A Fitting Beginning

After two decades of dreaming about European backpacking, and only a few weeks to prepare for my 3-month-long Dublin rotation, it's only fitting that my trip across the pond begin with a red-eye and then be followed by a full day working and gallivanting around. I'm not sure how many more red-eyes I'll take since I'll likely be focusing on Western Europe, but late Sunday and early Monday flights are undoubtedly on my horizon.

Let me take you on a little picture tour of my first day...

Gingers At The Gate

The JFK airport terminal was at least 12% redhead. The thought definitely crossed my mind to gather them all up for a group photo, but then rationale got the best of me. BTW this was not the girl seated next to me on the plane, just the first good image that came up when I searched 'redhead flying' (after Cycles Gladiator)

Upon arrival in Dublin, I hopped in a cab towards the Google office, and met what would end up being the last Irish person I'd speak to over the next 12 hours (and probably the only Irishman who swore he drank neither Guinness nor Jameson). Ireland's lax corporate tax laws aside, the result of this is a true melting pot of the tech-world variety, one I would posit is unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Roaming the buildings and halls of Google, I heard nearly a dozen languages and accents, and saw countless other flags at desk further highlighting the near-Global representation of the Dublin office. There was even a North Korean flag for pete's sake. No I'm just kidding about that one. But all those sounds and all that energy! It was truly a sight to see (I checked, that usage is kosher).

Not quite as subtle as the white Google signs outside our NY office, but at least birds can't poop on this one.

Give me a massively-oversized-G-with-a-reception-desk-attached! Give me an o-with-a-workstation-inside! [...] Give me an e-with-a-curved-tumblemat-underneath! [...] What does that spell?!

I actually asked these people to pose for the photos and pretend they were working. Not really, these aren't even my pictures (do I need to include a link to the originals or is the little © copyright symbol sufficient?) 

If The Beatles worked at Google Dublin, I suspect this is where they'd hang out. The smoke detectors even had the batteries removed.

After work, I endured the grueling 90-second walk to my apartment. Expecting a bed, a shower, and a kitchenette, I was floored to discover, well, hardwood floors, along with a luxury 1-bedroom apartment. I'm pretty sure some paperwork was messed up and they were expecting somebody much more important than me to arrive.

A valuable lesson I learned from my friend Rob D. was to take pictures when I first entered, as the apartment would never be that clean or neat again.

See that fancy kitchen in the distance? Yeah, I hardly noticed it either. 

The courtyard view from my balcony. I was slightly offended when I heard about the area referred to as the "Google ghetto". Now I understand just how fitting that name is.

Strolling around the Grand Canal, I found a picturesque bridge, convention centre (note the spelling), and bar/restaurant/boat that all conveniently fit into this panoramic. Hope to get a better shot of this on a clearer day.

My night concluded with a few pints of (real) Guinness and some fun conversations with two girls (actual Irish girls, and not even redheads), one a Googler and the other from Facebook. All in all, I've got a feeling I'm gonna like this town.

-From Erez with Love