"If the wind won't blow, the boat won't go!" 10/11-10/17

You can imagine that after a mentally and physically exhausting Adventure Weekend I was even less prepared for the upcoming school week. It's funny how every "study abroad orientation" I've been to, whether at Scripps or here at UCC, they talk about the disintegration period when you really get homesick and start wondering, "what the hell am I doing here?" Well, I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but that was this week for me. Meeting all the other study abroad students and seeing how tight their group was in combination with the growing anxiety that I wasn't taking full advantage of my time here in Ireland put a dark Charlie Brown cloud over my head.
  

On my walk to the music building!

The week started off with an unproductive study session in the library interrupted by an awkward lunch. One thing I've really be working on in the past few weeks has been NOT over analyzing everything, something I definitely have a tendency to do! After forcing myself to study for a couple hours I walked with my friend Kristen to our Introduction to Irish Traditional Music class, which may be the easiest and most boring class I have ever taken. The teacher is very knowledgeable and adorable, but she teaches the class as though we are all music majors giving us too much detail about individual instruments and not enough historical information. On our walk to class we talked about everything that had been going through our heads and both realized that we were worried about the same things; about not experiencing enough "Irishness," spending too much money, and our general health! It was a major relief to hear someone else say the same things that had been going through my head all weekend! From music class we went to the Mardkye Arena (the gym), got our BLT tickets, and studied (probably the most productive 45 minutes of my day!)

Cobh

The next morning I woke up way too early and made the 30 minute trek up to the UCC Music building for my first fiddle lesson! The UCC Music Building is an absolutely gorgeous stone Church wing with views of almost all of Cork, so it's worth the dog poop ridden walk. Seriously, Ireland has a major dog poop problem. My instructor's name is Connie O'Connell. He, yes he, is a little old man who is almost impossible to understand and very intimidating at first. My lesson mate is a German boy named Philip with sweaty hands, poorly executed facial hair, and a heart of gold.  The lesson is run in a way that is completely foreign from my extremely structured Suzuki days. First of all there's no sheet music, Connie just plays something and then you repeat it and when you do you struggle along until he says, "No, listen again." Eventually when you get it right and successfully play it all the way through instead of a pat on the back or a high five Connie simply says, "Alright, now do it again." This drill down continues until finally it is Philip's turn. I don't think Connie (or I) realized how stressful and overwhelming it was playing the very first note after 7+ years of never playing. It was like how each summer I would convince myself that I would start playing again only to find something holding me back. Leave it to Connie O'Connell to push me past my comfort zone! 

Saint Coleman Cathedral

I was flying high after my lesson because it had been a lot less scary and a lot easier than I expected to pick up the violin again only to be brought back down to earth upon realizing that I had my archeology final in 2 hours! The test itself went as most final exams do, I could have done better but also could have done worse. The major difference about this test was that instead of being in our normal classroom it was held in the Aula Maxima, yeah, pretty important sounding. In order to be admitted into the test I had to print off a test ticket with my name and seat assignment beforehand and had to bring proper UCC ID, kind of like flying on an airplane! The Aula Maxima smells like old wood and looks like it belongs in Harry Potter. The walls are lined with books and paintings, the room is dark, there's a large fireplace that you could imagine heating up a cauldron, and at the head of the room the wall is dedicated to past headmasters, surprisingly Dumbledore's moving painting was not up there. 

Even though my hand was hurting, it was such a relief to be officially done with archeology! After the test I was planning on going out to celebrate, but everyone was pretty tired from the test prep so I stayed in and enjoyed taco Tuesday while watching Survivor.  

The next day I woke up revitalized and with a new lease on life. I went to my lecture, the gym, and came home to make a can of soup for my friend Roger who had caught the month-into-school cold--all before 1:00! The afternoon was spent shopping at H&M, catching up on the blog, and requesting my ballot so I could vote abroad.  

The rest of the school week went by without much excitement. Friday I went to a music concert in the Aula MaximaGlee world complete with hand motions. I love me some Gaga, but this song choice could not have been more out of place in the Aula Maxima with an audience with the average age of 45. 

After the concert Ruby and I headed downtown for some shopping (her, not me, don't worry!) and a dinner out at the only Thai restaurant in Cork. Full of tasty food we headed home and caught up on the real Glee. A wild Friday night, I know! 

Saturday I woke up feeling like maybe I too had caught the month-into-school cold, but decided not to let it get me down because Ruby and I had made big plans for the day! At 9:00 am (yeah, on a Saturday!) we met up with our friend from our trip to Kerry at the train station and bought a train ticket to Cobh. Cobh is the largest of three Islands in the Cork Harbor (the second largest natural harbor in the world!) so the beautiful views made the train ride go by quickly. I kind of felt like I was in a scene from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, only without the whole mind-washing, memory erasing bit. 

Our first stop in Cobh (pronounced Cove) was the heritage center, which is right next to the train station! Because Cobh is a huge port city it was the site of many boats full of poor and starving Irish men and women looking for a better life in the good ol' USA  especially during the Potato Famine. The museum/heritage center was really interesting and talked a lot about the conditions of the boats full of immigrants. This of course, makes it a huge tourist attraction and probably the only building that is at all times almost completely occupied by Americans. Although Cobh is beautiful, the port has a sad association with two ship disasters. In 1915 a German submarine sunk the Lusitania  eleven miles off the coast of Ireland killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard. Cobh also was the last point of call for the Titanic a ship that "took 1000 Irishmen to make and only one Brit to sink." 

After wandering through the heritage center and enjoying a scone we decided to take in the gorgeous day and wander around the town. This town was just made to be put on a postcard with brightly colored houses lining the street next to port. To be honest, it looked a little like Maine, only with really Irish houses! At the top of a hill is the town Cathedral called Saint Coleman's, which apparently has a carillon of 47 bells. Way to go, Saint Coleman! From the church we bought some fudge from a duo of South Africans and then headed out for some lunch at a restaurant so hip it could have been in NYC. 

Rejuvenated after some fish and chips we got back on the train and headed to Fota Wildlife Park. The excitement on the train was palpable due to our own excitement and the excitement of the 6th birthday party next to us! Fota on a Saturday afternoon probably wasn't the best decision, but made for great entertainment-when the monkeys were hiding in their houses there were bound to be Irish children running around acting like monkeys too! 

The park is really impressive and boasts creatures like giraffes, cheetahs, lemurs, bison, and kangaroos! They even have a cheetah run everyday at 4 where they attach a dead rabbit to a series of wires and then get the old cheetahs to chase after it. Just like playing with your cat at home! 

Fota was exhausting so afterward we headed home and I had every intention of snuggling in my bed with a warm cup of tea and a couple episodes of Modern Family,  but that didn't happen! It was my friend's birthday, so around 9 Ruby and I headed down there to help her celebrate turning 20. It wasn't too wild of night because it's the weekend and only adults go out on the weekend in Ireland, but still wasn't as restful as it could have been!