1 month down...

Wow, today marks my first month in Cork! I cannot even believe how fast it has gone by. I feel like every day I am here I find something new, like Monday we went to this new shopping center and I discovered this delightful little pond about 5 minutes behind our apartments that I would have never known existed unless we decided to head off on a new adventure. I also learn knew things everyday such as students get a student price on the bus... I think I might be using that a little more often when getting groceries.

Besides the little things, nothing big and exciting has happened. I am ready to start my travels outside of Cork, because once you have been here a week, you have seen all there is to see. This weekend we are going to see the Rock of Cashel which is this awesome church (pictures to come) and then next weekend we are off to the Cliffs of Moher and will cap the month of October off with Halloween celebrations in Dublin. Fun fact, Halloween originated in Ireland as a holiday to celebrate the end of the summer and harvest as well as ward off some sort of demons, hence the dressing up in costumes! There is suppose to be a big parade and stuff, so again, plenty of more pictures to come for the month of October.

In November I  have trips planned to Munich as well as Paris and potential plans to go to either Barcelona or Milan, but we will see where my finances are by the end of that month! I might also make it to the Giants Causeway which are these awesome rock formations located in northern Ireland...

For those of you who are worried about my studies, do not be. While my roommates were in London this past weekend, I wrote one of my many essays and have intentions of finishing another one this coming weekend. The day trips are fabulous, because it still allows for 2 days of homework!

As of now I am definitely ready for my package from home! The food is nothing to brag about and the speed of life is way too slow for me here and that is saying a lot when I myself am such a nonchalant type of person! Oh man, one final complaint, the inability to pronounce words here is sooo annoying!
For example:
                    We say Ireland........ they say Island
                    We say Resources... they say Rehorses
                    We say Thursday..... they say Tursday

Anywho, I think this is all I have for now, but stay tuned, I am sure there will be more soon, but until then...Slàinte! 

The Garda

Okay, so since we are studying here for more than 90 days (which really I am not, but I said I was staying for 3 months at the airport, otherwise I would not have had to do this whole situation) you have to register with the police to see if they will grant you permission to remain within the country. This is not a privilege, it is a right, therefore they take it extremely seriously!

So, we start our journey to the Garda (their police) last Friday. We leave around 1:50ish and head on our way to a part of town that we had yet to travel through. We stop at a convenience store and make sure we headed in the right direction, only to find out that if we walked like 5 feet past the corner, we would have seen the building we need to go to. Anywho, we get there at 2:20pm, wait in the line for roughly10 minutes and then the lady behind the counter sticks her head out to tells us to leave because we are wasting our time standing in line because they will not make it to us by 4:00pm, when they close, ugh! So we leave and make the long journey up the hill home!

We head back out at 9:00am on Monday morning, since the receptionist told us they open at 9:45am ( it really is 9:30), hoping to be the first people in line. When we got there, it was wrapped further around the little circular room you must wait in! So we sit down and start talking. The first hour went by fast. We tried figuring out how to use our cellphones the second hour, so that was entertaining, but when it came to the 3rd hour, we were very impatient. Turns out that Ireland, and I think the rest of Europe, have to take their lunch break all at the same time. So when we were only 3 people back from getting our paperwork done, they closed shop for their 2 hour lunch, so inefficient!!

So we took shifts to go grab food from across the street, played with the cutest baby ever who had a laugh that sounded like she was hiccuping, and slammed a solid game of War before they returned from their break. Roughly 30 minutes later, we get up to the desk and get our paperwork going. Now I must say now that I am extremely happy that we get reimbursed for this 150 euro process because if not, I would be strangling the guy at the airport!!  So apparently the guy at the airport, although extremely nice and actually has family that lives in Legacy Ridge (a subdivision like 10 minutes away from my house), does not know his days. If he would have wrote 1/1/2011 instead of 1/1/2010 and stamped 15 Sept 2011 instead of 15 Aug 2011, I would have been able to stay in the country without waiting in line, nor paying the fee.

Summary:

2 days, 8 hours and 150 euros later, I am officially a-okay to stay in Ireland until the end of the semester!!

Gotta Love the Irish.... Slàinte! 

My week of Free!!

First and foremost, we have to start with a side note.... Potatoes come with everything. I don't eat potato wedges with my pizza back home, but I do here. I don't have two options for fries, regular or curly, at McDonald's back home, but I do here. Lastly, I don't go to a street fair and see potatoes available at every stand back home, but I do here!! I just cannot believe how many potatoes they have here and although I LOVE potatoes, I am sick of seeing them everywhere!! Unfortunately I did not get any free potatoes, but they are Ireland!

Anywho... I finally made it to the gym this week, not like i haven't been working out everyday by walking across Ireland, but I figured maybe I should actually do a little more to work off all these damn potatoes I am eating lol! So like I said it has been a week of free and the gym was no exception. It was a free show of short-shorts and man boobs. Now in the states we have short-shorts for women, but no, the men wear the shortest shorts EVER here. There is a problem when the men's shorts are shorter than mine! Also, the Mardyke (the name of the gym) has this lovely women's gym that overlooks the pool, where I got my free view of the biggest man boobs ever. I was like damn, when you have bigger boobs then me, we might have an issue lol!! Finally, they have free lockers which just rocked all my roommates socks right off, so now I can just head to the gym right after class without having to hike home first to drop my stuff off!!

Then Wednesday the cast of the musical FAME came to our campus to promote themselves which was awesome. It was like a free 20 min. show, which I recorded but it wont upload, so you have to check it out on facebook!! We might go see the actual thing down at the cork opera house, but we will see what this coming week brings!!

Friday came around and we head out for a night on the town which ended up costing me a whopping 3 euro!! We went to this pub that seems to be popular with the college kids.. on Thursday nights.... so it was a little older crowd when we went, but it was totally worth it because we got our 3 euro pint of cider and watched a free live concert... It was not too shabby to listen to either! We then left to find this more mainstream music that we kept hearing. It ended up being a disco right above the pub where apparently it is free for UCC students to get in on Friday nights. Once we were inside we found out quickly why it was free, for we were 4 of the 6 people on the dance floor. Thankfully we got a free shot in addition to our free admission and within an hour the place was hoping and we danced the night away!! In addition to free admission and a free shot I got some fantastic free people watching in such as these two crazy Asian girls that were dancing all up on each other, these middle eastern men that thought they could dance, but really couldn't, in addition to the typical skanky girls and desperate men that are at every dance club back in America!!

To top off my week, I finally got my phone! It ended up only being 29 euro and then every time I top up 10 euro or more, I get double that amount, so for 10 euro, I really get 20 euro!! But the best part is that i got a 20 euro top up for FREE, so I don't think that I will need to invest any more than my initial 39 euro!!

Well, that has been my week... I shall be back again soon, but as usual until then... Slàinte! 

First Week in the land of the Irish

This is the Quad on campus

    So I have been extremely busy this week with the start of classes, getting situated and, most importantly, consuming my first Guinness! First of all, and the main reason I am here, lets talk about school. I will be taking 5 classes, if I can find another!! I will not have class on Monday's which allows for travel with my roommates! I think we are going to go to Dublin, Italy and Paris!! Italy is still up in the air, but I am crossing my fingers that it happens!! Anywho, classes are weird here because we only meet once a week for two hours or twice a week for one hour each session. I guess it is nice in one way, but I will have to spend a lot of independent research time in the library, which might not be as exciting as one may hope! It is also different in the sense that my grades are basically 1 essay and a final and the passing rate is 40% in most classes... I just don't know whether the classes are going to be extremely hard, so a 40% is doing really well, or if Europeans just do not put as much effort into their work so their standards are lower, guess we will have to wait and see...

3 out of my 4 roommates at the Blarney Castle

     I have officially become as situated as I am going get here in good ol' Cork! I have 4 roommates, two from Chicago and 2 from France. All four of them are really great! We all have at least one class together, so it will be great when it comes time to study =) I can officially make the walk to and from city center with groceries. I still might break a sweat coming up that steep hill, but I can do it without dying and that is all that counts. The best part out of all the walking here is that I do not need to go to the gym!!

     After getting situated, I made my way into the true Irish tradition of drinking!! There could not be a better day than Arthur's Day (a day in honor of the founder of Guinness, Arthur Guinness) to have my first Guinness. Although it was not as bad as I expected, especially since it was not warm as most said it would be, I found a love that will forever remain in my heart: Bulmers! It is Irish Cider and basically a mix between cider and beer and tastes utterly delicious! For those interested in trying it in the states it goes by the name Magners! There are 3 flavors, original, pear and berry, but I have only had the original. I will keep you posted on the other flavor...

Our Guinesses were out of control!!

     Beyond drinking, I had a fabulous time seeing the heart of the city this past weekend by visiting historical sites on Cork's Culture Night. Luckily it was a Culture Night and not day because we did not find out about the event until 5pm. We were able to visit  Cork's history museum, the butter museum as well as this really cool church where we climbed to the top of the bell tower and was able to overlook the entire city! I have also encountered multiple street fairs that encompass crafts, food, music and any other thing you could imagine would be at a street fair!

The Blarney Castle 

     Last but not least, I visited the infamous Blarney Castle and of course kissed the stone this past weekend. It is about a 30 minute bus ride away from city center ( in addition to a 20 min walk, 30 if you cannot find the bus station) The grounds were very gorgeous and fit into the typical Irish image of rolling green hills! After picking up a couple of souvenirs, we headed back into town and crashed! I never realized how much muscle I would be building up in addition to my studies =)



I best be on my way, but we shall meet again next week! Until then... Slàinte!

Arriving in Cork.. or as they say it, Cark

     It is roughly 1:30am in Cork and I cannot sleep so I thought I would post about my journey across the pond. Side note, my body is freezing and the only warmth I have is the blanket I took from the airplane and that is not very warm needless to say!! Back to my journey... So i get to the airport to find out that not only is my flight delayed in The States, but I am not going to make my connection in London unless I am Superman, which we all know I move at the slowest pace ever, but they still said that they were going to leave me booked on that flight, just in case, ha. I said okay, but figured there was not a chance in hell that I would make the plane, so they also booked me on a later flight.
      Moving forward, I get on the plane and have to do a double take because I saw a DU water bottle next to me. It turns out that the couple sitting next me had a daughter that graduated from DU in '08, so I was able to ask them a lot of questions about her experience and enjoy my flight with a fraction less of my original nerves.
     Upon arrival at Heathrow, I booked it off the plane and made the first bus to Terminal 1! I was running up escalators and over people, well maybe not literally, but running none the less. I get to passport check to find out that I needed to fill out this card that i told myself I did not have to, twice. So I completed the card only to get stuck behind 3 elderly people in line. Past that I have to have my picture taken and go through security again, where of course I have to get patted down and have my laptop wanded.
     Finally arriving within the terminal, I see that my plane is closing, so I book it, at least a mile, to see my plane still sitting there, but unfortunately, unable to board because that is what they do in Europe, ugh! I along with 5 other people had to sit in the airport for 4 hours without any British pounds, so I was unable to buy anything to drink!
     17:30 rolls around and I am finally able to board the plane, to discover you are only able to purchase food and drink, so I slept until I reached the bitter cold land I shall call home for the next 3 months. I made my way to the passport check to find the nicest man who ironically has spent time in Legacy Ridge, a subdivision roughly 10 min. away from ny house back in Westminster!! I then got in a Taxi with a driver who didn't know where my lodging was, but was able to find it anyways!
     I arrived and met my 4 roommates, 2 from France and 2 from Chicago, all extremely nice!! I do already miss home, but you are just 97 days away from me and within that time I plan to make many memories to share with you!!!

Until then... Slàinte!

Tester Post

I have one week left in The States before I depart therefore I am so excited and nervous at the same time. I still need to pack, say goodbye to sooo many people and complete my last few days at work without exploding!!! I need to head out, but I will be seeing you soon, Ireland, so prepare yourself, becuase Maggie is about to be invading you for the next 3 months =)