"Do you REALLY want me to explain what the shift is?" And other adventures from Halloween in Cork

Weather in Ireland (photos courtesy of Kate!)

If I thought Halloween was wild at the Claremont Colleges, it pales in comparison to the week of Halloween festivities at UCC. The week leading up to it was pretty average with the weekly taco Tuesday ritual, Glee watching, and worrying about what I would dress up as for the many nights of Halloween. I knew the weekend was going to be great craic when I headed out to Cork International Airport to pick up Ms. Kate!

Although a Thursday evening at the airport doesn't sound like the best way to spend the first night of the weekend, let me tell you it is just wonderful! The next time you just want to slap everyone around you for walking slowly/using the incorrect "there"/being rude/when you have lost complete faith in humanity just go to the arrivals gate at any airport. Watching people meet their friends and relatives at the airport is the most touching activity I can possibly imagine, like watching the happy ending of a romantic comedy over and over again.

At the Distillery

After 45 minutes of tearing up every time a plane arrived my little Kate turned the corner and our adventures began! We hopped into a cab, dropped her stuff at Vic Lodge, put together some impromptu lumberjack costumes, and headed into town because the Irish students usually go home over the weekend and I wanted Kate to get the real taste of Cork. But because it was Halloween it was the real taste of Cork covered in tabasco sauce and chili powder-just craziness to put it into non-food terms.

We got into town and met up with some Irish friends and wandered around trying to find a pub that didn't have a 30 minute wait to get in because just like in the United States Halloween costumes typically are not very warm! As we trudged through the mist we saw a couple people fall on the ground, one fight get broken up with one individual getting arrested, and hoards of students having entirely too much fun in mildly inappropriate clothes! It was an experience to say the least!

Proof that we are official taste-testers!

The next day we woke up late and explored Cork city. I didn't realize how much fun it would be to show someone around and explain all the boring things I do, like walking to school, for example. We walked through campus and headed to the city center for some English Marketing and lunch at the Wholly Grain. Very delicious. That evening we donned our costumes for an almost American-themed Halloween party at my neighbor's apartment. It might have been less extreme than Thursday, but was still a pretty good time.

On Saturday morning we headed off to fulfill our roles as tourists and took the train to the Jameson Distillery in Midleton. Midleton is a fairly unexciting town especially in the end of October. The Distillery tour guide, a very robotic woman with a mix between a French and Irish accent, taught us all about the history of Jameson and why it is just that much better than every other whiskey. The most exciting bit was that at the end 8 tour members volunteered to be whiskey taste-testers and put our new knowledge to the test. Kate and I sat at the tester table and made smalltalk with the rather eclectic group of volunteers. Jameson definitely tasted the best out of the three, but I still don't understand how people drink it straight!

Ninjas eating Tasty Kebab

From Jameson we stopped in at this little Italian restaurant where we ate a very delicious meal before boarding the train home with everyone from our tour. Awkward stuff. Apparently our new found friendships were limited to the Distillery. At home we crafted another Halloween costume, this time we were ninjas in all black with black pantyhose headbands. Not my best work, but pretty good under the circumstances! In town we went to the Bailey and finished up the night at Tasty Kebab. Seriously yum.

Sunday we woke up exhausted, but rallied and went up to Tesco because that afternoon was my mom style Halloween party! We spent the afternoon slaving over cookies, cider, frosting, and getting the place ready to go. It turned out to be quite a good time with about 15 girls coming over, some of which brought food too, so we had quite the feast! With our bellies full and exhausted from playing hostess, we cleaned up and watched Spiderman on TV.

The next morning I had to say goodbye to my little Kate and head off to nutrition class. Overall, we did Halloween in style!