My first trip to Ireland - Day one

Several friends have wondered why I would want to move to a country that I had never even visited. Although I had not visited Ireland before, I knew, from watching countless movies, documentaries and through other media, that it was a place I could live. This feeling was solidified with my recent (short) visit to the Emerald Isle.

As you may have read in a previous post, I decided to fly over for an interview with a hotel I had applied at.  That is covered in detail in that post, so I will concentrate more on the leisure side of my visit.

I left Raleigh at around 10:30am on the 5th of March.  I arrived in NY and had a 5 hour layover.  My flight for Ireland left at 7:20pm.  It was a very pleasant flight, and I sat next to a lovely girl from Dublin. We chatted for about three hours about everything from politics to healthcare to sightseeing.  This made the flight go by pretty quickly, but also meant I didn't' get the sleep I had intended to get.  We arrived at Dublin airport at 4:20am, a good hour ahead of schedule.  I decided to hire a car, as I wanted to visit the area where my grandfather was born in Norther Ireland.  Unfortunately, the car hire was not open until 5am.  I decided to go and find some breakfast, and I met up with this girl once again who invited me to join her and her two friends at a table.  After a bit more conversation, it was time to get the car.  Mind you, I had never been to another foreign country before this, except for Canada, but they drive on the right.  Luckily, because it was so early in the morning, there was very little traffic out and it didn't take long to get used to driving on the left.  I did eat a couple of curbs when I went around some corners, but it didn't do any damage, luckily.  I arrived at the guest house I was staying at that evening and parked the car. This was very close to St Stephen's Green in the heart of Dublin.  I couldn't check in for several hours, so I first decided to take a walk.  The streets of the city were nearly empty and I was feeling so excited to be actually on Irish soil.  I walked around just for a short bit, and located the hotel that I was interviewing at later in the day so I knew where to go.

The Shelbourne Hotel at daybreak

I then decided to basically just explore Dublin a bit. I had heard adverts on the radio for Dundrum Town Centre which is a large shopping centre. I decided to head there to see what it was about.  I arrived and, still being really early, found everything except a Tesco grocery store to be closed.  I wanted to see what an Irish grocery store was like, so I ventured in. I actually ended up buying several things, including some candy bars and some crisps.

After the shopping trip and having some issues exiting the parking lot (you have to pay for parking, and I thought the sign said it was free for the first 30 minutes, and it was not unless you spent like 30 euro in Tesco), I decided to just explore.  I'm the type of person that like to get lost. I think it's the best way to discover new places and see things off the beaten path. So, off I went. I ended up in the hills (mountains?) of Dublin and in the beautiful countryside.  I was so happy.

By now, I had really gotten the hang of driving on the left. Oh, my car was also a manual shift, which I had not driven in about 12 years, but I loved it.  after a couple of hours, I decided to head back to the guest house to see if I could check in early. Luckily, I was able to.  I stayed at the Kilronan House. This was a really quaint Georgian building. The room was cozy and very nice.  I was able to take a shower and relax for about an hour or so before my interview.

After my Interview, I decided to explore Grafton St, which is one of the biggest city shopping districts.  It's a road turned pedestrian way just lined with shops off all types.

I made a point of visiting the Celtic Whiskey Shop, as a friend had asked me to get his son a bottle. I decided that I would bring one home for myself as well. I ended up with a bottle of Green Spot whiskey, which can't be purchased in the states.

My next stop was Trinity College to view the Book of Kells. How can you come to Dublin and and NOT see the Book of Kells?  I have to be honest, I was more impressed with the Old Library of the college. 

The Old Library at Trinity College

After my jaunt through the Grafton St area, I returned back to the guest house for a bit of a break.  I ventured out shortly later to find dinner. I was looking for a particular pub that I had stumbled upon earlier in the day, but could not locate. After what seemed like miles of walking, I ended up in the Temple Bar area and found a nice restaurant there. I can't for the life of me remember the name of it, though. I ordered a seafood chowder and their bacon with champ and parsley sauce.  What's kind of funny though, is that I know in Ireland most cuts of pork are called bacon, while what we American's think of bacon, although not exactly the same thing, is called rashers. So, when I ordered this dish, I was expecting American bacon, but instead it was two nice sized thin slices of pork cutlets. It made me chuckle to myself, and it was one of those "D'oh" moments.  After dinner I walked around a little bit more to enjoy the night life of the city and then decided to call it a night. by this time, I had been awake for nearly 24 hours!

Day two to follow....

A quick shout out

I've been meaning to give a quick shout out to Cory and Sara over at The Narcissistic Expat Diaries: From Iowa to Ireland.  Their blog is what inspired me to begin blogging my journey.  Cory puts a lot of time and effort into the blog, and Sara's photo's really bring Ireland to life.  Besides, how can I not follow someone who brews his own cider?  It's only the best alcoholic drink on the planet! So check out their blog for some really good reading.

Catch up, but not ketchup

It's been a loooong time since I've posted anything here. I haven't had the ambition because I've had no luck with finding employment.  Let me see if I can summarize the last 3 months...

In my post from January 7th, I mentioned that I had two interviews. One was at the Savoy in London and the other was at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin.  It was about two weeks after that post that I had heard back from the Savoy, and they kindly let me know they went with another candidate, I was sort of ok with this, as I've been trying to concentrate on Ireland anyways.  So the Shelbourne is another story. The entire process with the Shelbourne took about 4 months from start to finish.  I applied there in the beginning of December.  My phone interview was on January 7th.  I was asked to fill out an application and provide references about a month later.  A few days after that, I was asked to take their online personality test.  You would think with all of this going on, my chances were pretty good and they were seriously considering me.  Well, I had not heard anything for quite some time ( I was working through a recruitment agency in Dublin, so I couldn't really contact the hotel directly.).

 I decided to take a huge chance and travel over to Ireland for a few days.  I figured this would show them that I was definitely serious about moving there and finding employment. This trip will be a separate post, as to not take up too much space here.  I had an interview scheduled for the afternoon of my arrival.  I had not gotten any sleep that day/night due to the time the flight left NY and the time I arrived.  I wasn't tired, though; I was too excited to be tired.  The interview was actually a fairly short one, lasting no more than about 30 minutes.  I left the hotel and kept my fingers crossed.  The day after I returned home to the states, I heard that they decided on someone else. Drats!

So, what was one to do at this point since I was really thinking I was going to get this job after they strung me along for 4 months?  Start looking locally (and by local I mean the east coast of the U.S.)
Oh, let me mention here that I did have a phone interview with a resort in County Donegal before I went to Ireland, but I did not get that job either. 

I started looking in any city north of where I live here in NC, as I do not care for NC to begin with.  I have had a couple of interviews with properties in Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts, and as of right now, nothing has come from any of them.

So, needless to say, I've been very discouraged as of late.  I continue to apply to any position I feel I'm qualified for, both in Ireland and the UK and the east coast of the U.S..  I have also put my house up for sale, as I'm no longer able to make the payments.

On Friday, I applied to three new positions posted on Jobs.ie, and I quickly received a response from a nice chap at another recruitment agency.  We arranged to speak on the phone so that he could gauge my talents. So, we spoke this morning at 9am for about 30 minutes.  It was a very pleasant chat, and he was quite confident that he'd be able to find me a position.  He stated that the market is really on the upswing in Ireland and that my experience would be a benefit to any employer.  He asked for a list of references which I quickly emailed to him.  I know one of my former co-workers has already responded to his request. Yay!

I'm trying not to get too excited, as my excitement has been dashed before, but it's hard not to, especially when someone tells you point blank that they think they can find me a position.  So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and really hoping I hear some good news in the next few weeks. 

My ultimate plan, as long as it all works out the way I want, is to take the profit from the sale of my house and buy a one-way ticket to Dublin.  I'll look for cheap accommodation via airbnb and I'll be in the city I want to live in.  Hopefully, again, fingers crossed, being in the city will allow me to find work much easier.  The chap from the recruitment agency confirmed what I suspected, and that is companies are hesitant to hire someone from a foreign country as the distance makes it a logistical challenge.

Anyway...fingers crossed.

Big time win at the Casino!

Not really, but I got your attention. The area where my mom lives has two Indian reservations. Both have large casinos that they built with money they made from what they called high stakes bingo. I had not been to the Mohegan Sun casino in about 10 years or more, and decided to go check it out last night. Now, I've never been to any other casinos other than Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, so I can't compare them with anything in Vegas, but these places are pretty cool. They proudly display their Native American-ness in a huge way through the design.

Anywho, I decided I was going to play some slots. I made a promise to myself that I would not spend more than $10. Well, after 3 different slot machines later, I walked out of the casino with $20 more than I had walked in with. I'm quite happy with my restraint to play more, and the fact that I've beat The Man.

First round complete!

Alrighty then. Both interviews are now a thing of the past. I feel confident that both went very well. The HR manager at the Savoy in London is going on Holiday and the Banquet director is currently on  holiday, so I won't hear anything from them until the 20th of January at the earliest.  The HR manager at the Shelbourne has more applications to review and will go over my application with a couple of other F&B managers and should have some news within a week or so. Fingers are crossed.

Today is my interviews

It's currently 6:52 and my first interview is at 8am. I'm pretty nervous. I always disliked having to interview in the first place, but these two are Skype and on the phone, which you would think would be less intimidating, but it isn't to me.  I've done a fair amount of prep for both interviews, researching both hotels. I just hope I do a good job. I'll report back later.

A possible conundrum

Yesterday I received an email from the recruitment office at the Savoy in London asking when I can do a Skype interview for an Events Floor Manager position I had applied for. I have to admit, I kinda forgot I had applied for it (I applied about 3 weeks ago). It's very exciting, but now I don't know if I'll end up in Dublin or London, if either. But, my interview is at 8am on Tuesday, just before my interview with the Shelbourne.