Family Time

Cahalan. We say it CaHAlan and they say CAhalan, but either way, it’s family. This weekend I took a trip to Ballingarry to meet my relatives on my mom’s side. It’s a long complicated list of people to connect our families, but when it comes down to it, I was staying with 3^rd and 4^th cousins. Mary and I had been exchanging e-mails all week and made a plan for me to bus to their home, called Southpark, for the weekend. I was picked up at the bus station and brought home for my first taste of a real Irish home. Friday night was mostly made up of tea, talking, dinner, more tea and more talking J It was great getting to know these people who were strangers only hours before. Mary and Morgan have 3 grown children, Tom, David, and Jessica. On Friday night, I met Tom and David (and his girlfriend Louise) as well as Mary and Morgan. I gave them a geography lesson of America while we tried to muddle through our ancestors. With a little help from the Green Family Book and my Aunt Marilyn, we think we’ve figured it out. After a lovely home cooked dinner, Morgan and I sat in amiable quiet while we read and watched the Latelate show (at 10 pm). It was a great start to a marvelous weekend.

Saturday morning, I met Tom’s 2 year old daughter Cora, who is a darling little girl with red curly hair. Unfortunately, she’s teething and a drama queen to top it off, so we had a bit of a tantrum, followed by her charming her way back into our good graces. Breakfast was a big family brunch, accompanied by tea (the ever present beverage) After, Morgan took me around the farm for rounds.

I had been told to bring my “wellies”, but I don’t have anything like rain boots. Luckily enough, a new friend of mine had her “Alaskan Sneakers”, which are heavy-duty rain boots, and lent them to me for the weekend. And good thing too, because those fields were really muddy! We made the rounds in a Jeep filled with feed. The first job Morgan gave me was to hop out and open the big gate so we could drive into the first field… the gate defeated me and Morgan had to help me figure it out. Not my greatest moment. After that, a pattern began. We’d climb out and Morgan would tell me which bag of feed to grab. I’d haul it over to the stone hedge where sheep, cows or horses were waiting. Morgan would get the fence and he’d distribute the food for the animals. By the end, I was helping pour out the food and could figure out the gates J At this farm, they have over 250 acres of land on the farm here, approximately 300 breeding sheep, 9 pregnant mares (25 horses in all) and 40 beef cows. They also have about 30 acres to produce grain for feed. And In the next few months, the place will be brimming with baby animals. On our way back out, I had a second chance at the all-elusive gate. I was doing well, getting it closed all on my own, till I realized I was on the wrong side. I used one of my newly acquired Irish cuss words and clambered over the fence. As I climbed into the jeep, Morgan gave a chuckle and congratulated me on a good job. It was a great morning, and I had lots of fun. But my day had only just begun. Next, Morgan would take me to the hunt.

Now, when I think of a fox hunt, I think of Mary Poppins and the carousel. The image of an actual fox hunt is remarkably similar but much more fun. The Cahalan family used to be very involved with the hunts and Morgan had his time when he hunted with every hunt. From what I can tell, Jessica and Morgan are still involved with the organization of the hunts and we had a great time as spectators. What we did Saturday was similar to a cross country spectator does, except in the jeep. We started off in Terryglass, a nearby village, where the riders gathered for the hunt around noon. But first, we stopped at the cemetery where my relatives are buried. The stone had been erected by a closer relative, who was listed as being from Waukon Junction U.S.A. I got a picture with the newly refurbished gravestone and took a moment to appreciate the fact that I’m here. It’s sometimes easy to forget how incredible it is that I’m in Ireland, chatting with distant cousins.

After that, we began our drives all over the area. First we went to retrieve the Huntsman, names Dennis, and his hounds. They were riding up the road on their way to Terryglass, their truck having broken down further up the road. It was quite the sight; 25 hounds milling around 2 horses, mounted by a man in a red jacket and a woman in a black jacket. They were dressed very smartly and riding straight down the road, keeping the hounds in a pack. We returned to town and as we waited for everyone to gather, we went to the pub for a quick drink. Morgan ordered a whiskey and asked what I wanted; suggesting port, and I said, “I’ve never tried it” so that’s what I got. I still don’t really know what port is, but it was a small strong drink that tasted like thick wine- actually not too bad. I didn’t have time to finish it, since we were there for about five minutes, but now I can say I’ve had port. When Dennis and his entourage arrived, everyone rallied pretty quickly and the hunt began.

All in all, there were about 25 riders and 12 and a half couples, which means there were 25 hounds. The riders were all smartly dressed, on beautiful horses, and the hounds were an active swarm with their tails awag. They started off by riding down the road and off to the field where they began. Basically the way it goes is that the hounds find the scent and the riders follow. We didn’t see much of the overall hunt, but by following along back roads and fields, we caught glimpses of them and heard about the issues. At one point, 2 and a half couples (5 hounds) chased 6 deer into neighboring fields and were lost for most of the hunt. Some of the spectators chased after them and eventually rounded them up.

We often stopped to get out and walk towards the action. Once, we encountered Paul, a lead hunter, who was trying to gather the hunt, as it had scattered a bit. It was an odd sight; people participating in an old tradition and using cell phones left and right to keep organized. Anyway, Paul needed to go off for something and I was standing there with Morgan. He handed me the reigns of his horse and asked me to hold him for a moment. Before I could answer at all, Paul had walked off. Well, the horse was beautiful and well behaved for the first 30 seconds. Then he started to get feisty. He wanted to move about and I would rather have stayed put, so we ended up turning in circles. Once I felt ridiculous enough doing that, I decided walking wouldn’t be too bad. After awhile, a woman I’d been talking to before took pity on me and took over with the horse. Probably a good idea too, since no doubt I had the least experience with horses as anyone in the area. Our last foray into the hunt was when the man who went to look for the missing hounds got stuck in a field. Apparently “only Jimmy can get a 4 wheel drive stuck in a field” but he was right stuck. With the help of 5 people pushing though, we got the truck out and headed back to meet up with the group.

By the time we rejoined the group, Morgan’s daughter Jessica had joined. We stopped to meet her and I switched cars to run some errands with her. We headed over to her brother Tom’s house to meet his wife Aisling and newborn daughter, Clodagh. Jessica, Aisling, and I had a nice conversation while enjoying the company of the bright eyed 7 week old. It was a nice couple of hours, getting to know Jessica and meeting some more family. Later that night, Mary, Morgan, Jessica and I went back to Terryglass and The Derg Inn for dinner. We all had a starter, main course, and dessert and I was stuffed to the brim with yummy goodness. I finished the night as I had the last; watching the news with Morgan, interspersed with bits of conversation, ranging from education to farm subsidies. What a day J

This morning, after breakfast, Morgan brought me to mass in a nearby village. It was the first church I had been in that was built in the 20^th century, yet it was still as cold as all those huge stone churches. This was my first experience with a lack of music during mass at Irish masses. Apparently, this is somewhat normal, which makes me very sad. Music is my favorite part of mass and one of the best forms of prayer that I know of. So although I’m glad I got to mass, it was missing some of the meaning that I have come to love. After mass, we had some downtime that I used to go online and read a bit before we had lunch. By this point, it was just Mary, Morgan and I and we had lamb, which I had never had before. It was quite good, just as everything in that kitchen had been. After lunch, we snapped a few photos with Tom (the rest of the family had escaped before I realized I hadn’t gotten any pictures of them) and they packed me a bag of food that will keep me well fed for awhile. Mary drove me to the bus station and we had another opportunity to get to know each other. I loved my talks with Mary, and hope to have a few more before I leave J With a quick hug, and a wave from the bus, my weekend with the Cahalans ended.

I’m so glad I plucked up the courage to visit! I was a bit apprehensive about going to spend the weekend with people I’d never met. But once I got comfortable with Mary and Morgan, I had a great time. I loved figuring out the family connections, with its random members who have connected over the years. I got to meet a lot of the Cahalans of all ages and everyone was so welcoming. My day with Morgan showed me a lot of things I’d never encountered before and gave me an opportunity to get to know him as I wouldn’t have in other circumstances. And Mary was a wonderful host, with loads of great stories to share. I’m definitely looking forward to returning with my family to introduce everyone J

The Gift of Gab

Brace yourselves lads, it's gonna be a long post. Not only have I not blogged in a week, but I've also received the gift of gab via kissing a certain stone, so I give myself license to go on for a bit ;)

Since I last wrote, I've had a few days of classes and settled in a bit more. I can't believe I've been here two weeks. Sometimes it feels like I just got here, and other times it feels like I've been here forever. It's a bit disorienting. So far, my only other academic class I've been to (besides Intro to Traditional Music, which I talked about in my last post) is Intro to Anglo-Irish Lit. I have two other classes, but Geology doesn't start till half way through the semester, and Gaelic starts tomorrow. My lit class though, has been a good introduction to lecture-style classes. It's not my favorite format by far, but my professor is very knowledgeable and an engaging speaker. So far, we're just getting a brief overview of Irish history and the literary figures that go along with it. We just follow along with the handout and take notes. No interaction, just taking notes. As I said, not my favorite, but definitely not bad. The topic is interesting and I'd like to see how she deals with the actual literature we'll be reading.

As you may be able to tell, I have a bit of free time on my hands...yep. So I'm figuring out the best ways to use that time. I'm actually working out on a regular basis *gasp* and reading a bit as well (surprise surprise) And since it's very wet here, and I never got around to hemming my pants at home, I have hand hemmed three of my pairs of pants here. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself :) I also went to the Choral Society rehearsal Tuesday night. It was a lot of fun :) Since it was a night rehearsal on campus, I searched for someone to go with me, so I didn't have to walk to campus alone at night. As it turned out, no one in our CSB/SJU group wanted to go, but a guy I had met from St. Norbert was planning on going. So Derek and I trekked to campus and joined the Choral Society. It was a 2 hour rehearsal run by a student. We sang a Thomas Tallis piece and Stand By Me acapella :) There was lots of laughter and a lot of chatting throughout the rehearsal. The atmosphere was a bit different than I was used to, to say the least. It was also a completely different sound with this choir than I had ever been a part of. It took me awhile to realize that I was one of the only people singing with vibratto. I'm not sure if it was just this choir or maybe a regional trend of singing, but it was odd. It didn't sound bad, but I was much more aware of my own vibratto after I had realized that. After rehearsal, everyone was invited to go to a pub with the choir, so Derek and I joined about 15 other students and went to the pub. We got about 5 minutes of chatting with the Irish students in the society before a band started playing. They were good, but really loud, so it was hard to hold a conversation. My first real opportunity to get to know Irish students covered up by a country song. Lovely. Despite that, I really enjoyed my first foray into the clubs and societies at UCC. I'm planning on trying a few more this coming week.

This weekend, we had a planned tour of Cork, Cobh, and Blarney. This is the trip that the study abroad stipend for our program paid for. We had a bus driver named Greg, who is a native of Cork as our tour guide. We started off with a drive through Cork. We covered mostly places I had seen, which made me feel good about having found the most notable places in Cork. It was nice to actually get some of the history behind Cork. I had seen lots of the places he pointed out, but didn't know anything about them. My favorite thing in this part of the tour was the English Market. It's not too far from our apartment, and I've been there a few times. It's got so much fresh produce available everyday for cheaper prices than the grocery stores. What I didn't know about it is that it's been around for over 200 years. Some of the stall owners' families have been there since the beginning. Walking through the market with Greg was also different, because he knew a lot of the people there. He must have said hi to 15 people in the 5 minutes we were walking through.

After Cork, we drove to Cobh (pronounced cove). It's a small town outside of Cork that is right on the ocean. It's the port that most Irish people emigrated from. It's also known as Queenstown, and was the last port that the Titanic was at before it went under. The ocean was a really cool greenish color, and the view was amazing. My pictures definitely don't do it justice. In Cobh, we had vouchers to get into the heritage center, which was a small museum that taught us about the famine, emigration, convict deportation, the Titanic and the Lusitania. I also looked through a book of Irish family names and found Deignan. There was a computer where we were supposed to be able to look up more information, but it wasn't working. While in Cobh, my camera battery also died. Of course. So I didn't get many pictures of Blarney, but I managed a couple and got a friend to take pictures for me.

After Cobh, we headed to Blarney, which is only a few miles outside of Cork. For those of you who don't know, Blarney castle holds the Blarney Stone. Legend says if you kiss the Blarney Stone, you are given the gift of eloquence, or the gift of gab, as the Irish put it. Blarney is said here to be just a big tourist trap, and "not even that great of a castle," but seeing as it was my first castle in Ireland and I like the idea of the Blarney stone, I didn't mind. And we didn't have to pay to get in, thanks St. Ben's. The castle had a lot of nooks and crannies that were fun to climb around, and they made the climb to the top much more fun. The blarney stone is located at the top of the castle, part of the battlements hanging over open air at the top of the castle. In order to kiss it, you have to lay on your back and hang your head back and kiss it upside down. There are two bars that run up and down that you hold on to, and a guy whose job it is to hold people while they kiss the stone. You can also buy a picture that they snap when you come back up. I had this huge grin on my face and it was a very funny picture. But reeeally not worth 10 Euro. We finished our Blarney adventure with a walk through the poison garden, where I saw actual Mandragora (they grow them in case they need to wake Hermione from being petrified)

So those are the highlights of my past week. I'm now registered at the Guarda and officially legal to stay here for 5 months and also registered for classes. We have all the essentials for living in our apartment and have figured out some tricks for getting around and saving money. I'm sure I'll have more to tell later, but that's all I have for now. I hope I was eloquent enough for you :)

~Meg

Finally, some music :)

Music!! Today was my day of music :) I started off the day with Step Dancing, followed by Tin Whistle and capped off with the class Intro to Irish Traditional Music. And finally, we're heading to the Franciscan Well tonight to hear some more music later tonight.

The view of the music building from my bedroom
window at sunset

This morning, I headed up the hill to the music building, which is quite a hike. Between the pool, the hill, and the step dancing, I'd better be in good shape by the end of the semester! I had Step Dancing first, with a young teacher named Margaret. I brought my ghillie soft shoes, and wore them for the day, but unfortunately, the class is done in hard shoe :( It was still a great class. We started learning the reel today, but it was really slow going. We learned the leap step, which I know is important, but some of the people in the class were a bit....uncoordinated. So it took us awhile, but hopefully once they get the rhythm of things the pace will pick up. It also helped that I remember a bit of those lessons years ago, and show choir. Way to go muscle memory! It's definitely going to be a work out, and quite a way to start my week.

I then took a trip to a music store, which had a lot of cool instruments, to get my tin whistle. With careful deliberation, I found my whistle. On my way back, I stopped to buy some tap shoes, which would stand in for the real Irish hard shoes. I mean, I love authenticity and all, but if it's a difference between 30 Euros and 175 Euros I think tap shoes win. After that, I took trip number two up the hill to the music building for tin whistle.

Tin whistle turned out to be a small group class with 3 people in it so far: me, Jake (from St. John's) and Verina, a girl from Germany. We started off with a scale and the basics of tin whistle and moved quickly to start learning ornamentation. By the end of the lesson, we had learned out first Irish song on the tin whistle :) We have the music and a recording to listen to and instructions to practice before next class. Which I'm actually going to do.

St. Finn Barr's Cathedral from a dirty window of the
Music building

Now, if you draw a mental map of the places I've been today, my apartment, the music building, and the main campus make a rough triangle with the river running through the middle. After tin whistle, I needed to get to the main campus to register for my classes, but I'd never walked from the music building to campus. I had been told about a staircase between houses and a Shaky Bridge I should cross to get to campus. So off I went. It was farther than I thought to the stairway, but I eventually found it and got to the bridge that didn't look unstable or anything, but was a little shaky in the middle, thus the name Shaky Bridge. I made it to campus and registered just fine. I can officially take classes here now.

My final class today was Intro to Irish Traditional Music. It was in a mid-sized lecture hall and it was packed. Apparently they can only have 80 people in the class but already had 91 registered and still more wanting in. Either way, I registered last Tuesday, so I should be fine. The class was taught by my tin whistle prof and was pretty interesting. We got an overview of the harp and fiddle in Ireland, and listened to examples of a few things. Overall, it was my first full lecture class and though it's not my preferred lesson format, I think it's going to be a cool class. And one of our papers (out of 2 total) is comparing a trad session and concert setting, which means we have to go to each. Which I think will be a good paper :)

I'm finally back at my apartment to get some dinner and sit down. It's been a long day, but awesome. I can tell Mondays are going to be good days :) I think we're going to go to a pub tonight that has live music as well, so that'll be a good way to end my musical day. I'm really excited to see where these classes take me. Maybe by the end I'll be able to give you a history of the tin whistle and I'll dance and play for you :P

Roses and Birdsong in January

On my way back to my apartment today, I walked through the Mardyke Park, which sits on the river. It's not sunny, but it is warm enough to just wear a sweatshirt. I was enjoying the view of the river when I realized that there were birds singing in the park and roses on the bushes. And it's January! It's honestly 50 degrees (F) outside and it's great :) I don't thinks it absolutely normal here, but I'll take it.

Today is Friday, which for me, means I have no classes :) We were going to get up super early to go to the Guarda to register with the Irish government, but Rochelle wasn't feeling well, and she was the one who knows how to get there....so we slept in. Once we finally rolled out of bed, Julia and I went to explore the Mardyke Sports center, which is basically the YMCA of Cork and free to UCC students.

I decided to swim, and what a great idea. Pros of this pool: lap swimmers circle swim. Cons of this pool: they circle swim backwards. Now that took a turn of mind, swimming on the left side of the lane. I ended

up joining the other people in my lane doing some 100 IM sets, some fast, some slow, and a cool down. One guy was acting basically as the coach, even reminding us of things to work on with each set. I really enjoyed it, even though it was a harder workout than I was used to. Not to mention that it was a metre pool not a yard pool. I also explored the machines and they're really nice as well.

W.B. Yeats, who my proff says
 is the overreaching giant she
can't ignore when covering Irish lit

Yesterday, I had my first class and I'm really excited about it. It was the Intro to Anglo-Irish Lit class. It's an overview of Irish Lit written in English including poetry, drama and fiction. The proff was engaging and seemed really knowledgeable about the subject. We're also going to get a general overview of Irish history to begin with. She said it would be a lot of reading, but it seems pretty comparable (even a bit less) than the reading I do at home. I can't wait to see how it goes :) Last night, we decided to explore another recommended pub, An Brog. We apparently went too early for dancing, but that's ok, we were all too tired anyway. We did meet 2 Irish boys who were quite entertaining. One of them plays in a band and we got a flyer from him and we'll probably go see it next week. It was quite a fun night :)

Now I'm off to the English Market to explore and possibly find a second hand bookstore to get my texts for the English class. Definitely a great day for wandering :)

~Meg

Cork: Days 1-4

With a few days in Cork under my belt, I'm finally feeling a bit settled. We got moved into our apartment, and the first people I met were a few students from St. Norbert. They were talking amongst each other and one of them said "You so just pulled a Jake Demarais!" I cut in, and said "That's my cousin!" They were like, "No way, you're the cousin who goes to school in Minnesota?" They had been told that I was here and definitely knew Jake. With that, I had made my first friend in Ireland... who was from Wisconsin and knew my cousin. My roommate Katie and I ended up in a two person apartment, so we didn't have any roommates to adjust to, but a few of our friends had roommates who we've gotten to know. All Americans so far. We figured out the grocery store and found Penny's, which has really cheap clothes. But beyond that, we didn't have much time to explore the city before orientation yesterday. Orientation was a lot of sitting and listening, ending with a tour. Last night, we all got together to look at the timetable to figure out our classes.
I am taking:

Intro to Anglo-Irish Lit

Intro to Traditional Irish Music (hopefully, I had to apply for this one)

Intro to Modern Irish (Gaelic)

Geological Evolution of Ireland

2 out of the following 3 classes, still to be figured out:

Step Dancing

Tin Whistle

Choir

So this morning, I got up to go to my 9:00 Geology class. I got there perfectly fine, but the prof was flipping through a biology slide show... it turns out my class doesn't start until the second half of the semester. Oops. Since I don't have a class until 4 today, I decided to head back to the apartment via the scenic route. I went to find the big spires I could see from the road I usually take back. Once I found it, I was really glad I had detoured. It was St. Fin Barre's Cathedral, which is the oldest Cathedral in County Cork. It held the founding of the Church of Ireland in the Cork diocese. It was beautiful and I lit a prayer candle. I continued on in the direction of the Grande Parade and St. Patrick's street, to explore the English Market and pick up some milk. I walked back along the river and discovered an Arts and Craft store I should probably stay away from. It's so cool :) I had a lot of fun figuring out the layout of this area and feel much more comfortable getting around, and to and from school. It was also the first time I had done anything away from the group. As much as I like the people I'm with, it's nice to get out on my own and much more efficient. So far, the independence is working well. Well, my class this afternoon is the English class; I hope it goes well!

First 48 hours

I’ve been in Ireland for 48 hours and what a whirlwind it’s been! Right now, our whole group has made it on the bus to Cork, and I finally have a free hour. Let’s skip back a few days.

When we arrived in Dublin, our whole group (20 of us including the direct enrolled students) caught a city bus to the hostel. None of us really knew what we were doing, so when we tried to get off the bus with all our luggage, two of us made it off before he shut the door and moved on. Ooops. Rochelle and I stood on the sidewalk with our huge bags and waved, flabbergasted, as the rest of our group continued on the bus. All we knew was that our hostel’s name was Barnacles and it was somewhere around the Temple Bar area. With a few wrong turns and a helpful store-lady with an Ipod GPS search, we made it to the hostel and found the rest of the group J After we had stored our bags at the hostel, around 11:00 am, we had 4 and a half hours to kill until we could actually get into our rooms. We walked around and found food and then just wandered. We honestly must have looked like the walking dead; we were so tired. When we could finally get to our rooms, we crashed for a few hours and it was glorious.

For our first night in Dublin, I ended up starting out with a pretty big group trying to find a cheap pub, but soon got really tired of the indecisiveness of the group. So Callie wanted to head to the Jameson district to find some authentic Irish pubs and I decided to go with her. Good decision J We got out of the touristy Temple Bar district and crossed the river, where we stopped at a pub that looked like it would have music, but actually had old guys watching football. We sat next to a guy named Damien who told us all about America’s best ales compared to Irish beers. I tried my first Guinness and could barely handle the first few sips so Callie finished that and I finished the last of hers. It was definitely a fun stop. Everyone was really nice and it was fun to talk to an Irishman. And their football cheering was just as you’d expect; big cheers and giving each other crap for betting on the wrong team. We moved on and found another type of pub that had records playing and fun graffiti on the walls. We didn’t meet any characters there, but they brewed their own beer, which was pretty cool. By then, we had wandered past the Jameson brewery, so we looked around the outside of that and wandered back along the river to our hostel. It was a really fun night and I’m glad we got to see a bit of the real Dublin, rather than just the tourist area.

Yesterday, two of us set alarms, but didn’t wake up until much later than intended because we forgot about the fact that our alarms were still on Iowa time… Oh well, we got some much needed sleep. So instead of the free breakfast from the hostel, we went to brunch at this little café. It was really good, especially since we hadn’t had a real meal since before our flights. And the tea was amazing. The rest of the day was just more walking around and a trip to the Guinness factory. The most amazing part about the Guinness factory, to me, was the sheer amount of everything there. So much beer and such quantities of each ingredient. They buy 2/3 of all the barley produced in Ireland! Even the original lease Arthur Guinness signed was 9000 years. Pretty ambitious. After the tour, we went to the top of the building and got a skyline view of Dublin and a free pint. I didn’t even attempt to drink one this time. Maybe I’ll acquire a taste for it…we’ll see.

Last night was New Year’s Eve in Dublin. So. Many. People. It was incredible. Again, we started off in a big group, this time with a few French people along for the ride. We were aiming for a pub that the guy at the phone store told us about but when we got there, it was full of people 20+ years older than u. So about half the group, including the French people, split off. The rest of us (6 girls) just headed to a nearby pub that looked promising. When we first went in around 9:00, there weren’t many people and it didn’t seem like we’d stay that long. We sat down for a bit, planning on continuing the search, but we ended up staying till midnight. It was really fun to people watch and I’m pretty sure some traveler girls were there. I’ve never seen girls so gaudily dressed; huge hair, pounds of makeup and tanning, super short dresses and huge sequinsy heels. They had great music playing in the pub. It wasn’t even that it was cool, new, irish music, but it was just such a random mix of mostly American music. Anything from Bohemian Rhapsody, to some Johnny Cash, and some DubStep. I’ve noticed that the music playing on the radio just seems so random to me, cuz there are a lot of really old songs and then there are songs from 5/10 years ago and there are really recent ones. I like it J Anyway, we stayed the whole night at The International Bar an got free champagne at midnight. We went back to the hostel soon after that and walked around Temple Bar, where it was still incredibly busy. Our hostel room window faces one of the streets on Temple Bar and we could hear people even at 4 in the morning. I had no problem sleeping, cuz I was just sooooo tired. I’ll definitely be taking a nap after this.

This morning, we got up and got ready to head to the bus station to catch the 10:00 bus, but we realized that one of our roommates wasn’t back. She was the one who was hanging out with the French guy last night, so we did all we could to find her when all we knew was his first name and the fact that he was staying in our hostel. We couldn’t find her, so our fraction of the group left a note on her bed and called a taxi so we didn’t have another bus mishap. As we were loading the taxi, we heard from the other group that she had been found. We felt much better, and headed on our way. We were early for the bus, which was great by me: better early than late. The rest of the group was on the way, but the bus pulled out before they all got there. But as we pulled out, we passed them all on the sidewalk outside and the bus driver pulled around the block and let them all load up their stuff and get on the bus. We were all surprised, cuz that probably would not have happened at home. So now we’re all on our way to Cork together J

So far, I’m exhausted, my feet hurt, and I’m tired of living out of a suitcase. But I’m also having a great time and am really excited to see Cork and get settled in our flat. I love being able to order a drink, and haven’t even been carded yet. I’ve gotten a bit used to all the people smoking on the street (which could be good or bad). I’ve appreciated the greenness, and been thrown off by the weather. I’ve met people from Ireland, France, Jordan, Italy, the US, and the Netherlands. I’ve gotten lost and successfully navigated a new city. I’ve done a lot in the past few days. I can’t imagine what else I’m going to get up to this semester! I’m sure this year will be an interesting one J

Happy New Year!

~Meg