Please excuse the painfully generic title to this post, it’s the best I could do. I’m sure James Joyce or Oscar Wilde (both Dubliners) could have come up with something better, but they’re both long dead and not former Hatchet editors so they wouldn’t be able write on this blog anyway.
My name is Andrew Alberg and I am both a) currently alive and b) a former Hatchet sports editor, making me well-qualified to blog here. Ever since I decided to study in Dublin, people have asked me why. It’s a fair enough question I suppose, especially considering that I am a full-blooded Jew and therefore non-Irish.
So, out of all the places in the world, why Ireland? I don’t know. Why not Ireland? I decided early on that I wanted to go to a big, old English-speaking city, preferably somewhere I could travel from. Sydney was a possibility, but it is really, really far away and supposed to be even more like America than parts of Europe. South Africa was too far away and, frankly, too scary. So it came down to Edinburgh, London and Dublin. Edinburgh didn’t really appeal to me for whatever reason (poor man’s Dublin, I thought) and everyone seems to go to London. So that’s why I’m in Dublin. Joyce is cool too, I guess, but I doubt I’ll take the time to read Ulysses. I have taken the time to drink quite a few Guinnesses, which actually do taste much better here.
I will be blogging about my experience in Dublin throughout the semester. From the police force (or lack thereof) to the locals (good craic…I’ll explain later) to my college (University College-Dublin) to the pubs and card clubs. If you have any questions, ask away.
I hope you all enjoy reading.
Andrew