It's been about week since we have arrived and I had a decent amount of dirty clothes building up on my floor so I thought I would be the first to try and wash my clothes. We had heard to wash our pants and socks together without our shirts because of some type of dust that is everywhere, and if we did wash them together it would ruin our shirts. So I threw my pants and socks in the washing machine, that's when the problems started. First problem was which cycle to choose.
I had never heard of a washing machine and dryer combined into one machine. Also had never seen any washing machine with two knobs on it. So I just guessed and hoped not to ruin two of three pair of jeans that I had brought on my trip. After that I couldn't figure out how to start the machine. My roommates looked at me like I was stupid. I stood there hitting every possible button for about ten minutes and the machine still wouldn't start. I had pressed the "on" button so I knew that it was on but it wouldn't start for me. I finally asked my roommate Max to help me try and figure it out. He came over and it took him about a minute to figure out what the problem was. The washing machine door wasn't completely shut. I have done this many times on other machines that I actually knew how to work. The machine's start button lit up and we watched as my clothes started to spin around.
After what felt like forever for my laundry to finish, the machine's light that said it was done, lit up. I went over and opened the door to find that my clothes were still soaking wet. The machine was supposed to be a washing machine and dryer all in one. It turns out it is mostly just a washer. I then had to resort to putting my wet clothes on radiators all over the cottage.
This is just one of many radiators full of my clothes. It took them a couple hours to finally dry but I didn't ruin any of my clothes. Which is a huge relief.
That is just one difference I have noticed inside the cottages that I am not used to growing up in Minnesota. The other one is the length of showers that we are allowed to take.
In Minnesota it is nice to take a long warm shower in the dead of winter but here in Ireland they told us we have to get in the shower, wash ourselves, and get out. Peter, the man who runs the place where we live here in Louisberg, told us that he knows how us Americans take showers and we can't "read a book" in the shower he said. We all laughed and understood that there isn't hot water for us to take long showers that some of us are used to. I personally love to take long hot showers in the morning to wake me up or pretty much anytime really, so this is a difference that I will have to get used to.
Another and probably the biggest difference I have noticed here is that the Irish drive on the opposite side of the road.
I knew that before I came here. I had experienced it before when I visited England a couple years ago. The major difference is the size of the roads and how fast it seems that the drivers are going. The Irish seem like the nicest people alive before they get behind the wheel of a vehicle. When they do get behind the wheel of a vehicle it's as if they have the worst case of road rage imaginable. It's actually slightly scary. We drive around in a big coach bus and I have no idea how the driver maneuvers around the tiny Irish roads. Most of the time it feels as if we are going to either hit the car that is coming opposite of us or the fence that is right next us. It feels as if I could reach out and touch the fence if the windows were open.
All of these are different from what I am used to back at home and will take some getting used to but aren't the end of the world.
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