Fashion

This week we’ve been in our orientation program for IPA, which will finish up in the middle of next week. As part of such, we’ve met our other classmates (there are six other students who didn’t come through Arcadia) and our professors. We’ve also gotten to hear from a couple guest lecturers to get us up to speed on the current political climate in Ireland and the legal history of the country. The crash course in Irish politics should be helpful when we go to the Dáil and at very least give us the tools to begin understanding the issues with which we’ll be dealing.

I probably could (and as a student of sociology, probably should) talk about the interesting social and political consequences of the influence of the Catholic church on Ireland or how the socioeconomic structure and current economic state makes so much more sense given the particular historical context of the state. But I’d rather talk about clothes. Georg Simmel might be proud of me.

One thing that’s struck me in the past week and a half is how well everyone dresses here. It’s not acceptable to run to the store in your sweats. No one goes to class in athletic wear. Everyone is always sort of done up. Except they’re usually wearing running shoes. Every day on my way to school, I see dozens of women in pencil skirts, nylons, and Nikes. Now, I assume they have dress shoes in their bags, and given how much walking Dubliners do, the practicality is perfect clear. It’s still rather funny, though, to see someone dressed in all black and grey business attire and pink Adidas.

I’ve also found the greatest store known to man. It’s better than Kohl’s, and if you know me, you know how I feel about Kohl’s. It’s called Penneys here in Ireland, Primark in the UK, and it’s fabulous. Everything is dirt cheap, which I think is partly due to the fact that they don’t advertise. I got a scarf, a pair of shoes, a blouse, a party dress, and a pair of sweat pants for under €30 (a little over $40). The shoes were like half of that. All the clothes also look really good, too. Anything from Penneys could be mistaken for something from Forever 21 or H&M, easily. They have a great selection of basics. If you like one dress or blouse or scarf, it likely comes in five other colors. They have a fabulous range of sizes. The store is organized by type of clothing (jumpers, pants, jackets) rather than by collections, which makes it so easy to find what you’re looking for. Literally the only bad thing about the place is that it’s like a two mile walk from my apartment, but then again, that’s probably a good thing or else I might spend all my money there. Before I left, my mom told me not to fall in love and stay in Ireland; if I never come back from Dublin, it’ll be because I don’t know how to get home all the clothes I bought at Penneys.

Tomorrow, we’re going on a bus tour of the city and visiting some of the more touristy landmarks, so I should have more to talk about, as well as some pictures, after this weekend.