"Oh hey, another castle!" and other sites in the Burren

Marie Rua's love nest, very Jane Austen, right?

Whoooey! What a crazy week! In the past 6 days, I've slept in three countries, on 2 airport benches, 4 flights, and on 3 buses, but before I get too carried away with my traveling adventures or the first day of school I have to wrap up the final days of archeology. Even though the professor is maybe the cutest Irish person I have seen so far, I gotta say that I am relived to be done learning about rocks, church architecture, and copper artifacts. 

The weekend before the final week of my early start class was pretty uneventful spent working on my paper, pretending to work on my paper, and of course a quick day trip to Waterford. A group of girls who live in my building and one of my roommates trekked down to the bus station on Saturday morning only to miss the bus and have an extra free hour to roam around the city center. The bus journey to Waterford takes about 3.5 hours, but you go through a couple very cute "Irishy" looking towns along the coast. We arrived around 3ish and looked around for the largest food festival in Ireland that we had planned on going to only to hear that the food portion of the event was the next day! With our spirits low and our stomachs empty we trudged along until we came across an empty Italian cafe and decided to wage our bets. We knew we had made the right decision when the waiter came to our table (1 of 4) and asked us where we were from and what we wanted to eat in a thick Italian accent. I ordered gnocchi and bruschetta and it may be the best food I have ever eaten. Who knew, Italian food in Ireland?

Poulnabrone Portal Tomb, aka dance floor extraordinaire!

Once full of delicious Italian food we checked out all the shopping Waterford had to offer with the highlight being the store at the Waterford crystal factory, probably the only place containing a giant crystal harp and rugby ball. It didn't take too much exploring for us all to realize how tired we were from the long week and the girls night out the night before, so we boarded the bus and headed home. The next day I pounded out my paper, went to a real Catholic Church to watch my roommate sing in the choir, and went to B.L.T. (buns, legs, tums) an exercise class complete with a severe Irish instructor who never really meant "last set." 

View from Cahercommaun Cashel

Monday and Tuesday marked the last few days of class and of an empty UCC campus, both of which are welcome changes! At 7:00 on Wednesday morning I made the final trip to the class bus for my last archeology excursion, first stop: Kilfenora Cathedral, Co. Clare. I hate to be the typical American student, but it was hard to get excited by the architecture of this church when it felt like we were in the middle of Hurricane Sean (get it? It's an Irish name! I am too clever). The church is a small medieval monastery founded by St. Fachnan and used to be important enough to house the book of Kells for a bit!

East side of Corcomroe Abbey (the side they built when they still had money)

Up the road we made a quick stop at a tower house turned fortified house that was the home of Marie Rua, the wife of Conor O'brien who was apparently the original black widow. What an example of girl power, Marie had 3 rich husbands, fish ponds and formal gardens, and a house with a name! What more could a girl ask for?

From the Laemaneh Tower House we headed from the fringe of the Burren right into the middle to the Poulnabrone Portal Tomb, the largest and most bad ass of all portal tombs! Around the tomb is a fence that, according to Mr. O, was put up to dissuade Italian tourists from dancing on top of the tomb. Who could blame them? It would make for a great stage.

Limestone pavement in the Burren, Co Clare

From the ancient disco tech we went to another church,Corcomroe Abbey, Gleninsheen wedge tomb, and the Cahercommaun Cashel. The Cahercommaun Cashel was my favorite of these three sites despite the fact that as soon as we hiked to the top of this huge hill it began seriously down pouring. Luckily for us, Ireland happens to go through every single season each hour, so the torrential storm quickly passed and we were able to enjoy the views from the cashel. Poor Mr. O, by the time we got to these three sites the entire class was obviously burnt out on forts, churches and tombs, so we entertained ourselves by reciting our favorite Arrested Development quotes and probably didn't appreciate the sites quite as much as we should have.

Respecting signage and giving tourists a better reputation.

The Burren is an amazing place to visit, the limestone "pavement" that distinguishes it from the appearance of the rest of Ireland cannot really be captured on film. It feels almost like a scene from Fern Gully or Fantasia. For you science buffs, the Burren earned its name "place of rocks" not from deforestation after the last Ice Age but rather from overgrazing and overpopulation during the Neolithic Period. This caused the erosion of limestone into fissures called "grykes." When you are riding in a bus you get great views of how the landscape changes as you drive down into the valley where the limestone isn't exposed, but the best feature of the Burren is by far the Cliffs of Moher.

I wish I could do the Cliffs of Moher justice!

There is good reason why the Cliffs of Moher attract visitors from all over the world, they are really a site to behold! Walking from the parking lot to the cliffs you look around and can see the ocean in the distance, but otherwise all you can see are fields full of cows and you can't help but think, so where are these cliffs? Once you have fought the wind and make to the edge in both directions you can see waves crashing 300m below at the edge of the cliffs. We were there around 5 so most of the tourists had headed home so we basically had the place to ourselves. A couple of my friends in the class and I were feeling daring so we took the opportunity to go beyond the recommended path, whata thrill! Standing in the wind and looking around, I realized how crazy it is that I am in Ireland, that 10 feet away is a cow grazes on the edge of maybe the most amazing attraction in Ireland. It's easy to forget that people live here and that for the next 4 months, I'm living here too.

Bunratty Tower House looking dapper in the sunshine!

Sitting where the very important (and slim) archbishops sat!

After trespassing, taking too many photos, and awing at the site of the ocean we headed back onto the bus and off to the hotel. Seriously, Mr. O had pulled out all of the stops for this field trip. Not only was our hotel crazy nice (complete with a double bed, hot shower, and cable TV) but for dinner we had 3 courses, all of which we got to chose! I ate a chorizo salad, salmon and vegetables, and dessert platter thing. They were very delicious, but after gorging myself I wasn't quite ready for a big night out, which is what we had planned, but I rallied and we headed off the the pub. It's amazing to travel from Dublin to Cork to a little tiny town in the Burren because you can see what the touristy pubs in Dublin are trying to look like! This pub was small, smelly, and covered in posters, cash from other countries, and Irish phrases. We listened to some trad music over a pint and then decided to call it a night.

Quin Franciscan Friary

Despite the comforts of our hotel the next day was filled with yawns and nodding off on the bus. It was a quick day with only three stops: the Bunratty Tower House, Quin Abbey, and Moughaun Hillfort where great Clare's hoard was found. These three sites passed in a blur because I was too busy being excited for the next adventure I had on my plate for later that day I was getting on a plane to fly to Sweden for my first college-student-in-Europe travel experience! Check back for more on that, I have to go to class now!

"Alright lads, there's booty to be had in America."

Complete rainbow #2 in Slane!

This, according to my professor, is what the early medieval Irish and Vikings were thinking back in the day, and, let me tell you, they're still thinking now! What a crazy week it's been, full of tours, bus naps, and complete rainbows. I have never seen a complete rainbow in my entire life only to see two in one day while up in the most northern part of the Republic of Ireland.

Monday and Tuesday went by without much excitement. Surprisingly, the dreaded archeology test went by pretty smoothly after hours of online flashcards so I celebrated with a trip to the English Market and some avocados for guacamole. On Tuesday I stepped it out at the university gym in my frumpiest t-shirt only to discover that when Irish girls go to the gym they are dressed up, seriously. Forget sports bras and baggie shorts, it's all about push up bras and leggings in Ireland. Don't get me wrong, I am very pro-leggings but not when working on my fitness!

Hey look, another Irish Church!

Campus is slowly starting to pick up with regular classes starting in a week. I didn't realize how the only Irish person who knew my name was my professor, but seeing the Irish students made me realize how surrounded by Americans I had been so far. It's a refreshing change and hopefully means soon I will feel less like I'm on vacation.

Other than the giant test, the paper I have due on Tuesday, and the fact we'll have covered 10,000 years of information, my archeology course has really felt almost like a vacation. On Wednesday I woke up obscenely early (6:45!), walked to school, and boarded the bus with my classmates to Dublin. First stop? The National Museum of Ireland for a speed tour of all the artifacts we'd seen slides of earlier in the course. Although Mr. O zoomed through the information, it was actually quite exciting to see all of the stuff in real life and I'm sure I appreciated the stone axes having known a little about them.

From the museum all 40 of us navigated our way through the busiest part of Dublin up to Christ Church Cathedral and where "Viking Dublin" was excavated. The Church holds the tomb of Strongbow, the man who initiated the Anglo-Norman colonization of Ireland, the remains of a mummified cat and rat found in an organ pipe, and is, for all you architecture gurus, a great example of Romanesque and Gothic style architecture!

After using the bathroom (located in the crypt) we walked 100 feet to the Dublin City Council offices that were built in 1979 over the site of a semi-excavated viking trading port despite protest from archeologists and citizens alike. Pretty lame, Dublin.

"Irish traffic jam" on the way to Newgrange

From viking Dublin we bussed up to observe the "best examples of Irish high crosses" in Monasterboice. The crosses were really neat, but it made me feel uncomfortable to stomp around and snap shots in a graveyard full of people's family members. While our professor pointed out key features of the old monastery I watched an old man meticulously clean his wife's tomb stone and it just didn't feel right that we were there. 

The most amazing thing about Ireland is that it can rain when there is not a cloud in the sky, thus all the beautiful rainbows! I saw my first rainbow from the bus on the way to the hostel, which was probably the single cutest hostel on the face of the planet. Built out of an old farmhouse, it is a series of rooms filled with cozy bunk beds with a view of cows and fields out the window. Famished from the tiring day we then drove back into Slane for dinner, which was the best meal we've eaten so far consisting of mashed potatoes, chicken, and steamed vegetables with apple pie for dessert! After dinner we walked around Slane and I saw my second complete rainbow as we got back on the bus for our hostel. We recovered for a bit back at the hostel only to head out minutes later for a night at the pub! Apparently, it's totally normal to go to a pub for a pint with your professor in Ireland!

Newgrange Passage Tomb

Waking up the next morning was rough and class morale was low. Luckily for us we were headed to the most anticipated spot first thing in the morning-Newgrange. Newgrange is the most famous Neolithic passage tomb in the Bend of the Boyne cemetery complete with a roof box that on the sunrise of the winter solstice illuminates the inner chamber for 17 minutes. May not sound that impressive, but it's really cool. We are really lucky to get to enter inside the chamber that is at the end of a 40 m passage and consists of a dome weighing 25,000 tons without mortar that is still standing 4,000 years after it was built. Once you walk through the passage the tour guide dims the lights and you get to see what it looks like to be in the chamber on the winter solstice. Imagine what it'd be like to be the farmer who discovered the tomb one day while plowing his fields!

"You can take our land, but you'll never take our freedom!" -BH

After Newgrange we went to Trim Castle where some scene from Braveheart were filmed! I hadn't seen it, so lots of the references the tour guide made were over my head, but I'm sure if I ever see it I'll recognize something! Our tour guide at Trim was by far the best guide we've had. He is a Trim native and used to climb on the ruins as a schoolboy and he knows absolutely everything one human could know about Trim Castle. Braveheart or not, Trim Castle impressed me despite a lack of sleep, which is a very impressive feat. Luckily for me I would have plenty of time to nap during the 4 hour bus ride from Trim to Cork!

All tuckered out from our adventures the rest of the evening was spent laundering clothes, planning my schedule, making chili, and eating chocolate. All-in-all a great evening! Once "recovered" from our trip, I woke up and went off to class followed by a hot date with the library. I definitely am ready for the weekend!

Of Simple Creeps and Wedgie Tombs

Woohoo! It's Friday and the end of a very uneventful week! Hopefully this marks the last of registration/orientation weeks-I don't think my brain can handle anymore of it! Tuesday I registered with the Garda (police) and received my immigration card so I officially am allowed to be here until Christmas and Wednesday I learned about how confusing and disorganized registration is going to be. Registration is already stressful enough, how could it possibly get any worse!? Let me tell you. First, Irish classes do not meet at the same time each day of the week or even from week to week. For example, one class can meet at 9:00 on Monday, 3:00 on Wednesday, and then 5:30 on Wednesday again! Oy vey! Second, science classes are all taught on the block system so you have one class for six weeks. The International Education office lady describes it as "An Irish solution to an Irish problem." A very confusing system, but I'm sure everything will work out brilliantly, as the Irish would say.

On a more exciting note, this week we went on our second archeology (archaeology, if you're Irish) field trip! We started with Late Mesolithic Labbacallee Wedge tomb. The name means bed (labba) of a witch/wise old woman (callee) for the body of an elderly woman buried there. Quite the monument for an old woman-the largest

capstone weighs 10 tons! Despite its great size, it's not quite as photogenic or noticeable as you might think, but for those brave enough, it was pretty cool to climb in! No offense, Mesoliths!

From the Wedge tomb we bussed over to Mitchelstown Caves, not quite an archeological site but still pretty cool. They are a complex tunnel of caves discovered by some guy who dropped his pick ax in eighteen tirty-tree (in an Irish accent). The highlights of our spelunking consisted of the tower of babel, an ancient column, and a rousing round of 'Amazing Grace' led by our instructor when the tour guide told us to test out the amazing acoustics in one cavern. We are quite the talented class!

Famished from navigating our way through the caves we went out for a lunch of bread and butter with plain chicken on it. Not the most satisfying sandwich, but it made for lively conversation among our usually awkward class. Full of off-white food we moseyed over to the rock of Cashel, which until we got there I thought was actually a castle because the Irish accent tends to have a lisp. In reality it is the site of the main stronghold of the Kings of Munster during the early medieval period consisting of an impressive bunch of churches, high crosses, and a stone house on the top of a huge hill.

Archeology, although not quite my cup of tea, has been a pretty awesome class with all of these field trips! Monday, though, we have a quiz and I am really starting to realize how much we have learned, how many dates, people, and much history we need to memorize! A weekend at the library is in my near future. Time to get back into school mode, after a Friday night out of course!

The adventures of Cathy and Allie

What a wild weekend! My roommate Annie and I had adventures on the brain after our compelling field trip for Archaeology that we just had to continue the excitement! So on Saturday we woke up, ate breakfast, and feeling spontaneous asked the Irish maintenance guy where we should go. He said Kinsale, so we bought bus tickets and off we were! After pushing our way onto the bus, we were on our way.

The drive to Kinsale lasted about 45 minutes and followed a road that meandered through the

country and woods. Even Greyhound buses are better in Ireland! We arrived at Kinsale around 2 and were starving for some fish'n'chips so we popped into the closest seafood restaurant where we randomly ran into some classmates. We all gorged ourselves on fish'n'chips (a little disappointing I have to say) but turned out to be an informative meal with them telling us all of the best things to do in the town. They suggested the castle and Charles Fort. We opted for the Fort because it was free and because they were doing reenactments of battles all day and you know how I love me some history!

Full of fried food we began the 45 minute trek to Charles Fort. From the path to Charles Fort you get all of the best views Kinsale has to offer (wow, I sound like a guidebook!). But seriously, wow! At the risk of sounding like a grandparent reminiscing, that walk actually was uphill both ways. It was well worth the sweat, though. We got there and enjoyed watching the awkward Roman soldiers tell us about their tunics and fake swords. One of them even had braces!

After getting our fill of the Romans we headed in to the actual Fort and explored the ruins as we fought hurricane strength winds to make our hair picture ready. It was a fight we were not prepared for. We wandered around taking pictures with soldiers and of the view while we waited for the reenactment to begin. In typical Irish fashion, when they say 15 minutes they really mean 45. As we toured the Fort we found it rather remarkable how little historical information there actually was there. Eventually the battle began and our two soldier friends we had met earlier, the ones who told us to cheer "America!" during the battle so they would know where we were, died violently.

Once the reenactment ended with the dramatic line, "And that's what happens when you don't follow the law," we headed out to watch the Romans and the Celts fight. It wasn't nearly as impressive as it sounds. Because the reenactment began a little behind we missed the last bus back into town and had to take the same route into town. Still beautiful, but less enjoyable after an afternoon of battles and wind. We recovered quickly over a cone of ice cream and by stalking a french family in the park. There is absolutely nothing cuter than little kids speaking french. Seriously. Eventually we caught the bus back to Cork only to wait 35 minutes for the city bus to take our tired feet home. Luckily we had a beautiful sunset to enjoy during the ride!

We dined and rally to go out for a Saturday night pub crawl. The roommates and some friends wandered for a little while, but eventually we settled into the Saturday night rhythm. At the first pub we went to a very drunk Irish 20-something told my roommate Annie and I (Cathy and Allie) that we were the prettiest sisters in all of County Cork! With our newly found confidence we ended up dancing the night away, stopping for kebabs on the walk home ready to fall into warm beds and sleep until noon.

Unfortunately that wasn't going to happen.

8:00 am rolled around with a bang. A group of tourists were staying in the building for the weekend and decided to set off the fire alarm via burnt bacon to give us all an 8 am wake-up call. I was not a happy camper. Luckily the fire brigade came with haste and I was back in bed before I could realize how cranky I was. The rest of the day was spent shopping, relaxing, and pretending like I was off to the gym in the immediate future.

Today came and went without much adventures. In class we discussed the Celts and how the archaeological evidence suggests that the Celts never really existed. To me, this is the most interesting thing that we have talked about so far in class because of all the implications "Celtic" culture has for modern day Ireland and Irish-Americans. Maybe I'll write about it for my paper! After class two of my roommates and I went downtown to fight with the phone people again, by some produce from the English Market, and look at a mural suggested in my guidebook. The English Market is really a neat experience and feels very uniquely Irish. It's a year-round farmers market where they sell everything from pig's feet to produce and spices and everything is fresh, fresh, fresh!

I'm just beginning to really settle into my routine, but have to admit that I still don't really believe that I'm here, living in Ireland, for the next 4 months. I've been enjoying myself too much and hope that once the real Irish students get here that it only gets better!

Sticky outtie stones and higgley-piggledy windows: Intro to Irish Archaeology

It's hard to believe that my first week of the early start semester is done! What a wild week indeed! Full of settling in: buying carbs and spices, opening Irish bank accounts, finding out I don't need an Irish bank account, fighting with the phone company, and spending way too many Euros on food I then have to lug home!

I start everyday groggily making myself either oatmeal and a banana or a fried egg. Then some friends and I trek the 15 minutes to school where we listen to Dr. Ó Carragáin, our lumbering hunk of a profes

sor, talk about ancient stones with more excitement than anyone I have ever seen! The first two sections of class are a little blurry because I'm usually still waking up, but after my coffee in the Student Center I usually perk right up!

The afternoons I've spent wandering the city, shopping for the necessities, and running errands with my roommate. I haven't actually gotten to spend as much time on campus as I would like because it is just gorgeous and the weather has really been spectacular and un-Ireland like (usually around 68, sunny with occasional clouds and lots of wind). Here is a picture of the main quad where the Dean's office is and where all students take their final exams!

r will be with 18,000 more people!Settling has been very

tiring so this week has been pretty low-key, only one night of pub crawling. The nightlife so far seems pretty popular and the regular University students won't show up for an

other month! I can't imagine how crazy campus and the city center will be with 18,000 more people! Should be wild!

Though this week has been a very much needed level of lameness, today was wild indeed! Decked out in our hiking boots, Dr. O took our class on our very first field trip! The adventures began with the good doctor leading us through beautiful grassy hills to the Garranes Ringfort. Although somewhat unimpressive, the ringfort is thought to be the most grand ringfort in Ireland containing the royal seat of Éoganacht Raithleann. Excavations from the 1930s found pottery dating from the 5th and 7th centuries AD, so it's a really old hill surrounded by a defensive series of trenches and banks!

Our second stop was Ballinacarriga Tower House, built in the 14th century. Surprisingly,

the castle retained its strength and we actually got to climb up to the tippy top. It is just crazy to drive along these country roads because not only do they look as though a single truck could make it through, but somehow, these Irish drivers squeeze two past! Just as soon as your heart has returned to a normal, resting beat and you feel safe enough to look out the window you look out to see an ancient castle right next to a petrol station (European for gas station). Dr. O

led us on a tour of the defensive architecture built into the tower house including "sticky-outtie stones" and small, "higgley-piggledy" windows. He also pointed out the Sheela-na-gig, a distorted female figure meant to represent the "power of the female form." Oh Dr. O, such a feminist.

Climbing up the 14th century stairs exhausted both our legs and our bellies, so our next stop was a lunch of thousands of tiny sandwiches! I was in heaven surrounded by plates piled high with 4 types of sandwiches. Once I had shoveled as many sandwiches as humanly possible in my belly we explored Clonakilty for a few minutes before boarding the coach for Coppinger's Court!

Mr. Coppinger's is a semi-fortified house built 30 years or so after the tower house, but really was in much worse shape! It was also designed with much more aesthetic intentions and doesn't have all of the effective defense mechanism that the tower house demonstrated.

Our final stop for the day was Drombeg and the Stone Circle. The largest of the Cork/Kerry stone circles, it overlooks a beautiful view of fields and coastline. The Stone Circle itself isn't quite as spectacular as I was anticipating, but then again it is a circle of stones! Next to the circle were the remains of conjoined circular huts and a fulacht fiadh. A fulacht fiadh is the most common ancient site in Ireland and is a crescent of small stones with a wooden trough in the middle. Apparently, in ancient times, men would make boiling water for

cooking by heating the small stones with fire then throwing them in the trough. Very clever, neolithic people of Ireland!

Now I am home and rested up after a long day of adventure! I have become quick the domestic diva, cooking tasty meals on the daily! The rest of the weekend should include a couple pub crawls and a trip to the coast, so stay tuned!

The best thing about Dublin is the road to Cork

This was a proud weekend for the Rebel County with Cork, with the Rebels coming back from behind to beat Dublin 1-15 to 1-14 in the All-Ireland Gaelic football tournament! All of the Americans in Cork donned our cheap, matching Cork shirts and headed out the pubs to observe the cultural phenomenon that is Gaelic football. Unfortunately, the really die-hard fans were all at the pitch (european for field) cheering their boys on in person. I bounced from pub to pub meeting up with friends and getting way too into the game.

Gaelic football is the most intense, aggressive game I have ever watched. Imagine a fusion of rugby, handball, and soccer and bam, you have gaelic football. With 15 players on the pitch at the time it is extremely fast paced. Players move the ball by kicking it, punching it, or running with it. When they run with the ball they have to kick the ball or dribble it every 4 steps otherwise the ref calls a foul. It's extremely complicated, full of contact, and is the most watched sport in Ireland! If you are craving more here's the website for the GAA and in usual Irish style, it's very disorganized and hard to navigate!

Since it was a Sunday and the match was on, the streets were completely empty. The pubs were full of a mix of Irish teens and American college students, but that didn't keep the passion down! It was a very emotional afternoon, especially with such a close game! I got way to into it, which is parr for the course for me.

After the game my friend and I did a little grocery shopping and then went for a walk in the park. Once home we watched Stepmom on TV when we were rudely interrupted by a fire alarm! Someone was baking bread poorly. It turned out okay, though because the fire brigade came and they are quite a cute bunch. I turned in early because today was the first day of school! The lecture hall we are in is old-school and the professor loves archaeology and it is contagious. The classes are taught in thirds and between the second and third sections we have a 25 minute coffee break! Class ended at 12:30 and we wandered campus, ate lunch, and got our ID cards, which means we can use the gym!

The gym is the second largest in Ireland and is snazzzz-y. We decided to go to a step aerobics class which no matter what would be either a good laugh or a good work-out. It turned out to be both! Tomorrow is another day of class, but don't worry my life isn't too bland, on Friday we have our first field trip to Western Cork!

Every girl needs a little black drink...

The next day we officially started our orientation, which turned out to be less intense than anticipated. We talked about cultural and academic differences before heading over to the Guinness storehouse for a tour of the museum (and a free pint!) The museum was quite well done, full of history, advertising art, and the science of stout. At the end you get to pour your own pint, which is quite a complex process--it takes 2 minutes to pour it properly! If you want step by step instructions, just let me know.

After Guinness, we took a hop-on-hop-off bu

s around the city and back to our hotel. We recharged quickly and the six girls went out for pizza. Later that night we all fancied up and went on a pub crawl in the Temple Bar area. The best of the pubs featured an Irish duo that played a fun mix of my favorite American music (tracks included Tom Petty, Old Crow Medicine Show, Bob Dylan, Semisonic) and traditional Irish music.

The next morning we learned how to keep ourselves healthy and safe with a cooking lesson and a visit from a Garda (police officer). After we hopped on the bus and went to a branch of the National Gallery where we saw an exhibit on Irish soldiers. It was quite interesting, but came at the end of a long day of listening, riding the bus, and eating. That night we decided to stay in and all piled into my hotel room to watch Good Will Hunting. What a great movie! Also, Irish TV has very few commercials!

Today was the day that everyone in my group was looking forward to--travel to Cork day! We took a greyhound esque bus and we all tried to enter the bus on the right side without thinking about the fact that the driver sits on the right side. It's a

crazy country to walk in because you forget that they drive on the other side of the road. The bus trip was pretty uneventful, we mostly just snoozed and played road trip games. After 3 hours we arrived at Victoria Lodge, our new home. Anxious we realized that we were all on different floors. Any trepidation quickly disappeared as soon as I saw my room. It's just the cutest! I feel like I'm living in Ikea. Scripps Dorms are beautiful, but Victoria Lodge really has a college feel. We share a kitchen but we each have our own bathroom and room with a desk, closet, and underbed storage! Upon dropping our stuff off we realized how famished we were so we quickly headed to a hip restaurant. After our hunger had been conquered we began the extremely stressful process of buying bed linen, things for our room, and groceries.

The good thing about Ireland is that bed linens are cheap, cheap, cheap. 1 comforter, 2 towels, 1 pillow with case, 2 washcloths, 1 sheet set and 1 candle cost under 30 euro. Wooey! What a bargain hunter! The bad thing about Ireland is that groceries and everything else costs a fortune. Currently I am sitting in the common area with about 10 other college students (it feels so college-y) after moving in and filling up on chili con carne. I love Cork so far and can't wait to see what it really has to offer! Tomorrow orientation for my early start class begins, so it should be an exhausting day of information followed by an evening at a pub watching Dublin play against Cork's rivals in rugby! Should be colorful! When my card reader is being more cooperative I will post some pictures of all the things I have been doing because Ireland is definitely a place worth photographing, everything about it is beautiful!