Exploring Cork City and Midleton

Hello again!
This week has been pretty low key but I figured I would share some details about daily life in Cork and my weekend so far! I know a while ago I promised more pictures of the city and finally I am going to get around to that.

Over the past two weeks I have been writing down observations about Cork or Ireland in general that are different than the U.S. and I thought that might be fun to share!  I really have enjoyed trying to fit in with the locals and do things how they do them.  Just being immersed in a place where things are done differently is cool!  Here goes my list of more new things!

-There are some green Mcdonalds instead of red.

-The buildings and doors are much more colorful, maybe to offset the cloudy weather and brighten the city?

-Having coins is ok, you could have 10 euro with 5 coins! Still getting used to this though!

-There is a lot of dog poop on the sidewalks.  Makes for an eventful walk sometimes!

-There are many more rivers than lakes.

-Many of the side streets look like sidewalks.  You wouldn't know its a street until a random car starts plowing through the people.

-Pedestrians almost never follow the traffic lights unless its a busy street.

-A lot of streets have different names on every block.  Makes for confusing directions and getting lost sometimes :)

-Quay is pronounced 'key' and is another label for a street.  For example I live on Bachelors Quay.

-The tallest building in Cork is 17 stories and its the tallest by far!

-Public transportation is incredibly easy. There is a bus station and a train station about 20 minutes walk from my apartment.

-Instead of ketchup bottles on the table sometimes there are ketchup packets.

-There is no such thing as take out, its take away! Chinese take away, coffee take aways, take away boxes, etc.

-Also, no such thing as french fries.  They are chips! And American potato chips are crisps.  Be prepared for weird looks if you ask for fries.

I am sure I will come up with more, so stay tuned for my little observations of how life is different in Cork!

Anyways, I have done a bit of exploring this week and found a few of my new favorite cafes and found some really nice views of the city.  The first I found by myself and it is called O'Connails Chocolate.  It is on a little side street right in the middle of city centre.  I splurged and had the best cup of hot chocolate I have ever had! Since chocolate is their specialty, I just had to order one.  It was served with a sample of their chocolate chips, white chocolate, dark and milk.  Yum.  I will be going back there when I want to treat myself :)

The best hot chocolate I have ever had!

View of the front

On wednesday I went with a few girls who were going to a clinic on the other side of town.  They said that it had a great view of the city and much nicer houses than we see around city centre or UCC so I figured I would go check it out.  I am glad that I went just so I can say I saw the other side of the city and saw a nice view of the city from a different angle.

After that a few of us went to check out a little cafe that we heard good things about called the Buttercup cafe.  We had a nice view of the Shandon tower and it was tucked away in a quiet little corner of the city.  We got lunch and hot drinks and scones for later.  I was one happy girl!  They also serve Irish breakfast, which I have found is pretty common among the cafes.  So it looks like ill just have to try them all? :)

This week I also went to a few practices for ultimate frisbee club.  Yes you read that right.  I am not super athletic or into sports so I surprised even myself by trying it out.  I enjoyed it for the most part, mainly because it was a chance to interact with Irish students.  But I may keep going, I'll keep you updated :)

Buttercup Cafe

Shandon Tower

Delicious mocha- Although my favorite drink here so far is a chai latte :)

Happy girl

On Fridays, I don't have class so I have a nice long weekend to be able to do more exploring and traveling! This Friday four of us from our group decided to go buy some meat from the English Market and make dinner.  The choices are so overwhelming there its so hard to choose any one thing but we ended up choosing some chicken kabobs with peppers and onions.  They were so good! The meat was falling apart after it was done cooking and since I don't eat meat very often here it was especially good.

Today was a lovely Saturday.  I went with the same three girls from dinner to Midleton, which is a smaller town in County Cork that was about a 25 minute bus ride from City Centre.  We left pretty early so we could catch the farmers market that we read about online.  It was very cute and the vendors were so kind and offered us all sorts of samples.  They had a fresh fish stand with fancy salmon cakes mixed with chive and tarragon, cheese stands with fresh goat cheese, bread stands with pastries and traditional Irish breads and even a homemade pizza stand.  Paradise for a foodie.  There was a man selling chicken pate and offered some to us and eventually we ended up talking with him for about 15 minutes! He suggested places to go in Cork and asked about Minnesota, everyone was really so friendly! 

After that we wandered around a bit, eventually making our way to the Jameson whiskey distillery.  This is the big tourist destination in Midleton, so of course we decided to go on a tour of the distillery.  It was very interesting to hear the history of how John Jameson started making whiskey in 1780 and all of the steps that go into making it.  We saw the largest pot still in the world that was used to distill the whiskey and could  hold 140,000 liters of liquid.  At the end of the tour my friends and I volunteered for taste testing and we tasted three different whiskeys, Scotch, Jameson and Jack Daniels. Everyone who got to taste test liked the Jameson the best.  Since it is triple distilled it was smoother and had a hint of vanilla.  It was a little strong for me!  But I enjoyed the complimentary drink with ginger ale and lime that came with the tour ticket!

Pastries at the Farmers Market

In front of the distillery

Before our taste testing

The rest of the weekend will just be relaxed, we may go listen to some traditional music tonight and I hope to find a church tomorrow morning! Thanks for reading everyone!

Northern Ireland: Belfast, Carrick-A-Rede and Valeries scones

Hello everyone! Hard to believe that I'm back at my apartment after traveling to the opposite end of the island and seeing and experiencing some of the most amazing things I will probably ever see! Bear with me as this will be a longer post.  So many things to talk about!

For those of you who don't know, I traveled all the way to Belfast in Northern Ireland this weekend.  It was about 6 hours of travel on a bus.  Since Belfast is in Northern Ireland we had to switch buses in Dublin and catch another one up to Belfast to cross the border.  We also got to use the pound instead of the euro!

You may be wondering who Valerie is in the title of this post.  Valerie and Gary Maloney are a couple that I know from my church in Cambridge, Minnesota.  I also grew up going to church with their two sons.  They are living in Belfast for 4 years working for Youth for Christ.  They were kind enough to invite me and two of my friends (Bridget and Tierney) into their home for the weekend.  What a blessing it was to have people who knew the area and nice people at that!

We arrived in Belfast late on Thursday evening and almost the minute we walked in the door, Valerie  offers us tea and biscuits!  We of course accept it and begin our weekend of yummy treats and tea.  On Friday, Gary had to work so Valerie was gracious enough to show us around Belfast.  I can't tell you how nice it was to have our own personal tour guide!  The first thing she brought us to see was St. George's Market.  It is an indoor market with all different kinds of stalls from ethnic food to hamburgers and antiques to hand knit baby clothes.  So many sights and smells and we loved it!  We ended up having our first traditional Irish stew there and for cheap too.  As a food lover I thoroughly approve of Irish stew :)

Next we went to Victoria Square which is a large shopping center that is technically outdoors because it has no outer walls but it has a huge dome for a roof.  Its hard to explain but it was really cool.  In the center you can take the elevator to the top and see a panoramic view of the city, which we did of course.  It was amazing to see how far the city stretches and fun to listen to Valerie talk about the landmarks.  Next we walked to the Albert Memorial clock, named after none other than Prince Albert, and snapped a few pictures.  Then we headed to one of the most famous buildings in Belfast, City Hall.

There are many things that are significant about city hall including its history and what it is used for.  The few things that stuck out to me were 1) The same craftsmen carved the wood around the deputy chiefs chair also carved the wood workings on the Titanic. 2) The pillars in the rotunda are from Greece.  3) There is a cabinet in the great room that was meant for the Titanic but wasn't finished in time.  4) It took 8 years to build and cost 369,000 pounds.  It was very cool to see the inside and all the little details that someone was adamant about putting in that specific spot.  We also went into a room that is used today for government meetings and sat in their pews!

That evening we also drove over to the Titanic Quarter where the Titanic was built.  There were lit up outlines of the ship on the ground to show how big it really was.  It took us awhile to walk the length of it.  They also have a museum there and the building is made with an exact replica of the size of the bow coming out of the corners of the building.  It was a big ship!

                                                          Irish stew in St. Georges Market

Victoria Square

On the center viewing deck in Victorias Square

                                                                           City Hall


Our evenings with the Maloneys consisted of good conversation, games of farkle and phase ten and delicious food and of course desserts and tea.  It was fun for me to hear their stories and get to know them better after having grown up in the same town my whole life!  May I add again how gracious these people are?  They showed us genuine Irish hospitality.

Saturday was our sightseeing day.  Both Gary and Valerie were our tour guides on this day and the five of us piled into their car and set off for the northern coast.  Our first stop was Carrick-A-Rede.  Before I go any further I just need to say how the landscape and the beauty of creation in this country has blown me away more than anything else I have ever experienced.  I have officially fallen in love with Ireland and its charm and beauty!  Carrick-a-rede bridge used to be a bridge used by fisherman to transport their daily catches from an island to the mainland.  The rope bridge used by the fisherman only had one side to hold on to because they needed to use their other hand to carry the fish.  I can't imagine having to do that! Its 70 feet above the water and 100 feet across to the other side.  It was a bit rainy that day but it drove the crowds away and we were able to take some really cool pictures because we were just about the only people there!  We stopped for lunch at a little cafe where we ordered potato and leek soup with wheaten bread, which I've been told is very traditional. Oh and don't forget the tea!

The next stop was the very famous Giants Causeway.  I think one of my favorite parts about seeing the Giants causeway was hearing the story be told by a true Irish woman as we walked down to the sea.  If you are curious about the story and have time, you should google it.  Its pretty cute, but its a bit long to put in the blog!  Although I would like to believe the story of how the Giants Causeway came to be, I know that it is from volcanic eruptions and the unique shapes of basalt rock that resulted from water cooling and cracking the lava.  It was pretty incredible to say the least.

Last we had a quick tour of Dunluce Castle which was in its prime around the 16th century.  It over looks the North Atlantic Ocean and again it made me wish I could have seen it in its glory days.  Rumor has it that the wife of the Lord who lived there insisted on adding on another kitchen.  During a party when the food wasn't coming out quick enough they went to check the kitchen only to find that it had fallen into the sea along with all of the cooks and food!  As you can see, this castle was literally on the edge of a cliff and the views were stunning.

We made our way back to town and had another fun evening of games and conversation.  Valerie introduced us to her favorite thing to put on dessert, custard.  It is a bit more liquidy than pudding and it is served warm over just about anything.  We had it on swiss roll with raspberry filling.  I can see why its her favorite!  On our last morning we all went to church and then Valerie made us a traditional Irish breakfast as our parting meal.  Fried eggs, Irish soda bread, bacon, sausage, baked beans, scones and tea of course.  It was a feast!  Sad to say we had to rush off very soon after and catch our bus back to Cork.

                                                          Path to Carrick-A-Rede bridge

Carrick-A-Rede Bridge

                                            Our kind hosts and tour guides, Valerie and Gary

                                                              North Atlantic Ocean

                                                                   Giants Causeway

Bridget, myself and Tierney

Full Irish breakfast

                                                               Valerie and her scones!

This was a weekend I will never forget!  To be the recipient of true irish hospitality in the home of familiar people was more than I could ever ask for!  So a huge thanks to Gary and Valerie for taking the time to show us around Northern Ireland.  Your generosity will not be forgotten!

Thanks for reading everyone!
To my mom and sisters: I hope you had a great time in Washington D.C.!
To my dad and brothers: Did you survive without mom? Hope all is well on the home front!

Kinsale, Blarney and Cobh.

Hello all, hope you are staying warm for those of you in Minnesota!
This weekend was full of socializing, adventures and sightseeing, the first of many!

It started out with a family dinner hosted by my roommate, Megan and I.  The "family" is a group of 15 students who are all from CSBSJU that are all staying in the same apartment building which is called Leeside. We decided that a good way to have a weekly meeting with all of us was to have each apartment host dinner once a week. We decided on pancakes and egg bake! It was a success.  That night we also headed out to an international get together hosted by the school.  All international students were invited to a pub to meet other students, which was fun!

On Saturday our whole group from school began our day touring Charles Fort in Kinsale.  I didn't really know what to expect but it was incredible! We had gorgeous weather, so lucky for winter in Ireland! Yeah, wow we really got lucky. Charles Fort was built in the 1670s and is a good example of a late 17th century start shaped fort built for defensive purposes.  It is associated with some of the major military moments in the history of the country including its use in the Civil War in 1922-1923.  It was really cool to walk around and see the old barracks and learn about what life was like for the soldiers living there.

Panoramic View of Charles fort

                        My friend, Tierney and I                        One of the corners of the Fort

Next we went to the town of Kinsale for lunch and exploring.  I had my first traditional fish and chips in a cute little restaurant right by the water.  Perfection! We had only a little bit of time to explore the town so of course my friend, Clare and I went and found a chocolate shop.  The woman who ran it was so friendly and told us all about where the chocolate came from and which ones were the most popular. She even gave us free truffles so we had to buy a few after that :) We only had a few minutes left before our bus left but we had time to take a few pictures of the harbor and all of the sailboats there.  My dear boyfriend, Jason, loves sailboats so I made sure to take a few extra for him :)

                                                              Sailboats in Kinsale

                                                       My friend, Clare and I in Kinsale

We then hopped on the bus to our final destination for the day, Blarney castle.  The current Blarney Castle was built in 1446 by the King of Munster.  Queen Elizabeth had ordered the Earl of Leicester to take control of the Castle but every time he tried to negotiate, the King of Munster suggested a banquet or some other form of distraction.  The Queen was sick of hearing of the delays and she called the Earls reports "blarney" which is where the name of the castle comes from.  If you didn't already know the tale behind the Blarney Castle, the big tourist attraction is to kiss the Blarney stone at the very top of the old castle, which will give you the gift of gab.

We began to make our way up to the castle through beautiful gardens and crossing a river that runs through the grounds.  Again, it was such a beautiful day! Not sure how we got so lucky, but the sun was shining through the trees and it made me wonder what the castle looked like in its glory days.  I was expecting the stone to be more accessible but to my surprise, we climbed up a very narrow and steep winding staircase to get to the very top of the castle.  The stone is located on the edge of the castle so far down that there is a cute little old man there to hold everyone who wishes to kiss the stone.  It was actually kinda scary!

                                                                  Blarney Castle

                                                       On the very top of the castle

                                                               Kissing the stone!

It was such a good but long day, we all went home and relaxed and went to bed early that night!
The next day (sunday) about half of the group decided to take a day trip to a seaside town called Cobh (pronounced cove). It took awhile for Megan and I to decide whether we wanted to go or not because it was pouring outside and it was about 25 minutes to walk to the train station.  We ended up deciding to brave the weather and hope for the best! The walk to the train station was an adventure for sure but what can being a little (or a lot!) wet hurt? :)

Cobh is most famous for being the last port of call for the infamous unsinkable ship, the Titanic.  It was where the last 123 passengers of the Titanic got on board and the last place it left before going out into the Atlantic.  So of course we started our day in Cobh at the titanic experience, where the original ticket office and original pier for the Titanic was located.  Of course the Titanic itself was out in the bay but the pier is where passengers got on smaller boats to be taken out to the Titanic.  The pier is called "heartbreak pier" because many left Ireland that day from that pier and said goodbye to friends and family that they would never see again.  I learned a lot about the Titanic tragedy there and we were able to learn a little about the actual stories of the 123 passengers that were from Ireland.

We headed back out into the rain and wind across the street to a cozy little cafe to eat lunch.  To our surprise, when we finished eating it was not raining and the sun was out! We spent the rest of the day enjoying the sunshine and exploring the town and taking pictures of the classic Irish buildings and the water.  We stumbles upon an incredible cathedral where we spent a good amount of time talking to some locals and taking more pictures.  It ended up being a beautiful day and I couldn't be happier that we braved the weather in the morning!  

                                                                  Charming Cobh

Cathedral

Heartbreak Pier

                                                      Me with the bay in the background!

Oof this is a long one, hope you were able to bear with me! I am headed to Belfast next weekend with a few friends to sightsee and visit some family friends from my church in Cambridge.

Have a good week everyone!

I go to school in a castle!

Hello everyone!
This week I started classes in Ireland! My school is one of the most beautiful things in Cork that I've seen so far.  The main Quad really does look like a castle.

Main Quad at UCC

I actually have a class in the west wing, which is on the left side in this picture. Right in the corner!  There is an archway underneath the tower part of the quad and in the middle of the archway on the ground there is a picture of the school crest.  Rumor has it that if you were to step on this crest you would become pregnant.  I may or may not have already stepped on this crest! But unless divine powers are at work I think ill be ok :)  It is funny though because when you watch people walk through everyone will avoid the crest and walk around it.  Another interesting belief is that if you step on the grass right there in the middle or even on the pathways that run through it, you will fail your exams! Needless to say, I won't be stepping on that grass!

Anyways, classes at UCC have been going well for me.  This week we are allowed to sit in any class we are interested in and then decide which ones we actually want to take.  I think I have decided on 4 classes:  Archaeology, Human Nutrition in the Developing World, Gender and Development, and Intro to Irish History.  I am looking forward to getting into these classes further.  My archaeology class even has a few field trips included to some historic sites in Ireland.  

UCC is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment.  It is really unique, as you can see from the main Quad there are buildings that are a bit older but then the library for example is very modern.  There is a good mix of modern and traditional buildings which make it really fun to just walk around and explore and maybe get lost a bit :)

The city of Cork itself is very cool from what I have seen so far.  There is a large city centre only about 10 minutes walk away from my apartment.  The city centre has big shops and little shops and everything in between.  There are side streets with little coffee shops or bakeries or candy shops, which is all too tempting for this girl.  There are also many churches that we have walked past and they are all so beautiful.  In the middle of city centre is the English Market.  Easily one of my favorite things so far in Cork.  It is an indoor market and you can find everything from raw beef and lamb, traditional irish bread and cheese, to handmade soaps and jams, fresh fruits and vegetables.  I had so much fun there and I didn't even buy anything! I will be back though when I need some groceries for sure :)

The English Market

Ireland isn't too different from the States but I figured I could share things that I have noticed that are different in a fun way!

-Euros instead of dollars

-Most grocery stores don't give you bags for your food for free so it is best to bring your own

-Food seems to expire faster (less preservatives?)

-Irish students tend to dress a bit nicer than American students. No yoga pants or sweatpants!

-Most Irish students go home on weekends so their nights to go to a pub are Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of American Fridays and Saturdays

-It rains at least once a day (still getting used to this!)

-People walk everywhere! 

-Most dogs I have seen are not on a leash and they are so well behaved.  Bernie and Tucker would not do well here…

-Lastly, they have these really yummy cookies called digestives for only 1 euro! No idea why they are called digestives because they aren't full of fiber or anything, trust me I know I'm a Nutrition major!

                                                                     Digestives!

                                                                First day of school!

Bridge that I cross to get to school.

It actually may not rain today, it is beautiful outside! I plan to take advantage and do some exploring.  Next post I will have more pictures of the city centre and I am going to see the Blarney castle and the Titanic experience this weekend! Stay warm everyone!

Dublin Adventuring

Hello from my apartment in Cork, Ireland!

I am just finished with getting all settled in to my permanent housing for the semester. I am living with my friend Megan and another girl who we have yet to meet that is from Spain.  It is a cute little apartment and it feels good to not be living out of a suitcase anymore!

The past few days I was spending time in Dublin with 7 other girls from St. Ben's.  All eight of us stayed in one room at a hostel which was interesting to say the least! Stepping over suitcases and clothes and people and all sharing one teeny bathroom was an adventure! 

We were able to do a lot of sightseeing and touring in our short few days there.  We toured the Dublin Castle and the Guinness Factory on our first full day.  I learned so much about Irish history at the dublin castle! It was very cool to see the inside and the rooms that are still used today for government purposes. 

I also learned a lot about the history of Guinness and how to make it.  There are so many steps to it so props to the people that brew it! The picture of me is on the top floor of the Guinness storehouse and the city is behind me.  It was such a cool view and couldn't be accurately captured on camera.

 We walked around the grounds of trinity college the next day and we were all so amazed at how big and beautiful it was.  And maybe a little envious of the students who go to school there!
On New Years Eve we headed to a few different pubs that are less touristy to see how the locals celebrate New Years! It was a blast and most of them had live music and a very cool atmosphere with multiple levels.  We went out into the street a little after midnight and the streets were packed.  There were so many tourists from other countries as well, it was a fun holiday to experience abroad to see what other cultures do differently than we do in America!

We got into Cork today and moved into our apartments.  Tomorrow we will head out to find our school and explore some more of the city, maybe find a coffee shop or two :)