The forests are a shade of green you swear is alive! Yes, the forest is alive, but I mean the color itself looks so vibrant and full of personality that it seems as though it has a life of its own. Whatever the reason, it makes me appreciate the environment here!
Ireland doesn't have any fruits I would call exotic. Even vegetables here are pretty standard. I will say that the Irish tend to cook more with vegetables compared to what I've experienced in most of my friends' homes in the US. In fact, this is one point many Irish people mention to me if they have traveled to the USA. They tell me how much they missed getting in their daily "veg" (as they often refer to vegetables) while they were in America. Most families go to the grocery store about once a week to buy fresh produce. You may notice that refrigerators are smaller here than in the US, and that is because they only really need to hold food for up to a couple weeks at a time.
Finally, as previously established, it is often cloudy here, so most people are not tan. In fact, everyone is fairly fair (heehee) because of that. It's also not as though the rocky beaches or cliffs provide great tanning locations! That said, overall I've found the Irish to have a rather relaxed and jovial attitude when it comes to life. In general, Irish people are more flexible about arrival and departure times, and they enjoy chatting up strangers, and teasing one another. Being able to take a joke and dishing it back is actually a big part of the culture, here. There is a lot of emphasis placed on Irish wit. It pairs quite nicely with the "island life" sentiment. I would say it is the wit which transforms "island life" into something uniquely Irish.
