Cork and Blarney-Day 1

Blarney Castle and Me

I had the most magical weekend in Cork and Blarney and I can’t wait to write it all down. Let’s start at the very beginning, after all, it’s a very good place to start. Day 1:
This vacation, although planned, was kind of fly by the seat of your pants (so not me). We left campus without bus tickets or a place to stay, just the dream of kissing the Blarney Stone. Brittany, Stacy, Jen, Mariel (a new friend), and I embarked from UCD at about 9 am to catch the 10 o’clock bus out of Dublin to Cork. Why Cork? Because, like every other tourist, I needed to make the pilgrimage to the Blarney Stone. The bus ride lasted about 4.5 hours, but the countryside was just stunning. I took plenty of pictures but keep in mind the landscape is about two hundred times more beautiful in person.

Rock of Cashel. I need to make it there before I finish my stay.

Cork, which we ended up not spending a lot of time in

We arrived in Cork about 3:00 and got something to eat at a bagel place. Afterwards we successfully found a bus to Blarney, home of Blarney Castle, about 5 miles outside Cork. We got there around 4 and entered the grounds of the Blarney Castle. It was the perfect weather to go and the perfect time of day. We were some of the only people there and we could almost see the sunset from the top of the castle.

Grounds at Blarney Castle

Here’s the deal with the castle. It is a castle that is in ruins because it is about 500 years old. You enter and walk up 127 spiraling steps (easier said than done) to reach to top. At the top there is a certain stone, the Blarney Stone, that when kissed is supposed to give you “the gift of the gab.” The term Blarney was introduced when Queen Elizabeth said “Blarney! It’s all blarney!” to the lord of the castle after he made too many unfulfilled, eloquent promises. Kissing the Blarney Stone is another thing easier said than done. One must lay on their back and bend backwards to kiss the bottom stone about 120 feet in the air. It was really fun and touristy and I loved it!

The Blarney Stone is where the opening at the very top is

Receiving the gift of the gab. I tipped the guy holding me beforehand.

It has been voted the most unhygenic tourist attraction, but our friend at the top showed us that he cleans it every 30 minutes to an hour.

Stacy, Jen, Brittany, me, Mariel

What an amazing view from the top

Going down the stairs

After we took in all the sights of the surrounding land we headed down and walked around the grounds. Brittany wanted to find the wishing stairs because who couldn’t use a wish? The problem was we were unclear on what we had to do to get the wish and ended up walking up and down the stairs...multiple times...backwards...with our eyes closed. I’m not kidding.

After only an hour on the grounds we began to get anxious about having accommodations so we began our search. We had decided to stay in Blarney rather than heading back to Cork because it was a quaint little town and real Ireland. First we hit up a hotel and they were offering rooms and breakfast for 50 euro a person. It was a little steep but they said that was the going rate around Blarney. Because student is synonymous with poor we searched for another room in Blarney and came across a bed and breakfast. We went up to the door and knocked. Owen, the bed and breakfast owners’ son, came to the door and Jen asked in the cutest little voice “Is this somewhere to stay?” He said yes, the rate was 35 euros, but he had to call his mother first. He was gone for a long while, which we took as a bad sign (the five of us look like troublemakers.) He came back and said that he had a deal for us and if all of us stayed there it would be thirty euro a piece. And we get a full Irish breakfast! Sign me up!

The Meadowbank was the cutest bed and breakfast and a sight for sore eyes. Carol was the owner and the sweetest Irish woman I have met. She gave us the lowdown on where to eat and where to listen to music in Blarney (one pub is better for food, while the other has better entertainment.) She also made sure we knew all the places to visit and just wanted to chat.

Dinner was hearty and Irish and perfect for weary travelers. Mariel had fish and chips, Stacy had bangers and mash, I had rib eye, and Brittany and Jen had the soup. For a while we were the only females in the bar because it was all guys watching the soccer game and just a slice of Irish life. We sat there for about two hours just talking about our lives, the ups and downs, and laughing at our jokes (Special Guy 29, Paul Sr, and singing Total Eclipse of the Heart.)

Johnny's Pub

Up next was the other bar which was supposed to have good music. The good music might not have been true (there was a guy who Stacy insisted looked like Justin Bobby from The Hills playing American songs) but it was still a good time. We sat there, laughing and drinking cider (I had a coke) until about 11. At this point Stacy and Mariel decided to stay while Brittany, Jen and I walked the block back to the Meadowbank. We had planned on reading and relaxing from the day, but it turned into another conversation about life and love. It was like a slumber party.

Just an ideal day! The weather was amazing, the bed and breakfast was a dream come true, and the town of Blarney was charming. I know you are looking forward to my entry for Day 2 .

Wilde Day

St. Stephen's Green

There was fairly good weather today in Dublin so I decided to head to the city centre for some sightseeing and then meeting up for a "field trip."


Around 1:30 I took the bus into the city centre by myself. I had never taken a bus by myself into the city, even downtown Champaign or Urbana, so there has been some growth during my 2 weeks abroad. Brittany was already downtown so we met up and walked around St. Stephen's Green. It is my mission to find as many memorials, statues, and sculptures as I can while in Europe, so one of my goals for the day was to find the Oscar Wilde statue in Merrion Square Park, which Brittany and I ultimately did.

My mother asked if I had already visited a statue of Wilde, and I have, but he is everywhere here, ironic considering he exiled himself from Ireland and Britain. Wilde was imprisoned in London for homosexuality and after being released lived the rest of his life in France. The Irish do love their writers and it is hard to walk anywhere without seeing the images of Wilde, Joyce, Swift and Shaw.

In my guide book it shows the author next to the statue of Wilde so I thought I need to do this too. The problem:

he's on a boulder. Well, if you know me and my antics at the Metropolitan Museum of Art this was no problem.

It's really a beautiful statue. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but the various colors are not caused by paint but different stones.

After about an hour of walking around the parks and streets of Dublin Brittany and I set off for the National Museum, which our Irish History teacher organized a class trip to. The museum was ok, kinda small, but the major exhibition they have there is the bog bodies. These are humans who have been killed, often times for human sacrifice, and their bodies had been left in the bog, a marsh-like area. The bodies are very well preserved and they look almost like leathery mummies who had been flattened. Other exhibits included Viking in Ireland, Medieval Ireland, and Irish Gold. As I said, the museum was rather small and we made it through there in about an hour. We also met up with the students from Boston University, who we have seen a lot of recently.

On the way back to campus Brittany and I picked up supplies to make stir fry for dinner and invited Jen and Stacy over to my place. We have a lot of "family dinners" because it is easier and usually cheaper to cook for many people instead of just trying to cook for one. We also try to have meat and veggies in our dinners because throughout the day or when we eat alone it usually consists of grilled cheese or peanut butter. I cooked up the stir fry and the Stacy and Jen brought over some ice cream for dessert. It was amazing! I haven't had ice cream in what seems like forever and they splurged and bought Haagen Das. Yum.

Tomorrow we're bussing over to Cork and spending the night there. The major attraction near Cork, which is about 4.5 hours away by bus, is the Blarney Stone. I had better bring some breath mints because it's getting a kiss.

My congrats to Delta Sigma Pi Upsilon chapter, who seem to have gotten some great pledges! Great job and I miss you all!

Star Trek and Karaoke

Because I have no class on Thursday I decided to go to a production of A Lesson in Love from Captain Picard which was put on by the UCD drama society. It appeared to play into my interest in theatre and Star Trek but it turns out it had very little to do with exploring space. And if you ever doubted my love of Star Trek here is me for Halloween when I was 8:

Captain Janeway of the Star Trek Voyager

I had expected a cute show about love with various witty Trekky jokes peppered throughout but it seemed to be just an excuse to indulge the playwright’s desire to use flowery expressions when talking about love (is this too harsh?).

The premise is that a boy falls in love with a girl after she almost hits him with her bike. He then goes into great detail when talking about how this love makes him feel to his life-sized cut-out of Captain Picard. He decides that he has to meet her again so he waits on the corner for 47 days before running into her again (more like she runs into him…on her bike.) They meet again and he finds out about her boyfriend, and also the fact that after they met the first time he passed out and she tried to revive him with mouth to mouth, which I’m pretty sure you are not supposed to use unless the victim is not breathing. And if he is not breathing it is probably your best bet to call an ambulance and find him a hospital instead of leaving him in the park, like she did. Anyway, she leaves with her boyfriend and he calls after her, "You kissed me!” (because of the mouth to mouth) causing her to crash. And that’s the end.

Where are the Star Trek allusions? Nowhere. It was just filled with every metaphor imaginable about romance. There were some insightful ones and a few chuckles so it was worth the two euro. It was a good enough show with good enough acting, and it was only 40 minutes long which was a good length, but I was lured in by the bald, shiny head of Captain Picard and even talked to another kid outside the theatre about his love for the television series. I left slightly disappointed and that is my rant for the day. (And the lighting was really bad. Ok, now I’m done.)

Tonight Jen, Stacy, Brittany, and I went to The Wicked Wolf for karaoke night. It was quite fun, especially when Stacy and Jen belted out “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” They were crowd favorites. Unfortunately, the bar closed at midnight, but Brittany and I are coming back next Thursday to sing “Lady Marmalade.” I’ve already started practicing my facial expressions and dance moves in the mirror.

Jen and Stacy rocking out

Spring Break in Eastern Europe

We booked our Spring Break trip! Here’s the plan:
We begin our odyssey by flying from Dublin to Berlin on Saturday, March 6. We’re going to spend some time there and probably go to a concentration camp while in Germany then head over to Prague. I am so excited about Prague because it looks like a fairytale. And it has a place called the Castle District, so I think I will fall in love with the city. And it is my homeland considering I am Bohemian. I already know some Czech; I can say “butt” and “bellybutton.” What else do you really need to say?

After Prague we travel to Vienna for some more sightseeing. I’m not exactly sure what is there, but there are more castles and palaces so I’m set. I also plan on buying a guidebook within the next week. And then Budapest! I am so glad that I’m making it over there because it looks amazing and I don’t know when I am ever going to be near Hungary again. And it has a place called Castle Hill (I see a theme emerging.)

We fly back to Ireland on Sunday the 15th so we are back in time for St. Patrick’s Day; how can I live in Dublin and not participate?

If anyone has any suggestions on places to see while in Eastern Europe I would love to hear them. I am so excited and just can’t wait to explore Europe with my new friends!

Gaelic

Hello All!

Today has been a pretty basic day. I had two classes already and about to head over to my Irish history class. I did however stop by the study abroad office to see about taking an Irish language class. One of the guys we met when we first arrived to Dublin told us that the only ones who really know Gaelic are the people who grew up speaking it but when in Rome. Before I came to Dublin I had no idea how much I would see Gaelic around the country. It's on everything, from street signs to websites to maps. The buses even show their destination in English and Irish. Here are a few pictures I have taken of all the Gaelic because I think the language looks so beautiful and exotic and nothing more interesting happened during my day.

Post Office on O'Connell Street

The harp is the symbol of Ireland. Ireland is the only country to have a musical instrument as its national symbol

Entrance to UCD

The entire UCD website is also in both Gaelic and English

Signs on Campus

Directory in Library

Guinness Advertisement in Galway
Galway is one the regions of Ireland where Gaelic is still spoken

Happy Australia Day

Australia Day Celebration!

After an average day of one class Laura taught us how to celebrate Australia Day! One thing that has been great about being abroad is meeting Jen and Laura, from Canada and Australia, who have already shared so much about their homes. Laura had just arrived from a weekend in Amsterdam and was going to make us sausage, which is the typical fare for Aussie Day, but the Irish supermarkets did not have sausage to her standard, so we had a cook-out in our apartment which had an Australian flag hanging in it to show our love of everything Australian. I fried up some burgers in a skillet and the other four girls joined us for dinner. For dessert Laura made pavlovas, which was a meringue with whipped cream and strawberries on top. They were delicious and I hope she makes these every Tuesday.

Pavlovas

Laura just got back from Amsterdam and had plenty of stories for us, many of which I wish I never heard. She did, however, go to The Annex. Just hearing her talk about it evoked an emotion from me, so I don't think I can go there unless I have tranquilizers. We are discussing stopping at a concentration camp during our spring break tour of Eastern Europe (we're actually planning it now, but I needed a break from searching for hostels). As of right now the plan is to fly into Berlin and go through Prague, Vienna, and end in Budapest. I cannot wait, but it's not so fun looking at the costs piling up. Oh well.

That's all for today! I put in extra pictures because I know Rachel likes them.

Roomies

It has been an extremely lazy Monday for me. I went to bed super early last night after all the craic of the weekend and woke up around 9:30 to start a day of watching TV online. I only had one class today, Financial Institutions Management, which didn't start until 3, so it was the perfect opportunity to catch up on Project Runway and watch some Ugly Betty (Zoe and Jessica, if you are reading this we need to talk about the Season 1 finale!) I found a great website, ProjectFree.tv, where you can find all sort of shows online. I had to do this because websites like Hulu or Fox Online won't stream video outside the US. I don't know why this is the case, but it is a struggle to find Tim Gunn's image and voice in high quality.

People have been asking me about my roomies and I would love to tell you everything I know about them, which is very little. It is a six bedroom apartment and we share a kitchen and sitting area, so contact is fairly limited. Here is the rundown:

Clare- Clare goes to Notre Dame and I see her most in the kitchen; we must have the same eating schedule. She is also studying business here. She is really nice and seems fun. There are 35 people from Notre Dame here so she mostly hangs out with them. We first became friends when I gave her ibuprofen for her hangover.

Kat- Kat goes to Holy Cross, which I believe is in Massachusetts. She was the first person I met here, but contact since then has been very little. She is nice too and we occasionally talk about the nightclubs of Dublin.

Lin Min- Lin Min is from Singapore and also studying business. She was really nice and once took pictures of me and everyone else while they were over before going out. It was a Herculean task considering she had to take one with each of our cameras, which was six. Lin Min is holding my mug ransom however. One day my cup went missing and I told Laura. A day later she said that she saw it going into Lin Min's room and it has not come out since. My bowl has also recently disappeared. I am all about sharing my dishes, but this isn't sharing as much as giving her my dishes.

Clararie (sp?)- She is a full time student here from France. I introduced myself once and once she told me that I looked good. That has been our only conversation, but considering 50% of the time she compliments me I really like her. (We have a lot of Claire variations in apartment 18.)

Laura- My newest Australian friend! We met the first day I was here at the shopping tour and it turned out we were roomies. She goes out with us all the time and is funny and sweet. Right now she is chilling in Amsterdam with another friend and next week she is going to Malaka, so I won't be seeing a lot of her in the next week, but she is planning on travelling with us during Spring Break.

That's the low down. I will try to keep you updated on the mug-napping. I may have to call my friend at the American Embassy.

Off to the Races!

 Today I spent the day playing the ponies! Ok, I didn't actually bet but I made pretend bets in my head and used my imagination; it was significantly cheaper.

The college of business organized a trip to the Leopardstown Racecourse today for all the study abroad students. It came with free entry, racecard, lunch, and culture. Horse racing and horse clubs are very big here and my motto for the trip is "when in Rome."

We also met some new people from Boston University who we spent much of the day with. It seemed like the racing was similar to the one race I went to in America, although it seemed to me like there were a lot of children betting. I need to investigate if there is a gambling age here. It is fun just to be in the stands and hear the people cheering. I especially enjoy watching the horse jump over the hedges because they do it so gracefully. Horse names can be funny as well; today we had Hoochie Mama, Tijuana Dancer, and Bob's Pride. Th scenery cannot be beat.

Here's a video for your enjoyment. Do not tell me you cannot hear many young children cheering.

The other major difference was the hambuger I got there. I ordered a burger and chips (fries) and when they asked me if I wanted everything on it I said "Sure!" I'm trying to embrace everything Irish. "Everything" includes: coleslaw, grilled onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and cheese (of the white colour.) I have to say it was just ok; I added some ketchup because it was lacking something.  

We stayed for 5 of the 7 races, enough to get the flavour and lose feeling in our toes. Afterwards we walked to the bus and now I am cozy and warm in my dorm, using my computer which has been united with an AC adapter that doesn't need to be held in place; it makes typing a lot easier. It has been an exhusting weekend between Dun Laoghaire, Galway, and Leopardstown, but a great time filled with loads of craic.

Galway

I just love Oscar Wilde

Yesterday the U of I girls decided to take a daytrip to Galway, which was about a four hour drive. I'm glad we went because it seemed like most people I talked to raved about Galway, but in the end it wasn't the amazing eight hours that I had expected.

We woke up and took the bus from campus into the city in order to catch the 10 am bus to Galway. The roundtrip only cost me sixteen euro, so I thought that was a deal! And the drive there was very illuminating seeing as I found out two things about Irish fog: 1)It lasts the whole day. At home, it may be foggy for a couple hours in the morning or a little at night but it certainty wouldn't last the whole day. In Ireland, however, the fog sticks. And 2)The whole country is covered in the fog. I know because I pretty much cut through the whole country. There were occasional breaks in the fog where I could see some of the famed Irish countryside, but other than that it was like trying to see the landscape in the mirror after taking a shower.

Irish Sheep

When we arrived in Galway around 2:00 we needed lunch and made it to the quickest, cheapest place we could find. I am slightly ashamed to say that place was McDonald's. All I can say is Ireland is expensive and we are on a budget. They did however have curly fries at this Micky D's, so I did sample something I couldn't at home.

After the one euro hamburgers (even McDonalds isn't cheap; that's about $1.50 for a single hamburger) we headed to the ocean. I imagine the view is beautiful but the blanket of fog kept us from finding that out ourselves.

The Spanish Arch, built in 1584, was where the Spanish would unload their cargo from the many ships coming into Galway. This is the best remaining piece of the city wall. Also, Christopher Columbus was said to have visited Galway in 1477 and the Irish don't want you to forget it!

Brittany and Stacy in the fog off the River Corrib.

After our seaside stroll I lead us on a tour of both St. Nicholas churchs. He was the patron saint of sailors so that helps explain why there are two St. Nicholas in the same town. First stop was the Church of Saint Nicholas. There were people having some kind of service/social thing when we got there so we didn't have a great opportunity to look around. My guide book claims it is the greatest medieval building in town, dating back to 1320. Columbus was also said to have worshipped here when he visited in 1477. (sorry but I can't seem to get the pictures to center.)

Next we were off to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas which as built over 600 years after the church in 1965. It was a lovely church that I am very glad I made it to. And look who I found hiding there:

Why it is none other than the 35th president of the United States John F. Kennedy!

Who is apparently Jesus' left-hand man.

This is suppose to depict the "modern Irish holy family" according to my guide book. You can see Jesus serving Joseph a cup of coffee and Mary knitting.

It was really beautiful and I think the girls were glad I dragged them there.

The rest of the time there was spent walking along the cobblestone streets and window shopping. The Claddagh, the village where the claddagh ring originated, is right next door so they had a lot of rings on display. They also had a lot of musicians playing on the streets, including the guy with the invisible head:

Not only did the claddagh ring come from Galway, but so did the term "lynching." Apparently during the 15th century one of the Lynch boys killed a Spanish visitor and his father was the judge. He was sentenced to death but no one was willing to execute him, so Judge Lynch did it himself, and then went into seclusion. Lovely.

After we had had enough window shopping we found some dinner at a cute place called The Front Door. I had the beef and Guinness pie, which was basically just a beef stew type of thing, using Guinness, and some pastry on the top. Next we looked for some of the famed traditional Irish music of Galway, and stumbled into one of the pubs. It was a cute and warm atmosphere, but the music was not lively at all. The highlight was when one of the girls there said she just got engaged and all the men in the pub began singing "Going to the Chapel." After one drink, it had been a long enough day that we were ready to hop on the bus and go back to Dublin.

It was agreed that had the weather been better it would have been a better trip, but all in all I'm glad I saw Galway. It also might have been more fun if we had money to spend, but the exchange rate is not so good and even McDonald's isn't cheap.

Getting off the bus is Dublin showed me how much of a local I'm starting to become. I recognized landmarks, knew how late the buses ran, which routes we take back to campus, how to get the taxi and how much it will cost. There is still a long way to go, and I don't think I'll ever stop saying dollar instead of euro. Twenty years of habit dies hard.