Grocery shopping in Ireland is my LEAST favorite thing

It was a miserable experience. First of all, in Ireland, their grocery store is called "Dunnes", which is kind of like a Super Walmart with clothes and stuff. Its intense though. So not only do they hardly have ANY american brands (it took me forever to find Oreos), but even the stuff they do have comes in wierd packaging with different labels. Apparently they dont have an FDA-type organization because their nutritional facts are ....non exisitent. It just says "<2>8 grams protien" and other completely usless and ambiguous information.

When i mentioned this store is like Walmart, i really ment it. It was chaotic and people were everywhere and they had maybe 3 cashiers. And it seems like whenever an American uses a card, they have to verify your signature with another ID and then go get it signed by some "head" person. It takes forever and the people behind got really mad.

One thing that sucks (but is a cool idea actually) is you have to pay for plastic bags, everywhere. Ya know...the cheap little foodlion grocery bags that Americans collect? Yes...you have to pay to get one. I havent noticed the price but i think its like 10cents ($.17ish?) for one. So everyone buys and uses those cloth bags they started selling in America. Its a cool idea but i doubt it would ever work in the states. ANNND they charge you to use a grocery cart. Which is just ludicrous. So...moral of the story is....im not going grocery shopping again....it was awful. (except they sell half loaves of bread....which were adorable)

Other than that, i have been doing good. Adjusting to the culture, etc. has been a little difficult. It is a lot more diffent here than i thought it would be. Things are just strange. And its definately an underdeveloped country; like the example with not having an FDA. Here is a list of some really strange things:

1. the trash cans are all the type with the thing you step on that opens the lid. I mean..ALL of the trash cans are like that.

2. The "strip malls" here are what every single shopping center is like, except its like a regular mall would be in the states. You walk in the front doors and have to pass several jewelery and clothing stores just to get to the grocery store. Its intersting.

3. You have to pull a string to get hot water for a shower.

4. I dont think they have any sort of "adopt-a-highway" program, because there is litter all over on the side of the roads. It's sad.

5. The exit signs dont say "exit". Its a green sign with an arrow and a stick figure of a guy running. Its not at all what you think an exit sign should be.

Thats all the weird things i can think of for right now. I'm super tired :( But i'll put some pictures up really quick!

This is the famous Guiness factory.

The front door to the guiness factory. It reminded me of Willy Wonka. They had this huge gate surrounding the whole place but you could kind of see the factory inside. This was in Dublin, right by the train station we were waiting at.
This is Dublin as seen from the double decker bus i was on. There is a river that runs through the main part and they have cute little bridges that go across ever 50 yards. You can kind of see the river on the bottom right and the bridge going across. All of the buildings in the cities of Ireland are laid out like this.
Getting on the bus from the airport in Dublin to the train station. These are some of the people in my group.

Dublin airport.