This week was filled with more paper writing, enjoying the incredible weather, planning my parents visit and my April travels and gearing up for St. Patricks day! I'm pretty sure it hasn't really rained in about a week. Its been misty a few times but imagine that?! Sunny blue skies for the majority of the week lifted everyones moods I think.
For starters, there is less than two weeks until my parents come! I can't believe how soon its coming up and I can't wait to show them around Cork!
On Friday, two of my friends and I decided to take a day trip to a town called Ballycotton. It is in county Cork and was about an hour bus ride away from the city. The main attraction in Ballycotton is the cliff walk. Some of our friends had done it a few weeks ago and suggested that we go, and I am so glad we got that suggestion! The town of Ballycotton was so cute. Its a little fisherman's town with beautiful views of the sea and there is a lighthouse not too far off the coast on a little island which made for a really cool view. The cliff walk itself is about 3 miles (?) not really sure. All I know is that it took us an hour to walk back without stopping so I would guess we walked about 6 miles total. The path winds along the coast and part of the way the path is on top of a cliff and there are views of cliffs as well, hence the name 'cliff walk.' The walk was so beautiful that I could have kept going for hours without tiring except for the fact that I got hungry. Of course.. We found a pub slash B&B to eat lunch at. It was very cute and even had a fireplace. The owner of the pub's name was Mike and he was so very friendly! He knew the few other customers by name and he was very kind to us. He kept the fire going, showed us picture books of Ireland and talked to us for awhile. I think we maybe ended up hanging out there for almost two hours!
This town and area is my favorite town in Ireland by far. I think I just like the easy feeling of the sea and exploring beaches and cliffs. If I could live there I totally would! Maybe I wouldn't have a job, but I could hang out by the ocean and do the cliff walk every morning and eat seafood a lot? Sounds pretty good to me.
Ballycotton cliffs!
On top of a hill that overlooks the sea!
Picturesque Ireland :)
There were some really cool purple rocks at one of the beaches!
On Saturday the St. Patrick's day festivities began! There was a festival that started on Saturday and ran through Monday. It consisted of SO many food vendors and stands. This was like a dream come true. I loved it! There was fish and chips, sausages and potatoes, hamburgers, pizza, asian food, paella, homemade ice cream, candy, fudge... you name it! It was fun just to look at all the food even though I knew I couldn't possibly try all of it. There were also stands selling jewelry, stands for face painting and many street performers either singing, playing music, blowing balloons or painting. The weather was incredible on Saturday so we went to get lunch at the festival and then we spent a good amount of time sitting in the sun next to the river and just relaxing. I was also surprised at how many tourists St. Patrick's day brought to Cork. There were so many people speaking different languages everywhere! It was really a fun holiday to experience.
On Sunday we did more hanging out by the food and listening to music and watching street performers. Then I went to work on homework and prepare for St. Patrick's day by making some green colored cupcakes to bring to the party that our group decided to throw. We went to one of our favorite pubs that night too for a special deal they had on for one of their local brews. I actually made friends with a few Irish people, so that was fun! St. Patrick's day is a bank holiday so school was canceled and most people don't have work so everyone is able to attend the parade in the afternoon. In the morning my friends and I got dressed up in our green clothes and painted four leafed clovers on our faces and then stuffed our faces with yummy treats that everyone brought to share. After awhile we headed over to the parade and it was packed! There were so many people we didn't really know where to stand but we ended up in a decent spot.
The parade itself had an interesting variety of floats and groups walking through. There were a lot of dancing schools or baton twirling groups, bands, drum-lines and military personnel and also floats that were symbolic of the holiday. For example, there were ladies dressed like snakes and doing gymnastics and using hula hoops. They were to symbolize the legend that Saint Patrick banished all of the snakes from Ireland by chasing them into the sea. There were other floats that we had no idea the reasoning behind them. There was one large float of a dragon accompanied by a man blowing fire. Super cool, but not sure why it was there? After the parade we grabbed lunch and just kinda hung out the rest of the day.
Some of the food stands on St. Patrick's street
Sausage and roasted potatoes!
Lol?
SO excited about the fish and chips
Probably the best fish and chips I have had! YUM
Homemade fudge
Fairy with the kiddos
Me and my roommate, Megan in front of the Irish flag
Parade selfie!
Fire breathing man
Bagpipes and kilts! (thought of you, dad)
Also, this week I went into a cafe where I usually go to get THE BEST spiced chai lattes and right when I walked in, the barista knew my order! Not sure if I should be excited or embarrassed about this but we exchanged names and who knows maybe we'll be besties before I leave. I mean she does make the best spiced chai latte I have ever had so she is already kinda my best friend!
The half door cafe where I get my 2 euro take away spiced chai :)
No big plans for this week besides studying and paper writing and finalizing my April travel plans! I will give you a spoiler on what I mean when I say April travel plans…
UCC gives us a 3 week break for easter and spring break and a week for studying before we take our finals. That means a 4 week break! I am going to see so many things and I can't even believe it. First, I am headed to England with my mom(!), then I will meet up with my friends and head to Prague in the Czech Republic, Munich in Germany, Interlaken in Switzerland, Milan, Rome, Florence and Pisa in Italy, and Brussels in Belgium. WHEW! I can't even believe it still. Its going to be such an adventure!
Thats all for now, thanks for reading everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment