So my job has finally started! Almost three weeks ago, I had my first day as Trainee Account Associate, here in Google’s European headquarters in Barrow Street, Dublin. Since then, there have been a huge amount of information to process, surprising launches to notice, other exciting projects to watch, many nice people to introduce myself to, and loads of great food to consume. Right now, I’m attending my second induction class, and will change over working with my actual team by next week. It’s a pity that I didn’t start a couple of months earlier, otherwise I would have had joined my team – and four thousand (!) others – to head for the EMEA Sales Conference on Rhodes, Greece, and break the Guinness World Record in mass Sirtaki dancing. Congratulations on that!

By the way: My employer is hiring new grads (but not only those) all the time. For instance, they’re looking for a University Programmes Specialist for Germany at the moment. Let me know if you need more information.

So much for work. As for living, I’m happy to have a place to call home again. Paul, a 29-year old advertising manager, and Tricia, a 24-year old legal consultant, have accepted me as their new flatmate in a spacious and fancy – but not too fancy – apartment. My stuff has also arrived already, but I’m still struggling with the amount of cardboxes I need to unpack. (Did I mention Irish apartments to be significantly smaller than German ones?)

The area I live in, Grand Canal Dock, is one of the wealthiest in Dublin. Recently renewed – and still, some construction sites shape the picture –, it is a lively and fancy area to live in. Whilst the office crowd invades the streets on workday mornings and early evenings, it remains pretty calm (some might say: dead) on the weekends, but I like it. The city centre is only 10 minutes away by foot, and Ringsend Park with its great sport sites is just over the bridge. I even found the reasonably nearby branch of Tesco to be an alternative to the still stupefying pricey Fresh market right around the corner. Would you believe a 9-spool package of toilet paper might cost you (*drum roll*) 11.49 Euro? You better do, if you’re in Dublin.

I even had my first celebration abroad: I turned 26 last Saturday, and although I start to feel the big ‘3′ rolling quite intensely on me, I had a great time. Cristina came over from Hamburg, and we spent a terrific night at O’Donoghues pub in Dublin’s city centre, joined by my new flatmate Paul and some of my colleagues. Not to forget my Swedish colleague Martin’s attempt to fall back on his (very) basic German:

Uhm, more stories of life in Dublin to come – betimes.

I’ve come to know a lot of interesting people from all over Europe and with a diversity of different backgrounds in the last few days, that are going to be my colleagues from tomorrow on. There’s Ibai from Spain, Zarina from England, Maria from Russia, Magnus from Sweden and Marta from Hungary, just to name a few – great people throughout.

Plus, I’ve gotten to an agreement with my forthcoming roommates tonight! Paul & Tricia have accepted me to live with them in a spacious (well, relatively spoken, because Irish apartments just aren’t that big) 3-bedroom apartment in the exciting heart of the Dublin docklands, just a 3-minute-stroll away from the office.

So, there’s going to be a lot to learn and see in the next days, and I’m probably going to move in someday soon, which will lead to new stories for this blog, I’m sure. Stay tuned.

My first friends in Dublin: Awww. Two little dogs, in front of my B&B window. They have been very loyal visitors since I made the mistake to share a small piece of a Subway sandwich with them.

It all began with a rather painful goodbye at Hamburg Airport, a pretty calm flight over the North and the Irish Sea, and a hard landing in Dublin (– not figuratively spoken: Nobody clapped. Not even the Polish passengers, who usually do, at least on Wizzair flights from Poland.)

I’m staying at Waterloo House, a truly superb four-star Bed & Breakfast in south Dublin city. A kind taxi driver took pity on me and my bike at the airport and took me on his van. But before being able to actually cycle left-sided, I had to find a bike shop where they would re-adjust the handle bars – of course, I would have done that myself, but a strict lady at the airport security check took my Allen key (a.k.a. Inbus-Schlüssel, yep, another one I learned these days!) from me, “due to the fact that this is a tool, and a tool aboard would be a security thread.” – Sure, whatever.

Long story short, after two hours of seeking, I finally found a bike shop that does repairs, and those guys helped me out in the wink of an eye. So, now it’s a guy from the cycling capital of Germany destablizing Dublin. (Although I can say, cycling left-sided isn’t much harder than driving the car. Maybe a little more dangerous. For me.)

As for the city – it hasn’t changed much since my last visit, only do I realize that those five consecutive days of good weather in May must have been absolutely exceptional. I’m going to buy an umbrella very soon.

Oh, and I’ve already made some friends here, as one of my next posts might show…