It's been a week since I moved into my apartment in Cork, but the last 7 days have been so crazy that it feels like months since I left Chicago. Can't imagine how I'll feel in December when it actually has been months. The first 3 days wmainly consisted of getting familiarized with the city, settled in our apartments, and going to some orientation sessions on campus. Everyone in my program lives in the same apartment building, so we ran all our errands together and managed to turn shopping for detergent into a fun and loud endeavor. Over the weekend, two of my friends turned 21, so on Saturday night we went to a few pubs in downtown cork. For a smaller city, theres a ton if options for nightlife, from clubs to more relaxed live music pubs. We walked into The Wash first, which was so packed that none of us could move. But once we started dancing on the tables to 90s hits and singalong songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, we had an awesome time, Everyone we met, from our new Irish roommates to people at the pubs, were the most friendly people with the most wicked sense of humor. It definitely lived up to my expectations of pub culture in ireland. Unfortunately, I tend to fall asleep at 1130 most nights, but I'm making an effort to go out as much as I can.
On sunday, a few friends and I walked to a pub to watch the All Ireland Hurling Final between Kilkenny and Tipperary. The place was packed with fans and the atmosphere was electric. Hurling is a fastpaced sport that combines the physical nature of hockey with the quickness of lacrosse, but it being the championship match brought the excitement to a completely different level. The match was a nail biter and crowds swarmed the TV in the last seconds when Tipp almost scored the winning point with 1 minute left. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for us, the teams tied, which means we'll be watching the rematch in 2 weeks!
The next day brought the start of classes, which to be honest none of us felt prepared for after a week of fun during our orientations in Dublin and Cork. We also didn't feel prepared because we didn't know which classes were offered until...twe days earlier. The Irish are a bit more lax than Americans in terms of scheduling and timing, which showed on Monday when half of my classes either weren't offered or were moved to a different time. Since UCC's campus is several miles long, i got quite a workout as i ran around cork trying to find the buildings of my classes that, you know, got cancelled. Fortunately Tuesday went much more smoothly and I felt like much less of a freshman (or fresher, in Irish terms). I finally got my schedule straight last night and it looks like this:
Intro to Irish traditional music
Cultures of Cities
Music in Modern Ireland
Introduction to International Development
..and Intro to French (I know this is Ireland, but I couldn't fit irish into my schedule and this class is "aimed at 12 year olds" so I couldn't resist)
I'm only in class from noon on Monday until 2 pm on wednesday. Also, i have 1 fjnal during all of december. So much time to travel! Hoping to hit Galway and the Cliffs of Moher this weekend with some friends. Also taking a day trip to the Dingle Peninsula in West Ireland, where I'm taking a picture with the Kathleen McAuliffe store. Also, another friend turns 21 on Thursday, so it'll be a fun night in Cork tomorrow!
Stay in touch everyone!
Katie
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