One week in Mullingar

“To dream anything that you want to dream. That's the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed.”

The storm.

Everyone is talking about it and people have died all around Europe. I am sitting here in The Cottage and not really feeling the storm. I just went outside and had a look over the sunny landscape. I let the sun warm my body and just enjoyed it for a couple of minutes. My mom told me that it had been the worst storm that has ever hit Denmark. To be honest I’m just glad that the weather is decent over here.

Yesterday I decided to walk into town just to get some air and get out of the room for a while. There are two ways into town from where I live and I went the way that I normally do with the intentions of going the other way back. It was the first time that I went the other way and to be honest the state of the town in that part of Mullingar shocked me. A lot of the houses looked to be in a state of dilapidation and they were so tiny.  I had even looked at flats in that part when I was looking for a place to stay. And to be honest I am even happier with where I live now. The Cottage has its charm and who cares if it’s not in downtown Mullingar when it only takes around 10 minutes by bike and 30 by feet to get into town. It is like a whole different world out in Walshestown. There are so many big and very pretty houses. Some even look like smaller mansions and most of them have gates. But to say that Mullingar looks like Skagen won’t be fair on Skagen, but the town has its charm and I moved to try something different and not a Skagen number 2.

When I got home yesterday J invited me in for a cup of coffee and some biscuits. She gave me the newspaper and told me that if I was looking for a part time job now would be a good time to approach the shops because Christmas is coming. She even told me about some of the places I could go and said that I could say that I know her (She used to have her own shop in Mullingar). So that is what I am planning on doing tomorrow. She also said that if I needed brickets for the fireplace she would take me to a place where I could buy some and we could put them in her trunk. She also gave me some home-grown tomatoes.

I know I’ve said that Ireland is a bit behind, but when it comes to recycling they aren’t compared to Denmark. I find it extremely difficult to sort my garbage because I have never done it before. So I don’t know what goes where. It is kind of embarrassing. In Denmark I threw everything in one bin and when I moved out of my flat everything went into the same bin including knives, glasses and tins.

And today I just did my first recycling and I tell you what. That shit is difficult. There’s like a bag for plastic, cans and stuff, glass, cardboard and then something for the rest. I find it quite difficult to uncover ‘the rest’. There’ll always be something with something else on it and where does that go then? Do you throw toilet roles into the bin or do they go with the cardboard?

Also I remember why I wrote Tesco on my list.

We all remember when Føtex (a Danish supermarket) tried price matching. They did a lot of advertising and all of a sudden it was gone again. In Tesco they have something called Price Promise and they simply just put it this way: €xx off your next shop – today your comparable grocery shopping would have been cheaper elsewhere, so here’s the difference back. So you just get a voucher you can present the next time you shop.

I would say that I have probably used around €50 on food since I arrived a week ago and I have food in the freezer for six days and probably for around three days in the fridge. So I would say that it is pretty reasonable.

Before I came I read that a lot of people think that food is expensive in Ireland. But that really depends on where you come from. Compared to Denmark it is a bit cheaper but I don’t think it is much cheaper though. Some of the things are a lot cheaper while other things are a bit more expensive. But all in all I would say that it is cheaper to live in Ireland than it is in Denmark.

Even a Guinness was only €4.50 at the pub. I would think it’ll be around €7 or maybe even €8 in Denmark.

To sum up about the prices I can conclude:

- Guinness is cheaper at the pub. 

- It’s a bit cheaper at the supermarket.

- A cab is much cheaper. I paid €8 to go around 3km. In Denmark I’ve paid €16 for a shorter distance.

Remember I have compared the prices with the Danish prices. If you are moving to Ireland you have to look at the currency from you country and don’t trust people entirely if they say it’s more expensive in Ireland, because it might not be in your case.

Also something that made me happy was that it is not weird to sit in the front of a taxi in Ireland. Back in Denmark I always sit in the front, but in London you always sit in the back and it feels like they are giving you weird looks if you go for the front seat.

And THEY USE KILOMETRES OVER HERE! I am probably not the only one who has been annoyed when I’ve been to places where they use miles. Like how many kilometres is one mile?

Winter is coming and I’m preparing for Christmas.

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