My Generation

A few weeks ago, a reporter from the New York Times wrote an article about why, now, it is taking so many people from my generation to actually grow up.  To stop relying totally on their parents financially or emotionally, to get real jobs, to start planning families and a future, and to become full-fledged, society enriching adults.  I saw friends of mine post this article on Facebook, and Donald Miller, always a favorite of mine, wrote an editorial about it.  There was a lot of conversation about among a couple friends of mine.  I can't write as eloquently as them (well, maybe I could, but I don't have the desire to when the internet provides convenient things like weblinks that you, my reader could easily click on), and I thought it was worth sharing.

What is it about 20-somethings? By Robin Marantz Henig

(a short excerpt from the article)
The 20s are a black box, and there is a lot of churning in there. One-third of people in their 20s move to a new residence every year. Forty percent move back home with their parents at least once. They go through an average of seven jobs in their 20s, more job changes than in any other stretch. Two-thirds spend at least some time living with a romantic partner without being married. And marriage occurs later than ever. The median age at first marriage in the early 1970s, when the baby boomers were young, was 21 for women and 23 for men; by 2009 it had climbed to 26 for women and 28 for men, five years in a little more than a generation. 

We’re in the thick of what one sociologist calls “the changing timetable for adulthood.” Sociologists traditionally define the “transition to adulthood” as marked by five milestones: completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent, marrying and having a child. In 1960, 77 percent of women and 65 percent of men had, by the time they reached 30, passed all five milestones. Among 30-year-olds in 2000, according to data from the United States Census Bureau, fewer than half of the women and one-third of the men had done so. A Canadian study reported that a typical 30-year-old in 2001 had completed the same number of milestones as a 25-year-old in the early ’70s. 

The whole idea of milestones, of course, is something of an anachronism; it implies a lockstep march toward adulthood that is rare these days. Kids don’t shuffle along in unison on the road to maturity. They slouch toward adulthood at an uneven, highly individual pace. Some never achieve all five milestones, including those who are single or childless by choice, or unable to marry even if they wanted to because they’re gay. Others reach the milestones completely out of order, advancing professionally before committing to a monogamous relationship, having children young and marrying later, leaving school to go to work and returning to school long after becoming financially secure.
Even if some traditional milestones are never reached, one thing is clear: Getting to what we would generally call adulthood is happening later than ever. But why? 
Is this my entire generation?  No, of course not!  But, the writer brings an interesting, and I believe true perspective to a phenomenon that is happening in our generation... take a minute to at least scan through the first article, and think about it, or read through Don's short perspective.  Is the "traditional life" perfect?  No, but there are several reasons why this format of life for generations has made our society what it is. 

I'm not an anthropologist, but especially after getting the opportunity to live in various countries, I'm definitely becoming more interested in culture. Why are things the way they are, and how will our choices affect the future (often more than we realize).  We can't grasp it all, but it's fascinating to think about, and realize that I have to plan ahead and consider the consequences of my actions - good and bad.

And, Don Miller's thoughts on it as well... If 40 is the New 30 Then is 20 the New Junior High?

Including his suggestions for people of my age to not perpetuate Junior High... (which I would never want to live through again if I had the choice)

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Northern Ireland

We spent a night in Belfast, but didn't really take much time to walk around and see things - it was just an easy place to stop and spend the night for us after the weekend in Dublin.  On Monday morning, we got up at a decent hour and headed north along the Antrim Coast, seeing incredible views where cliffs met water, with a ribbon of a road running between it all.

We went on a little hike from a beach in front of our B&B and saw some incredible beauty.  We brought a snack and our books, and found a comfy place to sit and read before we headed back to the B&B for tea time with the host.  He was a nice guy, but a bit nuts, though it was the nicest B&B that we stayed in for the entire trip!

The first place we headed was Giants Causeway - one of the coolest natural sights in the world.  I visited it in 2004 when I was working with Royal Servants in Northern Ireland for a summer after my sophomore year of college, and I wanted to make sure Brian would get to see it!

Most of the rocks are hexagonal shaped - supposedly by Finn McCool the Giant, but in reality, it was a volcano, and when the lava cooled, it broke into these shapes.

View from the top of the causeway - I love how the earth juts out into the sea... plus the grazing sheepies are cute too.

A view of the causeway from above, you can see how the rocks stretch across the coast.

It looks cool...See the "chimney" in the upper right corner?  It's a natural rock formation.

This little peninsula is where most of the hexagonal rocks are at, though there are plenty more pockets of area stretched across the coast...

...As shown in this photo.

  I told you that you'd see more funny faces from Brian!!

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Dublin Part 2

I asked in the last post what was happening in this photo... and here's your answer!

This was the randomest thing of the entire trip - there was a designer outdoor market in downtown Dublin, in the Temple Bar area.  We just wanted to walk through and see what was there, and we stopped at this guys' pottery stand.  The Irish are the nicest, chattiest, and most friendly europeans that I have met while living here.  The guy at the stand, who is the designer of the pottery, strikes up a conversation with us after we tell him we're from the states.  He tells us about how he sells his stuff in NY, and how he had recently been selling some of his things on QVC.  

Offhandedly, he shows me a bowl, about 1/4 of the size of the one in his hands in the photo above, and says "How many of these do you think I sold in five minutes on QVC?"  I thought about how there are a lot of people who watch QVC, and though I don't really understand that phenomenon, and I thrown out the number 5,000.  Incredulously, he looks at me and says "You're RIGHT!  I've asked that question of everyone who has stopped here all day, and no one got it right!  And now, just as I'm closing down, I ask you and you get it right!  I have to give you something, I have to give you something because you got it right!"  I'm pretty surprised that this is happening, and before I have a chance to say anything else, he's wrapped up said bowl, put it in a bag, and we snap a photo together.  And now, said bowl hangs out on my coffee table, holding a great story.

After all that excitement, we headed to see Christchurch, but just hung out in the gardens.  

We stopped at a nearby little takeaway place and got some of the greasiest and most delicious fish and chips for dinner, and ate them in the church gardens.

And what would Ireland be without the pub?  We found one that claimed to be the oldest in Dublin, quenched our thirst with some delicious beer, relaxed from our day of sightseeing, and headed back to the hotel to hang out.

The next day was the Guinness Tour.  Which we were really excited about - we had heard a lot of really great things about it.

The displays were pretty great, and though we have been on several brewery tours, and the essence of making beer is always the same, Guinness displayed everything in a really cool way, and we really liked the tour.  They still make the beer at the same place that they have been making it since it's inception, and being close to that size of a working brewery was great.

I really liked the art gallery with the original prints from their marketing campaigns.  

And you finish out the tour with a pint at their Gravity Bar, which sits high above the Dublin skyline, allowing you to see the entire city in a 360 degree view.

See the storm coming in?

I'd say it was one of my favorite tours that I've ever been on!  I would highly recommend it to anyone else!

Sunday afternoon, we headed up to Belfast in Northern Ireland, but only to stay the night.  We didn't do any sightseeing, and headed out the next morning to the northern coast.  Come back soon for more :)

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Dublin

In August, most Spaniards go on vacation.  Madrid empties out, stores close for vacation, and the city feels like a ghost town.  Most of Brian's coworkers left for 3-5 weeks, to go off to the beach or exotic locations around the world for their summer holiday.

Brian had always thought it would be great to get to Ireland, so I worked on planning this trip for a couple months.  We went the first week of August, and loved it!

Typically, the trips we take entail lots of sightseeing, lots of doing, lots of activity.  We decided to slow way down on this trip, and though we saw a lot of stuff in Dublin, we really took it easy for the rest of the trip. 

Brian on a bridge in Dublin, practicing his no smile pose.  I take a lot of pictures on these sorts of trips, so he'll be experimenting with lots of interesting faces, as you'll see in subsequent posts...

We really love farmers markets - there is something about supporting these food artisans that we really enjoy, and often the food tastes better and you can really see the craft and love behind the food.  We found a Saturday morning market in the Temple Square area of Dublin, and made that the first stop of the morning, perusing the booths for delicious foods and tasty treats.

After the market, we went to see the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the Bible from the 9th century.  It was housed in a building on the Trinity University campus, and was pretty cool... the skill and ability of the scribes was amazing, and the fact that the book had survived so long was incredible.

Then, off to the Jameson Distillery!  Brian's dad really loves Jameson, and I've been gaining an appreciation for whiskey.  The tour was in the old distillery, which had been well restored, and the tour was pretty cool.  I had learned from a guidebook that it was important to volunteer at the beginning of the tour if they asked for volunteers, read on if you would like to hear what I got to do!

The main entry hall with old wood trusses and sweet chandeliers in the corner above the bar.

Rich & Kenny, though I'm sure you'd like us to get you this as a gift, you'll just have to keep dreaming about it :)

So, this is what I volunteered for - becoming a certified whiskey taster!  At the end of the tour, you're given your choice of a drink with whiskey - either straight or a mixer, which you can see in the right of the photo.  There were about 7 out of the 30 of us that acted as tasters - I tried the triple distilled Jameson, double distilled scotch whiskey (I can't remember the brand), and then single distilled american whiskey (Jack Daniels).  In my expertise of whiskey drinking, I'd have to say that Jameson was definitely the best one of the three.  It was fun to try them all together!

I sat next to a Ukrainian whiskey connoisseur who talked to Brian and I a little bit afterwords about other places to visit and whiskeys to try.  

What is happening in this photo??  Tune back in tomorrow to find out...

(hint - I didn't buy anything, but this guy and I seem to be rather excited)

(and, this is really only a ploy to break up the post in 2 sections, because as one big post of Dublin, it was really long and I was worried no one would want to read the whole thing :) - though most of it is all pictures anyway!)

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In Ireland and loving it

Morning! Brian and I are currently in Ireland, and we have been LOVING it. When we travel, we typically try to see and do as much as possible in every single day. But for this trip we have slowed things way down, and though we have been seeing a lot of very cool things as we travel through the countryside, we have also spent a lot of time sleeping in, reading, and eating long breakfasts at our b&b's. I think Brian has especially enjoyed the time to relax from work and nor have to think about much other than staying on the left side of the road as he drives!

This is just a quick hello post from our b&b near Killarney, and in a few minutes we are headed to the dingle peninsula. We were really excited last night when we talked to our hosts and found out that they have horses! I think B & I will be heading out for a ride tomorrow morning! A BIG thanks to Amanda for the recommendation on the b&b!
we'll be flying home on Sunday, so check back for pics next week!

p.s. I love technology... Being able to write all this up on the itouch is a bit slow but pretty cool that I can even do it from the comfort of my b&b bedroom!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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