Throughout my time studying abroad in Ireland, there were a few things in Irish culture that was a harder adjustment for me. The first one was no air conditioning in any of the accommodations we stayed at. This was one of the harder things I had to adjust to while being in Ireland. I am from Alabama so I am used to having air conditioning during the summer and having it blow cold while I sleep. Even though Ireland is a colder country and for the most part we all wore pants and sweaters while we were there, it still was a hard adjustment at night sleeping with no a/c. Me and my roommate would always open a window at every place we stayed so that it would stay cool at night in our rooms. Another culture shock I experienced was no tipping and trying to get the check/split the bill at the restaurants and pubs we went to eat. I knew going to Ireland that there was no tipping there but it was still strange to not actually have to do that. Everywhere we went out to eat, we would be finished with our food and would be sitting for thirty or more minutes waiting/trying to get our check. Eventually we would be able to get it and our next problem was trying to split the bill between multiple people. I was so used to American culture where the servers are constantly coming to check on you and would easily be able to split the check, so this was a shock to me. Most places we went to did not split checks and so one of us would always have to pay for the whole thing and have everyone else pay us back. Part of Irish culture is that when you go out to eat, often times you are there more for the socialization rather than the food so that is why it was always hard for us to get our check. There were a few other culture shocks I experienced such as driving on the opposite side of the road, and how walkable everything is in every city but overall it was fairly easy to adjust to life in Ireland. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to learn and experience Irish culture firsthand and that I got to see this wonderful country. I look forward to one day going back and seeing even more of Ireland!
