…not being able to call you my best friend anymore. and vice versa. i know things changed, and maybe it’s my fault, but i still hate it. you were the best friend i ever had, and it feels like you won’t ever call me that again. 

i also hate boys.

and being drunk. it’s not smart for me. i’ve been working on making it all better. but i’m not so good at changing things, especially things that will better me/increase my happiness. i’m REALLY great at being unhappy. i feel like i should stay there forever…

<3

Alright, so as if you haven’t noticed, I no longer keep up with this thing. Not that I did a great job of that before, but as of now I just have no will power to write blogs. If you’re still interested in learning about what I’m doing over here, you can follow the blogs of my roommates, since they’re much better at this stuff than I am.

Meghan’s blog: meghanoleary2.tumblr.com

Katie’s blog: kmbor.wordpress.com

Hope they entertain you since I’ve been unable to do so! Love you all and only about ONE MONTH LEFTTTT!!!! :)

So if you follow me on here, or you are a family member trying to see what I’m doing, you probably think that I’ve fallen off the face of the earth. I think that if there was an award for the worst blogger ever, I would receive it. It’s hard for me to remember to record what’s happening when there’s so much going on, but I will try to get better at it over the next couple of months. It shocks me that September is gone and October is here, though I’m not upset by how fast the time is going. I’m enjoying my experiences here but I’m also extremely anxious for some of my fam and MY LOVER KRISTEN to come visit in November and then to get home to the rest of my family and friends in December. I’d say it’s going at a comfortable rate and I’m good with that. Before I talk about my weekend adventures that I’ve had over the course of the past month, I guess I’ll talk a bit about the school aspect of things. My Early Start (Music In Ireland) class ended about two-ish weeks ago now. Overall I was satisfied with the four weeks of that class because it varied in lectures and workshops. One of the people that came and “taught” us was an Irish rapper. He was so cool and taught us how to beat box and write our own raps. It was hard to feel like I was actually in a class when stuff like that was happening. We also went to a few really good concerts our last week of class which made it more fun. I’m a little sad it’s over since it was mostly fun, but at the same time, it was nice to start regular classes. Two assignments we had for this class were two papers that had to be 1500 words each and they could pretty much be about whatever you wanted. Now if you know anything about me, you know that we’d known about the papers since we’d gotten in to the class in late August. That means you’d also know that I waited until THE WEEK they were due to even start them. Yup, had since August 20 something and waited until September 29-30th to start when they were due October 1st. Not surprising. It’s also not surprising that I think they still turned out fine and I RAN to turn them in by 4:05 pm Friday October 1st when the deadline was 4:30 pm. Nothing like waiting till the VERY last minute! Mom, I’m sure you loved hearing this :) Class officially ended September 17th, and then the week of September 20th was considered like a “shopping week” for international students. Basically we could attend any lecture we felt like in order to see what interested us and if we liked the professors. This is such a different practice than the way it’s done in America so it stressed me out a little to see if I would actually get in to the classes I wanted. I think that first week I went to about 7 or 8 different classes and landed on 4 that I enrolled in. So my schedule is as follows; Monday from 10-11am and Thursday from 1-2 pm I take a Philosophy class called Human Nature and Free Will, which I’m absolutely IN LOVE with. Everything about it is fun and interesting and the professor is British and wonderful. I swear I could sit there all day every day. Monday from 5-6pm and Wednesday from 4-5pm I have Developmental Psychology. It’s aiight. I think it will get better over time. The professor is a woman, and she’s a bit disorganized, but I still really like her. Then Tuesday from 10am-12pm I have Introduction to Political Science which I’m soo fascinated by. In contrast to my other woman professor, this woman is VERY professional and put together and I’d say “by the book” but I still like her. I’ve always been interested in politics so I’m glad now’s my chance to explore it a little more without putting myself behind in credits and such. Lastly, Tuesdays from 3-5pm I have Cognition and Culture which is also a psych class. It’s very different from developmental and also different than any other psych class I’ve taken at WAC. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, but I know I will have to pay attention and work pretty hard at it, so we’ll see. If you paid attention to the times and days of that, you’ll realize I have ONE class Wednesday, ONE Thursday, and NONE Friday. And only two days of the week that I have to be up before 10am. WITH a break so if I wanted I could nap. SO ideal for me! I think I’ll have my work cut out for me with these classes though, which is a good and bad thing. I guess I’ll separate posts with some pictures before writing about Kinsale and Galway; two of our amazing weekend getaways!

So Monday, our last day of the field trip, was definitely my favorite… and it wasn’t even really spent in Dingle. We left bright and early but I did actually get to eat breakfast at our Hotel/Hostel and it was damn good. The sausages were traditional Irish ones so they were very flavorful and like the best things I’ve ever tasted. Scrambled eggs and toast were pretty standard but still tasty. Our first stop was right outside of Dingle and it was actually part of the Dingle Peninsula called Inch Beach. For real though, BREATHTAKING is the only word(s) I have to describe this place. I’ve seen beaches before but never with a coast line that looked like this. It was so vast too. And an amazing mix of a beach scene with a green countryside scene. At first I wasn’t going to take off my shoes or even walk down the beach but I’m just so glad I did. The sand was super soft and the water was brisk but in a good way. It was fun to be down there with my class and take fun jumping pictures! Awh loved it! 

The next stop was just as gorgeous. We stopped off on this little patch of grass that had a view of the Lakes of Kilarny. And there was a light cover of fog that gave it kind of a post card look. It was one of the images that was hard to capture on camera, but it was so pretty and serene. There was also a castle there, I believe the Norman Castle, and it was still mostly erect. I think Daithi said it’s been there since the 1500s or something crazy like that. There were also the best blackberries there. AND we had to go to the bathroom so we went into this hotel that seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. NO. It was the PRETTIEST thing I’ve ever seen. 5 stars. And even the bathroom was fancy! We all wish we’d spent our weekend there. Hahah.

Our last stop was more of a little hike than an actual stop. But it was nice just the same. I can’t remember the name of the town but it is where our bus driver, Liam, had grown up. We took a walk up a hill and saw where in the days when Ireland was still under British rule they would have a secret mass. We also saw an area where they would hide from the British if need be. Then we went to this little tucked back area where there was a Holy Well with pure spring water in it. There were many things that people left there to pray to or for. It was actually kind of sad but a bit uplifting because people believe so much in drinking from the Holy Well. Lastly we saw the graveyard where Sean O’Riada (another important musician) was buried but also where Liam’s grandparents and various family members were buried. Because he’d grown up there he told us a story about this cemetery in particular. In the walls of this church, there was a lucky cannon ball that people used to take to their homes when family members were sick and it always cured them. The story goes that one day some young protestant British boys wanted to steal the cannon ball in order to stop all of the Catholic prayer. The day that they went to steal it, the wall happened to fall down and close in on where the cannon ball was sitting and therefore it could never be moved again. Now there is extra healing power so rubbing it can get rid of your ailments ( so of course we all did!). Then it was finally time to head back to Cork. 

I was so tired after this long weekend so I felt lucky that our teacher had given us off today. I think that’s all for now. Sorry for how many pieces I put all of it in to. Hope it wasn’t too boring :)

Sorry for the delay in the continuation of yesterday’s post. I got side tracked. Also before I even start talking about the weekend I need to mention that we just ate chicken noodle soup that Katie added the chicken, noodles, and veggies too. So basically all that was provided was the broth and she did everything else. It was quite yummy and reminded me of America. Hahah. But even better than that, and more important to mention, she made a homemade apple crisp! Oh my gosh. To DIE For! And we ate it with vanilla ice cream and extra cinnamon. So amazinggg! Alright so back to Dingle…

Hope you enjoyed the past few picture slideshows. I might add another one after I write this. Those were mostly from the pub crawl and then the way to and from Dingle, but not actually from the harbor. I’ll see what I can get from Katie. But interestingly enough, the ride was actually what most of our field trip was about. Our first stop after we left Cork was to the house where Padraig O’Keeffe lived and the school where he taught. This is one of the fiddlers we were learning about in class so it made sense to stop there. Daithi, our amazing field trip leader (who also teaches us occasionally, and runs our dance workshops [he’s SO talented]) played a tune that was Padraigh’s (Patrick). There were wild horses around the house so a lot of the people got excited about that. Me being the animal lover that I am was less than impressed (ha ha). Next we stopped at the graveyard where Padraig and a few other musicians were buried. I think Johnny O’Leary was there too. I’m sure this means nothing to you guys but the reason for us taking a long way to Dingle was to stop at these sights. The ride along to these places was INSANE because we were taking these superrrr narrow back country roads. So any time there was a car coming the opposite direction the bus would have to stop and let them pass. Everyone screamed every time it happened because each time we were SO close to the other cars. Our last stop on the way was by FAR the best.

It was a place where 14 through 18 year olds took music lessons and they were all there in a lesson when we got there. It was unbelievable how talented these kids were. Some of the instruments they played were the box accordion, the fiddle, the button accordion, the piano, the flute, and the banjo. Some of them even switched instruments between songs. A few of the girls could play an instrument and also knew how to dance. One of the girls (who we all ADORED) could play the box accordion at the same time as she did Irish step dancing, which apparently is extremely difficult. She made it look effortless. She was literally the cutest thing we’d all seen and we asked if we could take her with us. Haha. That’s where we ate lunch and it was so quaint- small triangle sandwiches, homemade tea, and soda breads and cream puff desserts. Daithi made us show them our dancing after we ate and it was quite embarrassing because of how talented these children were. We laughed it off though and just told them we were jealous of their skills! So much fun!

We finally got to Dingle just in time for our 5:30 dinner reservations. Some of the pictures were from that dinner. It was a three course meal starting with cream of mushroom soup, the main course of fish (haddock and pollock) (you also could have had chicken or pasta but we figured since Dingle is a harbor we should try the fish) and then it ended with a dark chocolate fudge nut brownie. We were all veryyy full after that. Our accommodations were interesting to say the least. 8 of us shared a room, so there were 4 sets of bunk beds. One bathroom for all eight of us. Luckily we made it work and were only really in there to sleep. We went out to hear a session but none of us felt like drinking or staying out late so we left after about 3 songs to turn in early. 

Sunday wasn’t as long of a day. We went to the Blasket Islands which were literally off the coast of the bay. We saw some of the most drastic scenery of our whole time in Ireland on the way there. Like if our bus had tipped we would have fallen down some steeeep rocks into the crashing water. I mean, not that I was thinking of it like that or anything. Haha. It was breathtaking though. And i do mean drastic! On the island we learned about some of the heritage and music associated with the people of the Blasket. We also had a song workshop with two sisters who teach flute and harp at UCC. I was frustrated and tired because we were singing in Gaelic so Katie got a kick out of how goofy I made the songs sound. I did however have the BEST tuna melt I’d ever eaten there. WOW I wish I’d taken a picture. There were so many different cheeses and the bread was just the perfect amount of crunchy. The food was absolutely the highlight of the trip. Speaking of, our dinner was again 3 courses and at the same restaurant. I didn’t think they could surpass how yummy Saturday night’s dinner had been but they DEFINITELY did. The appetizer was a salad with chorixo (which is some sort of sausage) and bread with melted goat cheese on top. The main course was the seafood pasta picture I posted but it was in a white wine cream sauce and had so many different kinds of fish in it including prawns and shrimp. I was in heaven. The dessert… oh man. Lemon sponge cake! and you guys should know how I feel about lemon! I only wish there was more than two tiny pieces. Hahah. Alright this is SO long so I’m going to separate with some more pictures before writing about our return trip…

I’m the worst blog updater ever. Sorry for the lack of posts in general and then how boring they are once I do update. But this past weekend has been SO exciting and probably the most fun I’ve had in a row while being here. Class has been about the same. We did learn to play a few tunes on the tin whistle so needless to say, Katie and I have been serenading Meghan quite a bit! I think I’m a natural-if I do say so myself. Thursday night Meghan, Katie, Cath and I decided we would go out because we didn’t have class on Friday and because we heard that Thursday was a big night here. However, we were disappointed to find that places were either way too crowded that you couldn’t move, or so dead that it wasn’t any fun inside. We did find a bar called The Star that a couple of our friends from music class had talked about and decided on the right nights it will be a lot of fun. Katie and I ordered a Smirnoff Lime with Coke but instead he made us a Smirnoff Green Apple with Sprite. It actually wasn’t bad, and I think the Green Apple has a much different taste than the Sour Apple, which is a good thing! Because that night ended up being relatively lame, we came home early and decided that we could allow ourselves to buy some more drinks Friday night. 

These two guys in Cork have organized a pub crawl that’s been going on all summer (I think there has been 11 total and this Friday was the second to last one). You meet at the post office and pay these guys 10 Euro and get a wristband and that allows you to prove to the pubs and bar tenders that you’re a part of this group. So at each bar you stay for about an hour and then as you leave you get a shot. There were four bars total and each varied in theme, price, and style. I liked this one called Door 51 the best. The shots given out were 2 Apple Sours (I think it was just some kind of liquor but I don’t really know), Jaegermeister, and then you could choose between Gold Schlagger, Captain Morgan, and Tequila for your last one. Sorry for being so specific about the drinks, but this IS Ireland. Then at the end of the night we got free entrance to this club called Gorby’s which is usually 10 Euro to enter anyways, so it was nice to pay at the beginning, and essentially pay for our club entrance and 4 (well a little more in our case because we were sneaky!!) shots. We danced for a little while and were still home by 2 am. Not too bad.

I thought I would have trouble getting up the next morning but I made it on time to the bus for our class field trip to Dingle. I have a LOT to write about the weekend away so I’m going to separate this post and the next one with some pictures (some from my camera so they won’t be great, but some from Katie’s as well =] )