As a Dubliner ~Early January~

Hi. It is a long time. Now I study at University College Dublin and live in suburban area of Dublin. I decided to write about my life in this dirty old , but beautiful town.

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2.Jan
I departed from Narita airport and had a long journey to Dublin, stepping by Qatar.
My friends saw me off in Narita and I got homesick although I had never arrived to Dublin.

It took more than 10 hours from Narita to qatar.
In addition, I was tired because I could not sleep in the plane. Qatar airport was big but so boring that I had nothing to do.
The fact that I had to get on board to Dublin again made me really annoyed. I could not sleep in the airplane and so I saw boring Japanese movie "打ち上げ花火、下から見るか？横から見るか？(Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom)" three times.
Literally I felt like I saw it from the side, bottom,and upper.

3.Jun
I got to Dublin! This was the third time to come to Ireland but this time I would stay five monthes as a Dubliner! I was a little nervous.

I met with my friend and we went to Galway.
She had visited to Ireland from US on holiday.
I felt encouraged with her because at least I did not have to be in trouble to communicate in English!

Galway is my most favorite city in Ireland

We went to Tig choili and drunk the first pint in Ireland! Just like heaven!

4.Jan
I went to Clareen, a famous banjo shop, and bought my new gear...! It would be my treasure through my life!!
With Tom Cussen, and shopper.Tom gave me his CD s.

Galway had a terrible flood and so some roads were under the water. In addition, we got off the bus in wrong busstop and had to walk more than 4km!
One generous elderly man took us to Clareen by car.

After that, we went to Cliff of Moher and I played banjo !!
This tune is Literally Cliff of Moher!

After eating seafood chowder, we returned to Galway and joined the session at Tig choili.
The level of musicians were so high that I felt sorry for being there. More practicing was needed.

5.Jan
We got back to Dublin!!
We went to piper's corner.
Piper 's corner has a lot of session but most of them are closed. We can enjoy advanced session from 7 almost everyday. Cobblestone is the most famous for session but nowadays this pub has been well-known.
However, we got there in wrong time and so what we did was just drinking two pints of Guinness lol.

6.Jan
I showed Dublin city around to my friend . I came this city twice and so is like my house.

Dublin fair city

We had lunch at Mongolian BBQ.
This restaurant has a interesting system. All we have to do is to put the vegitables and noodle on the plate as much as possible and bring it to shef. Shef makes it burned in front of us.
This is the first time to visit there and now I am crazy at this restaurant!

We went to Peader browns to join the session.
I personally love the atmosphere of this pub.

Some people mistakenly believe that the better technique musicians have, the better the session will be, but I am against this opinion. Not only technique,but also all the conversation, mood, relationship, (and pints lol)made the session and its atmosphere.
(When I talked it to Dennish man in Galway, he said "you should only practice hard, you don't live in Ireland or think about such thing". But I personally don't like this idea. The excessive faith for technique and skill can leads us to lose the pure enthusiasm for music.)
.

Anyway, we can enjoy not only dance tunes but also singing.
I realized that singing is indispensable to Irish music. In Japan, songs seem to be regarded less important than dance tunes. Maybe there are linguistic and cultural problems.I wotld like to tell the goodness of Irish songs in Japan.

We stayed this pub for more than 5 hours!
I sang Whiskey in the jar but it seemed that I should have study English hard.

This photo is from Peader browns' facebook page.
I was on left side.

(There is an elderly man who gave us pints for free every week! If you are a musician and interested in this session, please go with musicians as less as possible for his budget!)

P.S.
Tayto potato chip was delicious!

7,Jan
Because of jetlag, I woke up early in the morning (awesome!)
I got used to simple breakfast in hostel.
I met another friend and went to Bishoff , famous fish and chips shop in Dublin.
My friend, Yuna, had lived in Ireland for a year to study English and so she showed some places where I don't know.
Asian market was fantastic because we could buy a lot of Japanese food! Even Japanese rice!

After that, we went to O'donoghue's because I was invited by pat, who I met in the session yesterday.
Sunday morning session was fantastic!

O'donoghue's is famous for the Dubliners, legendary Irish band, started their playing.

Since I was with another friend yesterday and both of them were girls, Pat just said "oh... "
Oh, don't get me wrong...

He gave me a memo about his session schedule and it was written on the cupboard of the pub. It is like Irish!

I returned to the hostel but I wanna one more pints! And surprisingly, the session was held in the pub, 30seconds walk from my hostel!

Darkey kelly is not famous, compared to cobblestone,or piper's corner. However, the session was very good. I heard that the session was hosted by the students of traditional music. Definitely, they were all young and skilled!
Delaney, a guitarist, said he had japanese girl friend and knew Japanese culture a lot.

By the way, I met Japanese woman there.
She said she study at Dublin college university (DCU )and were from Nagoya.She said she recognized one Japanese boy because he bowed when he came into the pub. Delaney said same thing.
Yes, I am Japanese.

8,Jan
I went to see my new flat, made a bank account, and after that I got a busking license.

You need the license if you play instruments on the street and it costed 30 euro. There are also some rules (ex. One hour mark. You should end playing at o'clock whenever you started. For instance, if you started playing at 2:15,You can play till 3:00)

I was tired and slept as soon as getting to hostel.

9,Jan
It was rainy and I could not play on the street.
I bought some CDs in Cleadagh record , famous record shop.

Including Feagal scahill's CD!!
I stopped by music shop and found venezuelan cuatro!! But I have already ...

After that, I went to the place I had ever wanted to be...
Cobblestone

"Where is the pub you recommend most?"
I have asked this question to many irish musicians.
They all said "Cobblestone"
Tom mulligan is an owner and the sessions are held every week, every day, every time. A lot of great musicians are there.
And, although I hadn't known yet, I would make friends with them there...

I joined the session and stayed 5 hours!
Neillidh, the host and Tom's brother, asked me to play.
I played but they didn't play together. Instead of playing, they were just listening with their eyes closed.
"What does it mean!? was I not accepted..?"
I was nervous but I barely finished playing.
They gave me applauses!! I was relieved to hear that...
They were all kind and told me a lot of things.
I decided to come here as mush as possible.

I made friend with Caroline and she was my japanese senior 's friend! The would is small!