Action Packed Weekends!

So I thought it was time for an update. I've had two pretty packed weekends, so there's lots to talk about.
Weekend 1: Tour of Cork City and surrounding areas with my CEA group.
The first day, I met Aimee and Rebekah down by the courthouse for breakfast. My favorite thing about CEA excursions: good meals, and I don't have to pay for them...Anyway, I had crabcakes benedict...SO GOOD, and then we met up with the CEA group from Galway for a little adventure around Cork. The first place that we went was St. Finbarre's Cathedral. Unfortunately, it was closed to the public due to renovations, but we did get to see the outside of it, and it was beautiful.

After sticking around there for about 10 minutes, Rebekah and I got in Aimee's car with her, the Galway kids got in their taxi, and it was off to the Jameson Distillery! Here, we took a tour of the Old Middleton Distillery, which isn't in use anymore, and then Rebekah and I got to be official taste testers of whiskey. We tried Jack Daniels, some kind of scotch whiskey, and Jameson...We also learned the difference between the 3, and what makes them taste different. Jameson was definitely the better one.


After that, we got to have a really good dinner, I mean amazing, and then Rebekah and I took two of the girls out and showed them some of the pubs around town. It was really fun.
The second day of the Cork tour started at the Old Cork Gaol. Here, many of the people from the Irish revolution were imprisoned. There were even walls with prisoner grafitti on them still. It was really, really cool.

The main floor of the Cork Gaol:

After seeing the jail, we hopped in Aimee's car, and it was off to see Blarney Castle...Again. Only this time, it was much prettier.

We also got to see the gardens, which were closed the first time we went there.

That night, we got to go to this gormet burger place, and then I came home and went to sleep. It was a busy weekend, but SO fun.

Weekend 2: Killarney
So on Friday, Corrie, Noah, Kristen, and I all got on the bus and took off for a weekend in Killarney. It rained a little bit on the way there, so we were a bit worried, but it ended up being beautiful. We got off the bus, took out our map, and were trying to figure out where to go for our hostel when 2 German guys asked if they could look at our book to find somewhere to stay. Us being the nice people we were, reccommended the hostel we were staying at because it's cheap, and pretty nice, so they ended up coming with us and staying there also. Once we checked into our hostel, we went out and had a traditional Irish lunch of Guiness and beef casserole, and then we were off to walk to Ross Castle. However, we only got about 10 minutes into our walk when an old man walked up and asked if we wanted to take a horse and carriage ride out to the castle, and how could we pass that up?! It was so fun!

The grounds and the castle were so beautiful and it was such a nice day out. All around it was a really good trip.


After our ride back to town, we kind of wandered around a bit, then went back to the hostel and met up with our German friends again, and waited for Andrew to show up. We all (including our new Irish friends, who's names are Toto and Yuric...)ended up going out to this pretty cool pub that first had traditional music, and then a pretty cool cover band that played a lot of popular songs. There were a lot of old, drunken men dancing around, and we air guitarred and made a singing circle with some. Overall, a really fun night.
We (including our new friends) all got up really early the next morning, and ventured out to rent some bicycles. Little did I know, we were about to embark on a 9 hour bicycle ride that consisted of a lot of hills...We rode around a golf course for a while, then out to see Ross Castle again, since Andrew hadn't seen it yet, and then on to Muckross house. In order to get there, we had to ride to the outskirts of town, and then through the national park. On the way, we stopped at Muckross Abbey, an old abbey and cemetery out in the forest, pretty cool I thought.
The Abbey and a little bit of the cemetery:

Muckross House:

At Muckross House, we all ate the picnic that we packed and then rode off to see Torc Waterfall, which was beautiful.

Then we rode back and went back to the hostel. It was a pretty tiring day, but Sunday was Andrew's birthday, so we had all decided that Saturday night we would celebrate a little bit, so we all went out for dinner and TRIED to take him to a pub, but all of the girls ended up leaving him there with the Germans. He had a good time though, despite our lameness.

Anyway, that's the latest update. It was a lot, I know. I'm not really going to be doing anything exciting now until Niki gets here, IN 15 DAYS! I'm so excited. I'll have lots of stuff for you guys then. I miss you all!

It's been a while.

So I decided that I should probably update this, since a few people have asked me to...So here it is. I'll start from the beginning.
Corrie's Birthday:
It went so well! Despite the fact that we were all so worried about it being a bust. Emily and Erin made her a homemade chocolate cake, which was really good, Erin made this beer, cream cheese and cheddar cheese dip (so good), and we all pitched in some for drinks. We met a lot of new people in our apartment building (even though some of them decided it was ok to steal our bowl of dip..Which we later found on the hall stairs, bowl shattered, dip everywhere) and Corrie and I had invited an Irish guy that we met at a pub, who brought some of his friends. In all, we met lots of new people, and had a lot of fun.
The hostesses:
The birthday girl:


Pub Crawl:
The night after Corrie's birthday, Erin, Kelsea, Emily and I all went on our first student pub crawl. It was really fun! We're friends with the guys that run it(Eoin, Tim, and Mikey), so they talked to us for a while and we hung out with them some. They're really nice. The first place that we went was the New Bar, which is on campus. Then it was off to The Rock, which was this teeny bar that's usually dead...Not that night. They had about 170 loud college kids, and the bartenders looked pretty stressed...I felt pretty bad for them. The last place we went was called An Realt Dearg. They had a cool beer garden outside, but it was pretty packed. In all, it was a fun experience.

Dublin:
Friday we all left for Dublin. And let me tell you, even though I'm used to being in Seattle, Dublin was super overwhelming. It could have just been because we had to walk everywhere though. Friday night we went out some and met up with some friends that we met in Cork who are studying in Dublin...If that made sense. They're from Notre Dam. Our Hostel was really nice. The rooms that we had were in a wing that had just been opened. Seriously. We were the first ones to sleep in them, and they still smelled like paint. I have a feeling we got spoiled by those though...Saturday morning we all got up early, got our free breakfast from the hostel (that's right, new room AND free food!) and then set out on an adventure. The first thing we found (and one of the coolest I think) was this band:

I'm in that video too...So see if you can find me. It's like Where's Waldo (or Wally, as they call him here).
After that, we went and saw the Trinity College library and the book of Kells, and let me tell you, that library was amazing. We weren't allowed to take pictures in there, but I googled one, because you HAVE to see what it was like.

Grafton Street, the main shopping street in Dublin. Where we found the band:

After that, we vetured out and found Dublin castle...Let me tell you, it was a pretty big let down...We all thought it was going to be so much cooler...

Sunday was our last day in Dublin, and we did some pretty cool stuff. We went and found St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was AWESOME.

Then we wandered around for a little bit, got lunch at this little Irish place, and finally ended at the Guiness Factory. Where, I discovered, I actually don't HATE all beer. Guiness was tolerable. I wouldn't choose to drink it unless it was free, but it didn't make me want to puke, so eh.

Finally...A new one!

So, I know that I haven't written for a while, and a few people were asking where my next blog was, so I figured I would do it now, while I'm finally sitting here doing nothing.
I'll start with last weekened.
On saturday, the whole group of us went to see Blarney Castle. We showed up at the bus station COMPLETELY unprepared, but we got it all figured out. It was probably a 25 minute bus ride, not too bad, and then we were there! In the tiny little town of Blarney (when I say tiny, I mean probably smaller than Carnation...). Anyway, it was about a 10 minute walk from the bus stop to get to the grounds and probably another 5 minutes to the actual castle. The castle was REALLY cool, and yes, I did kiss the Blarney Stone, so hopefully now I'll be more eloquent...We'll see.




After seeing the castle and all of us kissing the stone, it started snowing. We went to this cute little cafe for lunch, and the lady working there told us that it would probably be good to go back to Cork before the busses shut down because of the snow. Needless to say, we didn't want to be stuck in that teeny town, so we left.
The next morning, Sunday, there was about an inch of snow. To us, that's really nothing, but the Irish never get snow like that, and have no idea what to do when they do get it, so basically sidewalks just stayed covered with snow, and stores closed.

We finally found a coffee shop just down the street that was open and went there to have a coffee and be warm, then Erin, Corrie, Emily, Kelsea and I went and saw The Road...Most. Depressing. Movie. EVER. It got over and we were all just sitting there, crying. It pretty much ruined the rest of the day for us. Haha. Later that night we all decided to go for a walk in the snow to Eddie Rocket's to get ice cream. Only once we get there, we found out that because of the snow, they couldn't get there deliveries, so no ice cream. Lame.
Monday morning we woke up to sidewalks that were basically ice skating rinks. Like I said, the Irish have no idea what to do with snow. I would say at least they tried, but I'm not really sure that they did. And to make it all better, the main water pipe in town burst because it froze, so we didn't have water for about 3 days. Yayyy. Needless to say, we definitely have water now.
The week was pretty uneventful. Kelsea and I got to try out the student medical center; I had an ear infection and she had a throat infection, but other than that we all just went to our classes and that was about it. This weekend, we all went to Cobh, a small little ocean town, and the final stop for the Titanic. It was pretty cool. We all just kind of wandered around, saw the Titanic memorial, which to our disappointment was just a rock...We went out to eat in this little restaraunt, and that was about it.


Next weekend, I think we're going to Dublin, so that should be pretty fun. I'll take lots of pictures!

The last few days...

So, the last few days have been pretty fun. I already have some friends here, which is good. I'm not a loner! Woo!
Yesterday, we did quite a bit. I had 3 classes, which wasn' that bad considering I was out by 2. Then Emily and I went grocery shopping, and got a little lost on the way back to the apartment. But that's ok. That's how you learn how to get around in a new place. After that, Erin, David, Melanie, Corrie, Kelsea and I went down to town to look around at some stores, get some coffee. Then we went to an Irish Cultural Night put on by the campus church. It was pretty cool, but really packed. They fed us Irish stew. Really good. However, the paper bowls that they gave us, kind of melted into plates...And I kind of spilt stew all over my pants...It was lovely.


Kelsea, me, Emily and Erin. My roomates!

After we left the dinner, the 9 of us walked back home, and did a little pre-gaming before going out to the pubs.
The first place we hit was the Franciscan Well, right across the river from our apartments.

Noah, Melanie, David, Kristen and me at the Franciscan.
After staying there until they closed at 11:30, we headed out to a club called The Brogue, where we stayed until 2. It was really fun, but Irish students get pretty crazy.

Today, Emily, Kelsea and I went out to town to take care of some school stuff and eat. We picked the most American place we probably could have...Eddie Rockets. Yay for 50's diners. Haha. Then we came back, fell asleep for a while, and were woken up by Corrie, needing to use a phone to order pizza. Which is what we had for dinner. Domino's pizza...Another American meal.

Tomorrow, we're all going to Blarney to see the castle and the Blarney Stone, it should be pretty fun. I'll have lots of pictures.

What's a Que?!

So, last night I had my second ever Irish class. Introduction to Irish History for Visiting Students. It was pretty interesting. He only lectured for about half an hour, but I actually learned a lot about the Great Famine and the role that the British Government played in it. All stuff that had never even been mentioned in school in America. The class was about a 20 minute walk from the apartment, so afterward we decided to go eat. At Papa Johns...What an American dinner. Haha.

About 9 of us decided to go out a little later, and it was actually really fun. We went to a bar for about 2 hours until it closed at about 11:30, and then we decided to walk over to a club that some of the locals told us was pretty cool. Little did we know that since the bars close earlier than the clubs, midnight is pretty much rush hour and there were people walking EVERYWHERE. All of them pretty much wasted. We saved a girl from getting hit by a car, what nice people we are. She had dropped her wallet in the street, and was so drunk, she fell over when she went to pick it up. And then just laid there. It took 2 people, one holding on to each of her hands, to pull her back up. But we did it, and sent her on her way.

Once we got to the club, the line was INSANE to get in. People were just shoving their way through, and it got to the point where security just stepped aside and let them do what they wanted. Definitely not something that would have happened at home. 3 of us finally just decided it wasn't worth it, and went home.

This morning I had my third class; Celtic Religion and Mythology. All he did was go over the syllabus, but it sounded like it's going to be a pretty interesting class. The really weird thing about classes here; It isn't required that you get text books. In fact, teachers just kind of recommend that you take a look at some books in the library, but all exams are based off of the lectures...And speaking of exams, from what I've seen so far, classes only have 1 paper and then the final exam...WAY less work than classes back home. This makes me happy.

Some other interesting things that I have learned:
"Queing" means waiting in line
"Shifting" means making out
"Having crack" means having fun
"Doing a line" means dating
I'm definitely going to be learning as many of these terms as I can to bring back home...

We made our first REAL meal in the apartment tonight. Caesar salad, rice, and chicken! Yay, go us, we're domesticated!

First Day of Classes...They talk too fast

Last night Kelsea, Emily and I decided to go out to see some pubs in town. We went to the Franciscan Well Pub, just across the river from us, and it turned out to be pretty good. They brew their own beers, so that was pretty cool. I suppose it would have been cooler if I actually liked beer...But oh well. I tried a Bulmer's Irish Cider, which wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be...Kind of just tasted like beer. We met 4 other girls from America there, and we all decided to go try to find one more pub before they closed (pubs here close at 11:30). We finally found this little place in City Centre. It was down an alley...Which looked kind of sketchy at first, but it turned out to be a pretty cool place, and the alley had a mural that was pretty cool.



I got up pretty early this morning, and we walked over to the Hogwarts building to get our student ID cards...First of all, it's been unusually cold here, so all of the sidewalks are super icy, so that kind of sucked. Kelsea almost slipped and fell, and Erin did some kind of weird splits type thing...It was special. ANYWAY. I got my ID card, which I have to have in order to even get into the library, and then we all went down to the main street so that people could get cell phones, and then back to the school for our first class. The 4 of us from my apartment are all taking Aspects of Irish Folkore. We only had lecture for about 20 minutes today, but it was pretty interesting. The teacher talks really fast though. I also got my Irish bank account open! Yay! For some reason, I find this really exciting. I'm not sure why.
Anyway, we took a different route home today, and I got to see the Cork City Court House. It's pretty cool looking.



Anyway, I have my second class tonight at 6. Intro to Irish History for Visiting Students. It's in some building off campus that I'm not sure how to get to. Thank god one of my roomates and some other people have that same class so I can walk with them.

My Apartment

My desk corner of the room


My bed


The kitchen



The living room/TV area