This Ireland visitor is the seventh installment in a series of What Visitors Think of Seattle. We’re big fans of Couchsurfing. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting over 40 visitors from around the US and Internationally. Visitors always have interesting observations about Seattle and it’s great seeing Seattle through the lens of a fresh pair of eyes. We profile some of our visitors and noted their comments about Seattle, the US and some of our learning about where they’re from.
A(Male-28) was from Dublin, Ireland. He spent 8 months at University of Chicago and a few months at University of Michigan doing research in biology. He had about a month and a half to travel in the US until going back to Ireland. Upon his return to Ireland, he will spend one week at home in Dublin and then move to Edinburgh, Scotland for his Phd. I told A to meet me a Trabant(now Slate) in Pioneer Square. He had spent the previous night in Seattle in a motel in a shady area of SODO. He ended up staying for two nights. We did a lot of drinking and talking.
A’s Questions/Observations about the US:
- He really enjoyed his time in Chicago and the US in general due to it’s diversity in people and variety in food, which he said Ireland is lacking in both. Said he’ll miss tacos the most.
- His favorite city was New Orleans because it’s so different from the rest of the cities. He said he couldn’t bring himself to carry around a drink in the streets, because it just felt wrong.
- Coincidentally, an Anthony Bourdain episode on Dublin was on TV while he stayed with us. He found it really fascinating what this American thought about Dublin’s restaurant and pubs.
- Said he talks in a modified “US” Irish accent because if he talked with his normal Irish accent, nobody in the US would understand him. Even with his modified accent, I had a hard time understanding him.
- Like many of my other foreign visitors, commented on how clear my HD TV is. It’s just a normal TV from Costco, so maybe HD is not prevalent in many countries yet.
- Found US people very helpful. In fact he got a job after meeting somebody at a Couchsurfing event in Chicago which stopped him from having to leave the US. And it was only a week before his deadline to leave if he did not have a job.
A’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:
- Somebody else on Couchsurfing in Seattle agreed to host A, but when he replied he misspelled her name because he was using his cell phone. She got upset and didn’t want to host him anymore. He said that was his first impression of a Seattlite.
- Really enjoyed Pike Place market, but wasn’t impressed with the gum wall because they have one in Dublin too. Wanted tacos so we went to Los Agaves and wanted a patio, so we went to Maxmillien for drinks. He really liked the “secrecy” of the Maxmillien patio.
- Also enjoyed Discovery Park. He thought the views of the water and the park itself were great and was shocked that a park that big would be so near to downtown.
My observations of A/Learnings from A:
- He had been to the US 4 times before and had traveled to Chicago, NY, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, DC, Knoxville, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, San Francisco. I thought he must travel a lot in Europe, so I asked where he’d been. He’d only been to 3 countries outside of Ireland. He advised he hasn’t travelled a lot in Europe because everything is so close and he takes it for granted.
- He said a lot of young people in Ireland leave to Canada and Australia for construction jobs. They make a lot of money overseas, the countries speak English and these countries heavily recruit in Ireland because they know there are a lack of jobs there.
- He said he believes it’s a good idea for people to leave Ireland and work abroad so that when they come back to Ireland they can bring new ideas back with them.
- He said in Ireland they are trying to pass a law that allows old people to drink and drive, because old people are just staying at home because they can’t drink and drive and there’s no public transport and they can’t afford a taxi. He doesn’t think it will pass.
- He said Dublin doesn’t have popular sights so he believes it’s boring and visitors only need to stay for just two days.
- We talked about Northern Ireland and Ireland. He explained half of North Ireland is Catholic and half Protestant, which is why they are part of the UK. There is one county up north that is fully Catholic, but can’t be a part of Ireland due to geography. The IRA is active in Northern Ireland and had a “peace” treaty signed, but there was a splinter group who then also signed a treaty, but then another splinter group was created.
- Said that the Irish can relate to Palestines due to their common histories. I found this really interesting.
UPDATE: During my trip to Ireland in 2018, we met up for dinner and drinks, so he returned the favor
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