Friday, July 30, 2010

MMM... Irish Whiskey > Essays :D

I am THIS CLOSE to being finished with summer school. I am done with my essay test and I am done with my third essay and I feel pretty great about both of them! All that I have left to do is write my last 1500 word essay on Yeats by August 13th and I’m golden! Hooray!



This last week has been pretty awesome, although it has been hard to concentrate on school work, knowing that I only have a little bit of time left in Ireland. Monday was pretty mellow. I decided not to go to Blarney Stone again with Kelsie, Liz, and the LA boys (Stephen, Aaron, and Jason…this is what I am calling them now so I don’t have to always type their names out haha) in favor of getting my essay started. Tuesday was a lot of fun though. Liz, Diana, the LA boys, and I went to Midleton, which is about 20 min away by train ride, to go tour the Jameson Distillery. We got to see the drying and distilling processes, which was way cool, and we also got a complimentary drink at the bar afterwards. Jay and Stephen were chosen to become official whiskey tasters. They were given little shots of Jameson (Irish), Johnny Walker (Scottish), and Jack Daniels (American) whiskey. They both said that they liked the Jameson the best, although I think that might have been because it was first haha! They were even given little certificates that said they were certified whiskey tasters!


Stephen and Jason with their certificates

Once we let Liz go a little crazy in the gift store, we headed back to the train station. Stephen was hungry, so he read the sign of Every. Single. Restaurant. Between the distillery and the train station. We got him a snack and went to find someplace to eat as soon as we got back to Cork. After ditching one restaurant before we even ordered (it was WAY too expensive...oops. I told the hostess that we were meeting people somewhere else. Haha) we found a nice Chinese place on St. Patrick St. After that the boys went to An Brog for another night of bingo and Liz, Diana, and I headed back home to be responsible students and get our essays finished (riiiiiggghhhttt.... haha).


Diana, Kelsie, Me, Kaitlynn, and Liz at Gougane Barra

Wednesday I got most of my essay ACTUALLY finished in the breaks between classes and got in a nap after class. We all headed out on our third, and final, class field trip at four. We went to a place called Gougane Barra (Gugán Barra in Irish), which is where St. Finbarr’s Oratory is located. The ride down was a little bit rough, even for someone like me who doesn’t get motion sickness very easily, but the view once we got there was SO worth it! The evening was gorgeous and sunny. There’s a big lake surrounded by sheer, green cliffs that were (literally) crawling with sheep and a really pretty old forest. I’ve posted some pictures, but they don’t really do it justice.



We had dinner at a nearby hotel (it was tasty! I had prawn salad, chicken and potatoes, and apple crumble...mmmm...) before we went to a performance at Theatre on the Lake. The show was called O’Sullivan Beara, the Last Gaelic Chieftain which was performed and written by a very talented man named Aidan Dooley. The play was about the leader of one of the last bands of rebellion against British rule and their struggle to travel from Cork to Northern Ireland to join friendly forces. It was very engaging and interesting. I was also interviewed along with some other students for the second half of the Irish Summer Studies video, so keep an eye out for that! I’m going to be famous! :D Then, on the way home, I was treated to the DJ-ing skills of Stephen Walden, who picked the songs I got to listen too. haha



Yesterday was also pretty relaxing. It was the last day of classes, so our teachers took pity on us and didn’t make us think too hard. I spent most of my day putting the final touches on my essay and studying for the test I had this morning. I did go out and have dinner at the Gusto Cafe with Kelsie, Liz, and Kaitlynn, which was as delicious as it was the first time. I got to skype with my parents and Jeff, which was super nice as I hadn’t talked to them for awhile. Today we have a closing lunch-thing for the program, which I’m sure will be sorta sad, and then I think everybody’s planning on going out for one last hurrah before people leave tomorrow. I think my day tomorrow’s going to be spent packing and doing some last little things I haven’t gotten the chance to do yet (like drinking an Irish/Bailey’s hot chocolate). Then on Sunday I’m headed back across the pond. I can’t wait to see you guys at home!!!

Amelia

P.S. Some more Gougane Barra pictures!



















Me, Liam (seminar teacher), and Kelsie

Monday, July 26, 2010

Bus rides, Gay Bars, Crappy Irish Weather, and Birthdays

Earlier this week I decided rather suddenly to go to Galway with some of the girls in the summer school with me. I knew that they had been planning to go there (something about seeing Josh Ritter in concert at the Galway Arts Festival…I don’t know who he is, so it meant little to me) but I wasn’t really sure what I was doing until about Wednesday when I realized that I had no plans for my last weekend in Ireland and didn’t want to be lame and sit around Cork. Granted being lame in Cork is still better than being lame at home. So on Wednesday Diana and I booked our bus tickets and a hostel. Of course, we planned all of this separately from Kelsie, Liz, and Josh so we none of us were leaving at the same time or staying in the same place. That would have made way too much sense.

So Friday after seminar (which Liz and Kelsie did not attend…tsk tsk) I went back to the apartment and packed my backpack with a change of clothes and my toiletries before showering (I didn’t want to risk the hostel showers). Diana and I ended up leaving at the same time as Josh, Aaron, Stephen, and Jason so we all split a cab to the bus station. The bus ride was a pretty good time. Diana got a little loopy on her motion sickness medication and started talking about bringing cows onto the bus and the proper way to catch Canadian geese and Josh and I had an iPod party. Between the five of us we managed to induce Diana’s endlessly amusing fits of uncontrollable laughter at least four times on the bus ride. There was one slight bump in our travel plans. The bus stopped at Limerick and we were under the impression that we had like a half an hour before it left again (thanks Stephen) so we got off and found a fish and chips place to grab a snack, only to watch our bus drive away without us. There was another bus in an hour, thankfully, so no harm was done. We just spent four hours getting to Galway rather than three.


Aaron and Stephen on the bus

Once we finally got to Galway, Diana and I had to find our hostel and sign in. Luckily the Galway City Hostel that we booked was literally right across the street from the bus station. Hooray planning! I’ve never experienced a hostel and therefore have nothing to compare this one to, but it seemed pretty nice. Everything was clean and my roommates seemed cool (although the rooms were co-ed which I wasn’t expecting). I was in a room that consisted of four bunk beds that were jam packed with people’s belongings and a little square of floor in the middle. I’m happy to report that I got the top bunk! Diana’s room was a little less packed (only two bunk beds) and was right next door. There was a shower facility that was pretty clean and a nice, but small kitchen with an eating area and free wi-fi.

Walking in Galway City


Once Diana, Josh, and I had our sleeping arrangements made we all met up with Kelsie and Liz, who didn’t end up going to that concert, at a fountain in Eyre Square, which was, once again, conveniently located right across from my hostel. We wandered around downtown Galway City for awhile. I’ve come to the realization that my favorite way to experience a new city is to see it at night, preferably on a weekend. There’s something about it that makes it seem more exciting to me than just seeing plain buildings and shops in all their functionality during the day time. We did decide that Galway was the busiest city any of us have been to in Ireland so far. It could have been the fact that it was a Friday night or because of the arts festival, but the streets were packed and the pubs even more so.


Diana and I in Galway City

Anyway, eventually we met up with the other boys (Stephen, Jay, and Aaron…just in case you forgot) and started hitting up the pubs. The first bar that had a two cocktail for €5 deal, so all the girls (and Josh) took advantage of that. I have now had a White Russian, Sex on the Beach (the drink friends, geez), and a Blue Tycoon, which was my favorite. There were a lot of people trying to get people to go into their bars, claiming if you went with them you would get a free shot. We didn’t have much of an idea of where to go, so we went with a couple of them. One of them, Club K, was most likely a gay bar, but we got a drink and had a shot anyway. Highlight of the evening was when Jay, Stephen, and Aaron shook their groove thangs on the dance floor, much to the delight of all the men already occupying it, and causing the rest of the group to collapse in fits of giggles (keep in mind that this is still very early in the evening).

We continued wandering around and made several new friends along the way. The boys met a group of older ladies who were all dressed as sailors and who promptly rebuffed them. Their fragile ego was soothed by gaining several kisses from the bridesmaids that were out for their friend’s hen party. Josh met a girl who knew what the X-files were and decided that it must be fate. Unfortunately she wouldn’t hang out with us. We went into one bar that was so ridiculously full of people that it was impossible to breath, let alone move. We didn’t stay in there long.



The next morning Kelsie, Liz, Josh, Diana, and I woke up early, tried not to wake up the other people in our rooms, and grabbed an 8:40 bus to the Cliffs of Moher. After a two hour bus ride we arrived to find…nothing. There was so much fog that you couldn’t see 20 feet in front of you, let alone see the cliffs. We were really disappointed, but we wandered around anyway and the fog lifted just enough for us to get a glimpse of how cool the cliffs would be if we could actually see them. I bought a post card just so I could show people what I was supposed to be able to see. Regardless of the bad weather we did manage to have a good time.

I'm trying to save Diana from falling off the cliff, but Liz held me back!

We spent another hour or two in Galway that afternoon. Just long enough to get lunch and buy Kelsie a new suitcase before we grabbed the bus back to Cork. We decided not to tempt fate and just stayed on the bus the whole ride back, so we didn’t end up missing another bus. It was past 8 when we finally made it back to Cork and Diana and I had had enough of sitting, so we passed on the cab and hoofed it back to Brookfield (about a 20 min walk), talking about very deep and philosophical things the whole way (no really!). I chilled at home that night, just relaxing, and went to bed early. I ended up getting about 10 hours of sleep…it was fantastic!

Yesterday was Ashley’s first anniversary of her 21st birthday, so we had a whole day of celebrating for her, starting with lunch out at an adorable little Italian restaurant tucked into an alley called Scoozi. All our food was delicious, and we ate til we were bursting. Then we went shopping and we all bought some really cute clothes (I bought a whole new outfit! It’s really cute, everybody said so lol). Then we made a run to Tesco’s to get groceries for the last week and relaxed until it was time to go out. We ended up going straight to the Bailey and staying there the whole night. There was live music, but the band played mostly blue-grass folksy music so there wasn’t a ton of dancing, which was too bad, but we still had a lot of fun. Aaron somehow managed to avoid all my efforts to buy him a beer in thanks for being such a good guy earlier in the week, but I will prevail, mark my words!


At the Bailey! Left to right: Diana, Kaitlynn, Aaron, Liz, and Me!

Today has been pretty good. I’m a little sleep deprived, but otherwise fine. We started Yeats today and I’m way out of my element. I just don’t really get poetry. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll catch on…hopefully? I have to start writing my first literature essay on Joyce tonight. It doesn’t have to be as long as the history essays were, but I feel less confident about my grasp on the material, so I think it’s still going to be tough. I also have an essay test on Friday that I have to study for. We have a field trip on Wednesday that I’ll have to tell you about in my next post. It’s really hard to believe that I have less than a week left. I think I’m really going to miss the people I’ve met here. Anyways, I’m off to seminar!

Amelia

Friday, July 23, 2010

"Real adventures do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought abroad." - James Joyce, Dubliners

Hi friends!

It seems like it’s been awhile since I posted last so I thought I’d do a quick update before my very exciting weekend! This week has been pretty intense. I’ve been enjoying reading Joyce a lot more than I expected too. It’s amazing to see the levels of meaning and metaphor he put into his writing. Ulysses is a tough read, although it is interesting, but Dubliners is much smoother and, in my opinion, more approachable (it’s MUCH shorter than Ulysses). If anyone reading this is interested in Joyce or Dublin in the early 20th century, I’d recommend picking Dubliners up.

The tough part of this week has been juggling an essay with all the reading they want us to do for class. I’ve just finished my essay (2000 words on the biological and anthropological sources of the Potato Famine! Whoooo!) and it took a lot more research than the last one because I sort of made my own topic. I think Robert will enjoy reading something a little bit different though, I know I would. This essay should NOT have any problems passing bibliographical critiques either! Hooray! Hopefully that means an A for Amelia...:D

It hasn’t been all drudgery and work though! Have no fear! I went to a new restaurant (for me) called Zak’s with Kelsie, Liz, and Diana Tuesday afternoon. It was quite delicious! There was a worm in Kelsie’s salad. Gross!!! It was quickly remedied, though, so no harm done. Later that night I went to a pub called An Brog (meaning The Shoe, I think haha) and played some games of Bingo. I didn’t win, but my group won €60 total! So that was exciting.

Wednesday was all laundry, reading, and writing. Nothing fun there. I had most of my essay done yesterday though, so I decided to go out with some people to City Centre. We went to several pubs, listened to some live traditional Irish music, and learned how to Riverdance! I did manage to forget my room key in someone else’s apartment, which is brilliant, even by my standards. Aaron, one of my neighbours who had walked home with me, was kind enough to offer me his bed and sleep on the couch. What a nice guy! Thanks Aaron!!! It ended up being a really good night, but I’m very tired today.

Later this afternoon I’m headed to Galway with Liz, Kelsie, Diana, and Josh. A lot of people are headed up there this weekend though, so who knows who I’ll see. Kelsie and Liz are going to a concert there tonight so Diana, Josh, and I are just going to explore a little bit. Saturday morning we’re planning on heading to the Cliffs of Moher bright and early and then we plan on spending the afternoon in Galway City before heading back to Cork that night. It’ll be my first stay in a hostel though, so wish me luck!

I’m sure I’ll have tons of awesome pictures and stories from Galway to tell you about when I get back so stay tuned!

Amelia

Monday, July 19, 2010

"Ulysses scares the living life out of people" and Other Things to Look Forward To

As of today I have less than two weeks until I’m on my flight home. That means I’m halfway through my program, but it somehow also means that I have three essays and an essay test still left to do. I think I’m getting the hang of it though. I got my last essay turned in Friday morning after I finished my history essay test (subjects were Patrick and Gerald of Wales/Norman invasion, if you were curious.) and I felt pretty good about both of them. I get to find out how I did on the first essay on Wednesday, so we’ll see how it went! I hope to do the essay that’s due this Friday on the potato famine, but we haven’t been given our prompts yet.

We started the literature portion of the course today. I think I’ll find it interesting, and hopefully not too overwhelming. Classes about literature always make me feel sort of guilty and out of the loop though. Most of you are well acquainted with how much I enjoy reading, but I have a hard time reading what is considered literature. I find them to either be difficult to read (such as Jane Austin or Charlotte Bronte) or simply boring. I usually like to read things that are different than real life because, if I wanted real life, I wouldn’t be reading. This isn’t to say that I just read fluff books, however. I enjoy books that are challenging, they just don’t usually happen to be considered literature.

Anyway, this weekend was busy and lots of fun, although we did have a break from essay writing, which was nice. We got done with our tests at about 10:30 AM Friday morning, so a bunch of girls and I decided to spend our extra free time shopping in City Centre. I managed to find a really cute shiny shirt at a little store off of Oliver Plunkett St. (It’s a good “going-out” shirt Mom and Carla!) Later that evening all of us got a little dressed up and went out to blow off some steam! We ended up going to The Washington Inn, our meeting pub of choice, and then heading over to the Bailey right next door. The original plan was to do Karaoke, but it sounded expensive and it was too cold outside for the walk, so that plan kinda fell through. There was some live music at the Bailey that was very good though! The guy played tons of classic American music (like Brown Eyed Girl, Hotel California, American Pie, etc.) and after he was finished there was dancing.
Athassel Priory

We had a field trip at 1:30 on Saturday, which meant I got to sleep in a little. We were heading to Cashel in the northern parts of County Cork which should have been about an hour’s drive, but we were delayed due to some motion sickness (mixed with morning after pub sickness) and a lost bus driver. We did manage to make it to our first stop, Athassel Priory, in fairly good time though. The priory was built in the middle of a bog as a defense system, but luckily it hadn’t rained at all that day, and it was fairly sunny, so the ground was firm. The surrounding area, however, was used as a cow pasture, meaning that there were rather large cow pies everywhere you stepped. You win some you lose some, I suppose. The ruins themselves were beautiful and we were allowed to wander them freely. We weren’t allowed to stay long though because the land is apparently private property, which would explain both the fences we had to climb over to reach it, and we didn’t want to get caught.


Students and Robert (in the brown leather jacket) at the Priory

After we made it out of Athassel without upsetting the cows or their owners we headed to the Rock of Cashel. As our tour guide pointed out, it is important to note that there is no actual rock there. In fact the cathedral (for it has not been a castle for a few hundred years) is built on a large, sod covered, limestone rock that rises about 200 feet above the town. The views of the surrounding Irish countryside were amazing, although the wind was vicious given the height. The architecture there was beautiful, and we even had the chance to look at some frescos that they are recovering.


Grave at the Rock of Cashel - One of the girls on the trip knows the family

After a nice dinner of steak at a nearby hotel we headed back for Brookfield. We were lucky in the fact that it waited until JUST as we got on the bus for the rain to start. That night was pretty mellow. I spent some quality time with two of my roommates in our common room getting to know each other and then a large group of us crammed into our neighbor’s common room to watch The Hangover.


Trying to keep warm! I've got the best spot : D

I got to sleep in again on Sunday morning, which was fantastic. We had planned to take a trip to the Fota Wildlife Park, but it rained all afternoon, so we decided to go to the cinema instead. We saw Inception, which was an excellent movie, if a bit mindblowing, and marveled at the public displays of affection people engaged in before the movie started.  People here are much less concerned about kissing in public!  Once I got home I was super bummed to find out that the internet was down EVERYWHERE! So I wasn’t able to talk to my parents or Jeff *sad face*. I’m starting to really miss home, but I’m also starting to get comfortable here, so I’m not really sure where I stand on the whole two weeks of class left thing.

Anyway, that’s all that I have to update you on. I have an essay to write this week (maybe two if I’m super ambitious) and then I think this weekend a couple of us are planning on going to Galway. I’ll let you know!

Amelia

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Blarney, Cobh, and Kinsale

Hey guys. I just wanted to start this next note off with a few service announcements. One is that it’s my mom’s birthday today! Everyone say “Happy Birthday, Lori!” I’d tell you how old she is, but I’m told that it’s impolite to do so. The second order of business is to let any interested parties know that I have posted some pictures up on Facebook. I’ve only posted the pictures with people in them for the most part, so I’m sorry if you’re excited to see scenery. The internet here is just too touch and go to post all the pictures I’ve taken, but I promise that they’re worth the wait! Lastly, I love that people are reading this blog and are posting comments! They’re fantastic! I would ask, however, that if you do write a comment and don’t have a Google account, with an obvious user name, that you sign the comments with your name. Otherwise I have no way to tell who is saying what. Thanks! Anyway, moving on to other news...

I think I left off my last blog about a week ago on my birthday, so I have a lot to catch up on. I spent the afternoon after my birthday at Blarney Castle with Mom and Carla. It was a pretty dreary day. It drizzled in between pouring, which made the ruins of the castle rather precarious. For those of you who have not been to Blarney, you may not realize that the Blarney Stone, said to give those that kiss it the “gift of gab” (and yes, I did kiss it), is at the very top of the tower. This meant that, in order to reach it, we had to climb up a very tall and very narrow, winding staircase, a situation made even worse by the well-worn steps. Poor Carla almost had a heart attack, but we made it all the way up and back down in one piece, so all’s well that ends well.


Kissing the Stone!

I actually enjoyed the grounds around the castle more than the castle itself. There was a really interesting garden in which only poisonous plants were planted (I wanted to stay and read all the informational signs about each plant, but Mom and Carla weren’t as interested). There was also a place called Rock Close that had a lot of interesting rock formations, including a druid circle and a ruined stone dwelling with a chimney. Legend has it that there’s a witch that lives there and grants wishes. We headed home thoroughly soaked and spent the evening in the hotel so that Mom and Carla could pack. They got on their plane very early Friday and made it home safe and sound, if a bit jet lagged.


Old grave site at Rock Close. The sign said the rock would sometimes shift, but I couldn't get it to budge.

I had my first class field trip Friday afternoon. We all loaded on a bus and headed out to see a Norman castle called Barryscourt. This castle had been renovated and decorated to show what it might have looked like when it was in use (for those of you Iowans reading this, think Living History Farms style). It was a great tour and it provided an interesting contrast to the ruins at Blarney. We made a quick stop at the Fota Mansion, an old landlord’s house, before heading on to Cobh (pronounced “Cove”). This town was the Titanic’s last port of call before heading out into the Atlantic and the place from which many immigrants to North America left Ireland fleeing the great potato famine of the 1840’s. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to see the heritage center, but we did get to see the harbor and take a picture with the statue of Annie Moore and her brothers, the first people to enter the United States through the Ellis Island Immigration Center (where I’m told there’s a matching statue). We also got to do a quick tour of St. Coleman’s Cathedral and see the memorial for the sinking of the Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the First World War and sank in 18 min, killing almost 1200 people.


Feasting at Barryscourt Castle

The next day I woke up early to meet up with two girls I’ve become pretty good friends with named Kelsie and Liz to catch a bus to Kinsale. After navigating an unfamiliar public transportation system and dealing with cranky bus drivers, we made it to the port town just in time for lunch. We ate at a place called the Fishy Fishy Café, and had some excellent salmon and chips (and I don’t even like fish!). It was cold and pouring (what’s new?), but luckily there was an arts festival going on, so we managed to have a pretty good time inside. We DID get to see an Irish rock band called Mashed Chicken play under a tarp in a square, which was pretty amusing. We did a tour of Desmond Castle, which used to be a French prison and also had a wine museum in it (if you think that’s an odd combo, you’re not alone). Liz, Kelsie, and I headed home, drenched and exhausted. We missed out on doing a walk along the coast to a place called Charles Fort and we didn’t stay for dinner to have some of the famed cuisine, but it was a good day all around. That night a bunch of us went out to the pubs in City Center and met some local color (including a guy on the street who gave us Dominos pizza and an Irish lad who wanted to take me home as his teddy bear- don’t worry, I dodged that one and stayed with my group).


Obnoxious Americans? Nah, we're just having fun : D

The rest of my week has been fairly boring. A bunch of us did get together to watch the world cup final!  Go Spain! : D I’ve been putting a lot of time into my essay, which is THIS close to being done! Yay! The lectures this week have moved on to 19th and 20th century Ireland covering the famine and the war of independence, and they have been unbelievably dry, which is too bad given the potential of the subjects. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m very much an ancient history kind of girl. The seminars, taught by a man named Robert, are the only thing keeping me interested. He’s very knowledgeable and he manages to condense the information from the lectures and make it interesting. Fun fact: He’s also an Iowan! Apparently he got his undergrad degree from Iowa State. The seminars have actually given me a lot to think about and I might do a blog about my ponderings eventually, if I’m not sick to death of writing by then. Right now, however, it’s time for me to wrap this up so I can finish my essay and start studying for my test on Friday. Thanks to Rachel for editing it for me! Also, tomorrow is St. Swithun’s Day and, apparently, if it rains tomorrow then it’ll rain for the next forty days straight. Cross your fingers for me!

Amelia

The 31st International Studies in Irish History group picture. Can you find me?

Monday, July 12, 2010

I Blame the Romans

Hey guys!

I know it has been a while since my last blog, but I hate to tell you that you're going to have to wait another day or two to get an update on what I've been doing recently.  This week is sorta crazy as far as the study portion of study abroad goes.  I have one 2500 word essay about how the Romans viewed Ireland in the early medieval times, and an essay test to study for on Friday.  I'm hoping to get a short post up tomorrow or Wednesday, but rest assured you haven't been missing anything too exciting.

I miss you all! And thanks for sticking with me!  I'm so happy that there are people reading this.

Amelia

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Breithlá Sona Dom (Happy Birthday to Me)

I have an hour for lunch today because I’m skipping Irish Language class (the only one I’m not required to attend), so I decided I would take the time to write a quick update for the blog. I’m sorry for the recent delays in posting and getting pictures up. Now that classes have started I find I don’t have as much time and even less access to internet, which is incredibly frustrating. I will get caught up eventually...hopefully.

Classes are going pretty well. We’re in the first week (out of two) of Irish history lectures. Right now we’re focusing on medieval Irish history and the Christianization of Ireland, if that’s even a word. We’ve had lectures on the Roman Empire, St. Patrick, and St. Brigit in particular. I enjoy most of the lectures and the subject matter is very interesting. I’m getting my first essay subject today and that’s due next Friday, the same day we have our history exam, so we’ll see how that goes.

I’m getting to know the people in my classes a little bit better, and finally starting to be able to put names to faces. I met a large group of people at the Washington Inn (which is actually a pub) to watch the Uruguay/Netherlands game on Tuesday night, which was a lot of fun. I’m starting to feel more comfortable talking to people and everyone seems really nice so far. I think I’ll have some friends by the end of the trip. *crosses fingers*

For my birthday yesterday Mom, Carla, and I had planned to go to a town called Kinsale to get some dinner. The Kinsale area is sort of the cooking capital of Ireland and the restaurants there are supposed to have some of the best food in the country. Unfortunately there was a Clipper Festival there yesterday so we were advised that the town might be too busy to make the trip worth it. Instead we walked to a restaurant called Fenn’s Quay Restaurant by the southern channel of the River Lee (quay is pronounced “key” and it is another word for dock). I had a tomato risotto with prawn that was delicious and we shared some feta and vegetable spring rolls that were quite tasty as well.



We also had a mini birthday party back at the hotel (I’m going a bit out of order, this happened before the dinner) complete with cake and a “Happy 21st Birthday” banner, though it wasn’t hung. It’s the thought that counts, right? From Carla I got a book light, a very cute reusable bag to use to carry groceries, and a very nice UCC sweatshirt (apparently students don’t wear school paraphernalia here, it’s considered snobby. I like to think about it as pride, but I’ll wait to wear it until I’m at home all the same). Mom got me some Euros, a scarf I had been eyeing in the Avoca store in Dublin (she wasn’t very subtle about getting that one past me though), and a sticker with my name on it that can go in my car window. I was really excited about that last one because in the states they NEVER have my name on key chains or anything. Just another reason to like Europe, I suppose

After I finished my birthday celebrations with Mom and Carla I went to the Washington Inn again to watch the Spain v. Germany game and start the “real” celebration. I was very kindly purchased two ciders, one was original, the other was berry (which was tasty), and both were Irish. Then a couple others and I went around the corner to a bar called The Classic that was jam-packed and played very loud music. I got a couple more drinks there and was home safe and sound by midnight. I woke up feeling just fine, if a bit tired, this morning, so I’ll count yesterday as a successful 21st birthday!



I would like to say thank you for all the birthday wishes I received on facebook and otherwise. As much fun as I had yesterday, I wish I could have celebrated this big birthday with everyone at home as well. We’ll just have to make up for it when I get back huh? Finally, happy late birthday to Rachel and Jeff! I hope you both had great days!

Amelia

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Dublin City and Orientation

We woke up fairly early on the morning of the fourth and drove to the train station with almost no difficulties. The 8:30 train to Dublin was running on time, so we grabbed a snack and headed to gate 5 where we encountered a rather fierce little old Irish woman (she was upset because the queue changed directions and she was at the back now, rather than the front. So she fought her way back to first, only to be passed by almost everyone getting onto the train). We found our seats and settled in to hopefully get a quick nap on the way when a group of twenty or so high school students from somewhere in Spain loaded onto the car. Needless to say the volume raised a notch or two, but we did get serenaded by one of the boys. About an hour and a half into our journey the train stopped and we were informed that we would be delayed an hour due to the death on the tracks somewhere ahead of us.
Guinness Storehouse Gate

As terrible as that news was, we were still excited to get to Dublin, though our schedule was a bit delayed. Our first stop was the Guinness Storehouse, which we took the long way getting to by accident. I just popped into the store quickly to buy some souvenirs as it was expensive to take a tour and we didn’t have the time. After the storehouse we walked through a more down-beaten portion of Dublin on our way to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The front of the cathedral was surprisingly dull, but the inside was gorgeous. There were tons of very elaborate tombs in the walls and some beautiful stained glass windows. We went to the park around the back of the church and were glad to see a much better view of the architecture. I was, however, surprised that it was not bigger.
St. Patrick's Cathedral
We were very close to the city center of Dublin at this point, so, after a stop at the Chester Beatty Library near Dublin Castle to look at some beautiful illuminated manuscripts from ancient India, we headed in that direction. City Center was probably my favorite part of Dublin as its close location to Trinity College and many shops and businesses lent it to being rather busy and full of fun things to see. We made a stop at the Avoca Handweavers shop, where they had three floors full of colorful knick-knacks and woolens, as well as a café. We also made a quick stop at the Hard Rock Café to buy some souvenirs.
Dublin Castle

Our last stop in Dublin was at the Porterhouse, a microbrewery in the Temple Bar district. Temple Bar is an area very close to the city center and Trinity College. It is, as its name would suggest, filled with pubs, but there are also restaurants, shops, and great opportunities for people watching and seeing live music. The Porterhouse had great Irish pub food and I tried a delicious cider there. I can’t remember the name off the top of my head as it is, I believe, Swedish (it might have been Kopparberg). It was strawberry lime flavored, pink, and it tasted like summertime. It is by far my favorite drink I’ve had here, the only flaw I can find is that it’s not Irish.

Our train ride back to Cork was just as eventful as the ride to Dublin. We sat in the same group of chairs (four chairs face each other around a table on these trains) as an older Irish gentleman named John and across from another, not quite so old, and certainly less gentlemanly fellow named Liam. Liam and John had both gone into Dublin from Cork to watch a rugby match, Liam, it seemed, from a pub. Liam proceeded to drink more beer that he had smuggled onto the train and regale us with tall tales, drunkenly wise advice, and Irish songs sung in a loud, deep, and very slurred voice. John helped to translate and generally balanced out Liam’s exhibitionism with a quieter sort of entertainment. He talked to us for the whole trip (including, unfortunately, another delay due to ANOTHER death on the rails. Suicides due to the recession in Ireland, according to John) and was an endless fount of stories, information on Irish culture, and jokes.

The ride was enjoyable, but the delay caused us to get back to Cork almost two hours late. The subsequent drive through Cork’s city center and confusing one way streets in the dark took another half an hour. When we got back to the hotel, exhausted, it turned out that our keys to get into our hotel room weren’t working. Once we were let in by the security guard we also found that our plugs weren’t working. I had to be up early the next day for orientation at UCC, so I went to bed rather frustrated.

Orientation yesterday went rather well. There are between forty and fifty international students all of whom seem very nice. Being in such a large group of people who I don’t know is a little stressful and uncomfortable for me, but I’ve met a couple of people and I’m living in a townhouse with seven other girls. Hopefully the situation will get better with time. We finished the day by going to a very nice restaurant in the east of County Cork where they served us wonderful food (there was a strawberry meringue pastry that was AWESOME). On the way out there we stopped at a place called Ballycotton on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and got to take some pictures of the pretty landscape and lighthouse.

More to come on classes and such later, but right now I have to get this posted and get to seminar.

Amelia

Saturday, July 3, 2010

South-Western Ireland and the Ring of Kerry: How Mom Became a Driving Champ

We started the day off bright and early yesterday morning and, after a quick breakfast at the hotel (my editors wanted me to tell you that I had my first experience with Irish sausage), we headed west toward Killarney and County Kerry. It took us about an hour to get to Killarney from Cork (with only two wrong turns!). The road was very narrow and it got curvy once we got close to Killarney and into the mountains. We had several moments of panic when mom was caught between getting hit by on-coming traffic on one side or scrapping the side of the mountains (“Rocks! Rocks! Lori, I can handle trees coming in my window but not the mountain!” - Carla).


Our first stop was Killarney National Park. This area is heavily wooded (the largest remaining natural oak forest left in Ireland) and has two lakes, a monastery, a myriad of hiking trails, a waterfall, and a Victorian mansion called Muckross Estate. The best way to see the park is by jarvey, a horse drawn cart, so we hired Dan (the driver) and Molly to show us around. Riding through the woods by horse is a completely different experience than driving. It gives you time to take in scenery and takes less time than walking. Dan was very friendly. He had a lot of information about the park and life in Killarney.  

Muckross Estates is a very old, very large house on the shore of one of the lakes in the park. We didn’t pay for the tour to see the inside, but the gardens are expansive and wonderful to walk through. We discovered a beautiful rock garden that you could walk through on mini hiking trails and some huge old oak trees. We only had a half an hour to spend there, but we probably could have wandered around for a whole afternoon. We got back on our jarvey and took a ride through the rest of the park, including taking a quick hike up to Torc waterfall.  On the ride back to our cars it started to rain, but between our rain jackets and the blankets provided by Dan we stayed warm and fairly dry.


Our next stop on the Ring was Kenmare where we stopped for a couple hours. We had lunch at a nice little restaurant called Purple Heather. Carla and I had some excellent local crab and mom had an omelet. We took a quick walk to a druid circle located near the city. Think Stonehedge but smaller...alot smaller. The history behind the site is interesting, it’s 4,000 years old and is positioned (they think) to match the location of the setting sun on a solstice, but the sight of it was less impressive than we expected. We also spent some time in a store called Quills that sells, among many other things, Irish woolens.

We drove through the next portion of the circle, only stopping for quick pictures of the landscape (they have castle ruins just hanging out on the side of the road here! And the area was gorgeous. At this point we were still in the mountains.) Mom was going pretty slow because the driving was difficult, so a lot of people passed us, but no one made rude gestures at us so they must be used to slow tourists. After a little while we got to the coast. The road started to get a little less curvy and there were TONS of photo opportunities (I forgot how much I love looking at the ocean). There was a stop along the road with a statue of the Virgin Mary. The area was hilly with a view of the ocean, so I took a quick hike up to get a better view, Carla calls it my “walk-about”. We also saw a lot of sheep, some were even grazing on the side of the road! They’re braver than I am...

We made one last stop at a town called Waterville that’s located right on the shore of Ballinskelligs Bay and the ocean for a quick snack at the Bayview Hotel bar. The bar window overlooked the beach and a statue of Charlie Chaplin, who apparently spent his vacations there. We finished the Ring of Kerry in another two hours and drove the rest of the way home to Cork. The total driving time was something like ten hours. Needless to say we were pretty wiped out, so we decided to have a relatively relaxing day around the Cork area. We did a little shopping, visited St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral, and got the key for the room I’ll be staying in once classes start. Tomorrow we’re taking the train to Dublin! Updates soon.

Amelia

P.S.  Here's a few more pictures I didn't want to leave out!


I tried to make captions for the pictures but it didn't work so here's what they are from the top down:
Mackross Estates, path in rock garden at Mackross Estates, Me at Torc waterfall, the Druid's Circle, castle ruins on side of road, me by the ocean, path in rock garden, arch in castle ruins, and the Atlantic coast of Ireland.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Day Two- Tour of Cork

We decided to sleep in and catch up on our sleep today since yesterday was such a crazy day. We ended up sleeping until ten and missing the complimentary breakfast at the hotel so we just snacked on leftover granola bars and dried fruit. We had decided yesterday night that we were just going to stick around Cork today and had discussed going to a place called the Old English Market. The weather today was pretty nice (60 degrees and partly cloudy. I even got a bit of sun!) so after a bit of a walk and only one minute of being turned around (we’re improving!) we found the market, which is one of the world’s largest covered markets.

Being in the market was a little overwhelming. There must have been fifty vendors selling fresh fruit, meat, fish, sweets, and spices. The place was packed with people on lunch breaks stopping to get an Irish sausage (they look like really long brats, and you eat them on buns with tomatoes and onions as toppings). It was loud, smelly (sometimes in a good way!), and crowded, but it was a lot of fun and there were some great people watching opportunities. We tried to eat at the Farmer’s Café on the top floor, but it was packed so we ended up getting a sandwich at one of the vendors and eating it outside.



Then we headed to the Cork Tourist Office and got information for a tour of Cork City. The bus was a double-decker, so of course we sat on the top! The tour lasted about an hour and a half and was really good. It gave us a much better idea of the surrounding area and had some interesting historical information to go along with the beautiful sites. We saw several cathedrals, some old buildings, and a lot of the city center where all the shopping and pubs are.

After the tour we went to St. Patrick’s St. where all the shops are. We wandered in and out of stores and bought some souvenirs. My mom bought me a claddagh ring as an early birthday present. It is silver with a blue gem as the heart. Some of our purchases today were a bit unconventional; we bought a shirt for me in the men’s section of the department store and a washcloth for Carla in a maternity store! We also stopped at a really nice café called the Idaho Café for an afternoon snack.



We finished out the afternoon with a walk through the University College Cork campus on the way back to our hotel. The campus is beautiful. There are lots of old buildings with vines crawling up the sides and plenty of wide open spaces with gardens to relax in. The main quadrangle is impressive with a large building that looks like the castle framing the grass. The campus is quite large though, so hopefully my classes are close!



Once we made it back to the hotel we were pretty tired. We had been walking around for eight hours! So we decided to eat in the hotel bar, which is very nice and has good food. Tomorrow we’re attempting to drive the Ring of Kerry. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Amelia