Twenty-one weeks on the Emerald Isle: Sarah comes to Cork!

Hello everyone!

So this week my little baby nephew, Charles Timothy Holmberg, entered the world! I am an aunt! Every baby item that I see in Ireland, I want to buy for him because what are aunts for but to spoil their nephews? :) I can't wait to meet him in May!

As you can see from my post title, my good friend Sarah Harrington came to visit me in Cork! She is studying in Rome this semester and her ancestors are from Cork so she decided to take a visit up here for part of her spring break. It was so fun to spend time with her as I hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving! She and her two friends got here on Friday afternoon and first we walked around the English Market and got some yummy Irish sausages. I also showed them around my campus, which they loved. I still can't get over the fact that I go to school at the most beautiful campus. Every time I walk past the quad I am still in awe that I go to class in that building!

On Saturday they went to see Blarney and I had an archaeology field trip to the Rock of Cashel. The Rock of cashel is an early medieval fortress the over looks the southern Tipperary plain. It was used by the kings of Munster before it was handed over to the church to be used as an archiepiscopal center. It is stunning to see it from below. It was actually closed due to high winds (classic Ireland) so we couldn't go tour the inside of the grounds like we planned. Our professor took us instead to an early medieval ecclesiastical monastery. The high winds were incredible. You would think since we were not on top of a hill or anything the wind might be a little calmer but it was a struggle to move forward sometimes!

Anyways, that night I brought Sarah and her friends to a pub with live Irish music. Its my personal favorite pub so I enjoyed sharing the traditional Irish music and cool atmosphere with them. On Sunday, I brought them to a cafe for traditional Irish breakfast and then we headed over to the Shandon tower to climb up to the top and ring the bells! I hadn't done this before so it was fun to have it be a first time for me too. The stairs going up to the top were extremely narrow. At times you had to duck under some rafters and step over some more just to get up to the viewing deck. The view was incredible though! It wasn't even a really sunny day but it was so cool to see my whole city! We could see the rolling hills behind the city as well and it was just so very Irish.

Sarah's friends went off to do some sightseeing in another town. She and I got to do some shopping and much needed catching up over a cup of the best mocha in the world at O'connails :) We met up with the other two for dinner at a chinese restaurant. On a side note, they were all so excited not to eat pizza or pasta all the time! So it was funny to see how excited they were for something like nachos or chinese. Anyways, lastly I brought them to a pub that brews their own beer and its actually located right across from my apartment. Its also another favorite.

I sent them off this morning on their way to Dublin and said goodbye until I make my way to Rome in about a month! Being able to show someone around was very fun for me. It was interesting to hear how their life is different in Rome and what they thought of Ireland. It also made me begin to appreciate Cork even more for is unique character. As I fall more and more in love with Cork, the harder I am realizing it will be to say goodbye in what will be a short two and a half months.

I am also beginning the countdown for my parents visit and my three week spring break adventure through Europe! It will be less than three weeks until I meet my parents in Dublin. And we are finalizing all of our flights, trains, buses and hostels for my five country tour of Europe! I still can't believe everything that I am going to see.

Well, thats all for now. No big plans coming up in the next few weeks, maybe a day trip or two? We will see. Thanks for reading!