Dublin and Pittsburgh is how the citizens here also love their city and are eager to show it off which provides a great energy to go into.

Another thing that we discussed prior to the trip that proved true is the difference in relationships in the United States and in Ireland.  We discussed prior to departure that Ireland had much more of a relational base while the United States is more transactional based.  We discussed this today as Susanne mentioned we should develop some report with those who we talk to before asking for anything by saying “how are you” for example as well as being polite.

Well that’s it for today kids stay tuned for episode three of Marty’s Ireland blog.