Welcome to Dublin

It's been about 36 hours since I've arrived in Ireland, and I'm slowly beginning to adjust. I certainly haven't been here long enough to form anything more than quick impressions, but I thought I'd share some of what I've discovered so far.

• It's expensive. Of course, I was warned about the fact that Dublin is a "pricey" city, but still, it does surprise you when a quick pasta dinner at a local cafe costs about $20. It was tasty pasta, sure, but $20?
• The people are truly friendly. And no, I don't mean in that service economy sort of "Please, we're trying to make this experience nice enough so that you don't realize you just paid $20 for a plate of pasta." No, I mean, these people are genuinely friendly. They're more than happy to engage you in conversation at any time about anything. It's going to take some getting used to.
• Walking is a viable, if somewhat challenging, method of transportation. The city isn't that big. You seem to get to many places within 20 or 30 minutes and the scenery on the sidewalk is quite pretty. That said, you do have to be alert enough to dodge the occasional bike/motorcycle messenger who zoooms onto the sidewalk or zips through a red light, as well as the drivers who believe it is perfectly fine to park half of their car on the sidewalk.
• It really is a lot like Boston. The weather is similar, as is much of the architecture. And the accent is spot on, as long as you remove the words "wicked" and "pissah" from your vocabulary.

Tomorrow, I'm off to spend my first day in the office. If I can find it.