Ireland vs. America

Ireland and America are not only countries in two different continents, but there are several differences between the two countries. I am trying to keep track of as many as I can so I do not forget!

1. The Irish people are extremely laid back and enjoy having tea and relaxing and talking about their day. In America we tend to be very fast paced trying to fit in and do everything that we need to get done that day.

2. Schools and work start a lot later around here and end the same time at home. School starts between 9 and 9:30, so do most jobs. Traffic jams occur around 9am here, rather than around 7 like they do at home.

3. There are so many words that they say to mean different things:
trunk- boot
french fries- chips
potato chips- crisps
cookies- biscuits
1st grade- 1st class
good job- well done
a lot of something- loads of
to say that something happened a long time ago- ages ago
delicious- lovely, gorgeous, nice
mean- cross
nice teacher- sound teacher
candy- sweets
call someone the phone- ring
stop by somebodys house- call on them

4. They drive on the left hand side of the road. So the steering wheel is on the opposite side that it is in the US. I still find myself going to sit in the drivers seat thinking that it is the passenger seat. Their vehicles are also very small. Most everyone has cars, you will not see many vans, SUVs, or trucks.

5. Their roads are not nearly like the US. Dual carriage ways (freeways) are starting to be built, but they only are about 5 miles long at a time. Their roads are very, very narrow and windy. There are also brick walls alongside of the roads, which makes it scary when having to pass another car.

6. Many of their houses are connected to one another. They call them semi-detached houses. Streets upon streets can have houses lined up right next to eachother looking the exact same. They have very small square backyards, called gardens, that are separated by brick walls, not fences.