The awesome adventures of Jack Chi: Ireland and first two gigs

Friday, May 1, 2015

Ireland and first two gigs

So I have been in Ireland now for 3 days and I gotta say the city is not that impressive to me. The nightlife however is very nice. I originally signed up for one night of open mic but that quickly turned into two.

So the weather was the first thing that detracted from the experience. It is so cold here in Dublin. The first day I arrived it actually hailed and even when the sun is out it is still cold! I can understand why all the cheap airlines operate out of Ireland now. The people here need to get out of this crazy weather!

So I surfed with Michale a photographer on my first two nights and it was great. His apartment is really centrally located. I performed standup on the first night I arrived. I actually spent the whole day preparing my material since I thought the quality of competition was going to be much higher than say Korea and Japan. To be honest I was a bit disappointed. The other standup comics weren't that great. But I did well enough for myself that I was able to secure a spot on Thursday as well. So far so good in terms of my delivery and material. I was not the best on the first night but definitely the best on the second night.

In terms of sightseeing. I checked out Temple bar - the bar district. I went on a free walking tour. And the best for me so far was the coastal fishing village of Howell. There were some really spectacular views there and I hiked all around the island yesterday in perfect sunny weather. The highlight was exploring a shoreline cave off the beaten path.

Yesterday I also switched hosts and met up with Chandan a Mauritius accountant living and working in Dublin. We immediately hit it off. He watches a lot of animé and we bonded over that and sharing our travel stories.

Today I am going to check out some museums and the free parliamentary tour, meet up with Curtis a friend from University and go to a couchsurfing party later tonight.