Week 3

I am sorry it has been so long since I last blogged! I have been super busy off exploring and having fun! Well the last time I wrote was right before my birthday. So I am officially a 21 year old. I have such wonderful parents. We skyped 6 am my time and they made me a cake and had some wine in my honor. As a gift they redid my bedroom in zebra things! And if any of you know me well enough you would know I was ecstatic. I finally have the bed spread I have been wanting forever plus a super rad lamp! The rest of the morning consisted of running around town getting my registration in order. That has been the most difficult part of this trip but funny enough 3 weeks later I believe I am actually done now. But I have said that four times so I don’t want to jinx myself. Then at night my friends took me out to this amazing Italian restaurant. I have never in my life tasted such delicious Italian food.  Then we went to a pub that is normally a pretty upbeat place. But since it was a Monday it was pretty low key. We still made the night of it by playing games. I didn’t have to buy a single drink (or dinner) that night it was super nice. I am so blessed to have such amazing friends here! I wasn’t sure what my birthday would consist of since it was only going to be the second week here. But the bond us ladies have is one that will never be broken. So to say the least I had a pretty awesome birthday. I mean who wouldn’t in Ireland : ). I had class at 9 am the next morning so we didn’t stay out late.

                On Friday me and a couple of us girls who don’t have class on Friday decided to take the city bus all around Cork. We were too cheap to take a tour bus so we caught a double decker and was lucky enough to sit at the top in the very front so we could see everything! It was a blast! After about 2 hours the bus driver asked us if we were ever going to get off. We told him we were just trying to the see town and he laughed and didn’t make us pay extra. We finally made our entire trip and ended up back in city center. We were all so car sick by that time! I know I have mentioned being a pedestrian is scary but riding a huge bus on one lane roads could maybe top that fear. But we had SO much fun and very worth the euro and 70 cents.

                We had planned on going to Cobh last Saturday (Cobh is where the Titanic took off) but we found out that starting in February through April they will be having huge festivals because it’s the Titanic’s 100 year anniversary. How lucky are we! So instead we went to this really cool park next to our house. It’s called Fitzgerald Park and it’s right on the river. First thing we ran into was two swans! I know this seems funny but I have never seen swans in real life before. One of my friends wanted to pet it. But I just had vivid memories of the geese chasing us. So I told her let me get the head start because I have the shortest legs and I am not taking the consequence of her actions haha. They were not shy about coming towards us so we took that as it’s probably not a good idea. The park was so cute! It had random statues and gardens all over the place and it was aligned with these beautiful Victorian houses and you could see churches in the background. Easily one of the more romantic places around here! We came across a game of Hurling played by our very own UCC students. Talk about short shorts! Whew. They were so aggressive too! At the end of the park was a museum which looked fairly small but once you stepped in it was HUGE (and did I mention free… SCORE!). It was all about the history of Cork! We spent a good couple hours in that museum. As the Irish would say it was just lovely. That night we went to the Greyhound Dog Races (which by the way I every time I would say it I was say Ground hog races… imagine the guys face when I asked for directions).  We had SOO much fun there too. It was only 5 euro to get in and they had all sorts of cheap delicious food there.  You could bet on the dogs for 2 euros. I didn’t plan on betting until my friend convinced me to do one. So strictly out of peer pressure (riggghttt) I bet on Valentine Rebel.  And… She won! I was hooked.  Then we both told our other friend just do it once and then her dog won (we couldn’t convince the other two girls). But here are three American girls screaming and jumping as the dogs were racing. You could say we fit right in. We all evened out nobody left in the hole. On our way home we thought we missed our last bus so we sprinted until we realize there was one left. That was exercise I didn’t want to get.  Overall we had an awesome day.

                On Sunday we woke up early and about 5 of us went to a town called Midleton to visit the Jameson Whiskey Factory. By far one of the coolest tours I have ever done! I learned soo much about the history of Whiskey and specifically the history of the Jameson whiskey. It’s so smooth because they distill it three times (Scotland does 2 times and America does 1). They also don’t use coal when they distill their whiskey so it doesn’t have as much of a smokey taste. I would know because I was chosen to be a whiskey taste tester (ohhhh yea!!!).  I even received a certificate saying so. I was pretty proud. Oh and fun little fact: Whiskey is clear like vodka when first produced. They get their brown color by the wood that it sits in. So you can tell by the age of a whiskey by the color. A 25 year old whiskey will be almost a dark red. I didn’t know that! Also if you have ever had a taste or drink of Whiskey it has come directly from Cork. It is ONLY distilled in Cork. It can be bottled in Dublin or Northern Ireland but it is only made for the Cork factory. Pretty dang cool!

                Things have been wonderful here as you can see I am always seeking new adventures. I don’t have any homework which makes me feel uncomfortable at times because I am so used to having tons back home. But that’s the way it is here! My friend’s birthday was yesterday and she turned 21 so we bought a cake and I made chicken parmesan. We played a trivia game then headed out to the awesome traditional pub where they had a real live band playing folk music. Definitely a place I am taking my parents.  I am basically living off sandwiches and soup and on occasion we all make dinner for each other so we have some type of meal! Haha. Tomorrow the IFSA Butler University (the program I am going through) is taking us out to a really nice dinner and go karting as our welcome dinner. And starting next week I am going to start volunteering in the mornings before class at the soup kitchen. I fee like this community has given me so much that I want to give back and because I have so much time on my hands with not working that it’s good to keep busy.  We are planning our first trip out of the country and we are going to head to London for 4 days. Check this out round trip tickets to fly was 33 euros! Wahoo! We will stay in a hostel in the city so we have access to more things. But I will share more about that when we finally have it figured out. I better be going now left overs from last night are calling my name! : )

Take care and I will try not to make as long next time!

Britt