Bestie Travels Part Four: Cork, Jameson, and The End

This is the fourth and final part of our Bestie Travels posts! It's a bittersweet farewell to L! 

On her last day in Eireann, L and I elected not to make the grueling trip up to Dublin for the night. Instead, we played around Cork City a little bit and headed out to Midleton for the afternoon to see the great and famous old Jameson Whiskey factory. 

We ended the evening with a girls' night and some Irish traditional music in the Spáilpín Fánach. This cozy little pub on South Main Street is both well-known and well-hidden. It looks like it popped right out of Pirates of the Caribbean and it features live Irish and trad music every night of the week except Tuesday. Once a month, they even host a traditional singer's session.

L and I barely landed on our feet after a week of grueling adventure, but with one last true girls' night - albeit in a totally different location than Sunday brunch in DC - we finished of the trip with a Sláinte!

I realize this post is massively late, and you probably won't believe when I say I miss her already, because it's obviously been months and DUH, you miss her! but seriously, I missed her the second she got on the plane! So cheers, L, and I hope you can come visit again soon!! xx

Saint Finbarr's Cathedral, Cork City

On the train to Midelton and the Jameson Factory

Jameson, Home of Good Irish Whiskey

Pretty sure it's the largest pot still in the world... and if it's not, it should be.

L trying to ring the bell!

Bestie Travels Part Three: Blarney Castle and Adventure

This is part three of four posts on Bestie L's spectacular stint seeing the land of the green.

After an epic road trip of galavanting around the country, L and I were pretty exhausted. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), we had a party at the house that night for all the gang to meet my American friend that I'd been talking about for weeks. Giddy from exhaustion, I think we made a good showing, but honestly, we were so pooped I don't remember that much. I might have been asleep after all that... 

Anyway, the next day we decided to stick around Cork a little bit. We slept in, took a walk, headed to town, and eventually, hopped in the car for Blarney Castle.

For all of you American readers, I certainly hope you've heard of the infamous Blarney Stone - by kissing the stone you're gifted the gift of the gab. Basically it just means that if you're brave or nutty enough to bend over backwards over a great height and put your lips on possibly the most slobbered-upon thing on the planet, then you will be as talkative as some of us are naturally. Good luck! 

Blarney Castle, Co. Cork

The boy came with us girls for the evening because, though he's lived in Cork for ages, he's never been to Blarney. So the three of us hiked through the castle, crawling over fading limestone and into narrow windows. We crawled through dungeons and caves and enjoyed hunting through various poisonous plants and potions in the poisonous garden. L and I threw some imaginary boiling oil over the boy's head through the hidden gate, and it was just generally a great day. 

Though L didn't make it quite to the top (in fairness, it's a pretty awful staircase, and it was wet from recent rainy footsteps...), the boy and I waved to her down through the floors of the open castle!

Peace out, L

And we ended the day by romantically gazing at a beautiful sunset (my idea) and an epic high five session. 

The moral of the story? Blarney Castle is beautiful and a great visit. But it is much better exploring it with friends x

Get ready for the best high five ever - note how L never looks at me and how somehow I can't stop laughing. 

My Favourite Place in Cork on UCC International Blog

I had a few posts published on the University College Cork International Students' Blog in the last couple of months. For one of them, I was asked what my favourite (or favorite!) place in Cork was and why. Check it out here. It's been great fun writing pieces for this blog! 

Pub Date

One of the best things about Ireland is the roads. Another is the pubs. Allow me to explain.

The Irish will give out about Irish roads for hours on end, but they will equally avoid the motorways and national roads in favor of the backroads. Why suffer through the tight corners, deep ridges, and million potholes? Because driving through Ireland is actually therapeutic. Driving anywhere can be therapeutic, to be fair. Even driving on the Irish "highways" is therapeutic (two lanes and almost always empty! They're also built up usually, so they have great views!) 

But there's something about winding through the greenery or the sunshine or the fog or the clouds, all with the ever-present scent of fresh rain and grass (sometimes sheep-smell is in there, too). It's just cleansing. 

Add in a quick trip to the pub, with its cozy couches and fireplaces, and you've got your perfect date night x And now you know what D and I elect to do fairly regularly.

The responsible driver's drink of soda versus the irresponsible pint.

#Cork

Foggy Irish Mornings

Irish weather changes every day. More than every day, it changes every hour, it seems. These rapidly changing, various climes are the bane of the existence of the Irish weather service, which might explain why the weather forecasts here always read something poetically vague, like today's:

Dry at first, but outbreaks of rain and drizzle will spread eastwards this afternoon, accompanied by hill and coastal mist and fog. Highest temperatures of 9 to 11 degrees, with winds becoming mostly fresh and gusty south to southeasterly, strong and gusty in western coastal parts.

Though the weather makes getting dressed in the morning and staying dry and warm or cool and fresh throughout the day particularly challenging, it also means that no day is ever the same as the day before, and no hour is ever the same as the one before. The constant changes of weather here are one of the few actual constants, and it keeps everything gorgeously adventurous. (I wasn't thinking this optimistically when I had to walk to class the other day when the sky decided to fall on my head in the form of water, but there you go.)

The other day, a fog settled on Cork while the city decided to fall asleep so that when we all woke up, it looked like this.

I got a lift into class by this lovely guy I know ( :D ), and I couldn't stop gushing over how gorgeous everything looked in the fog. Which of course he made fun of me for. But as soon as I got into class that morning, I had a text with a few more fog photos from him with a caption: "I thought you might like these."

Of course the constantly changing Irish weather meant that by sunset, the world looked like this:

What gorgeous weather, honestly. 

Happy Wednesday!

Why Pursue a Degree in Ireland

After writing another guest post for the UCC International Blog, I realized I've never reflected on my degree and move to Ireland here on SEDiva. With the closing of last term and the finishing of a million projects, and with the new year and the arrival of a million more projects, I've been thinking a lot about my decisions to go back to school and to move to Ireland to do it. Last semester was a whirlwind, and it wasn't often easy. A lot of the difficulties came from culture shock and homesickness, a lot came from the drama of academia, and a lot came from the everyday drama of friendships and relationships. Most of these problems we experience no matter where we are or what we are doing. Some of these arise simply from being l'ingénue in a foreign country.

As an American, I'm often asked, why study music at University College Cork? That seems like a stupid question. A more serious one might be: why on earth move to a foreign country to get a degree at all? University is daunting enough as it is, no matter if we're pursuing our first, second, or eight degree. Choosing to go to college is a massive decision and almost always represents a turning point of some kind in our lives, a conscious decision to change in some way. Why make the already awkward transition even scarier by adding learn-about-and-assimilate-to-a-new-culture-a-thousand-miles-from-friends-and-family to the mix? Are you insane?

Moving countries is admittedly a terrifying thought, and I am unable to report that it is actually easy, so I apologize. It's a hard thing to do and a hard decision to make. It involves a lot of legally, visa-y, goverment-y things I would never have thought of before. New friends must be made, new grading systems must be learned, and in the case of an American musician, new theories and words for already known concepts must be learned (but that's a story for another post). But sitting here almost six months later, I have to say I'm finally glad I did it. We can build our lives in any way we want to, really. Where doesn't seem to be really as important as how, so make the most of wherever you are. Nowhere can be better than "here". It's the only place we'll ever really be.

Christmas Preparations xx: Cork City Edition

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you! 

I'm writing from my own desk in the good old DMV once again, eating a candy cane and loving the holidays. As I think I've mentioned before, Cork has been decorated since November 1st, so I suppose that means I'm a little late in posting about Christmas prep. Normally, I'd be anti-early-Christmas-prep, but being in a foreign country for the holiday has a funny way of making one a little homesick, and the only cure is a little Christmas. Hence, I joined the many thousands in merry Christmas making throughout November to the dismay of more than a few friends around me. But what can I say? We could always do with more Christmas, if it does mean finally displaying my own insanity.

How to Prepare for Christmas, step-by-step:
1) Run the Run in the Dark 5K with your housemate and enjoy the lights of the Christmassy city of Cork at night. Do not care that it is only November 13th...

2) Find Starbucks red cups at any cost.

God bless UCC's Coffee Dock

3) Decorate, including but not limited to:

Buying a chocolate advent calendar. Use it to countdown to your flight home rather than Christmas Eve. Home is much more important. 

Putting up stockings and a tree (utterly essential).

The stockings and stocking holders were my Christmas gifts to M and K.

Finding some Christmassy treats to bring home.

Special edition Barry's Tea from Cork: Santa's Tea.

4) Enjoy the first frost of the season and your last days in the Christmassy city with some mulled wine and walks around the Christmas fair.

Happy Christmas North Main Street. Celebrating last day of classes with a few pints.

Carousal at the Christmas fair on Grand Parade.

A few Christmas tunes

The English Market glowing in the dark.

Once all of these steps have been completed, you will be all set to pack up all those Christmas presents you so carefully wrapped (pack enough clothes for padding in the suitcase; you don't want all of your hard work to be for naught!), and catch a flight to Amurica.

I'm so excited to be home. Ireland is lovely, and I'm so happy living there; but Virginia has some charms that Ireland could never reproduce, especially at Christmas x

Thanksgiving: A New Irish Tradition

They said it couldn't be done, but we did it anyway. An American Thanksgiving in the middle of the Emerald Isle. M and I are both Americans, and being as ridiculously homesick and fond of cooking as we are (and M is quite the party/decorations kind of person), we decided to do a big dinner despite our location. So we called in 8 other friends, asked for some food donations, and started a new Irish tradition.

Unfortunately, our tiny little house struggled to contain all ten people, so with a little creativity, we managed to have two tables, one regular for six and one teeny kids table for four. But everyone put on a brave face, sipped their cocktails, and sat down to dinner. M did most of the cooking herself. One lovely guest brought some delicious side dishes and mulled wine, another meatloving guest put his hand to the turkey, a couple helped with potatoes, and I cooked the stuffing. Together thanks to everyone we got a delicious meal.

He tried so hard to get that knife to stick!

The Turkey Masterminds

Before they started helping....

No pictures of the gravy-stirrer please (*hint* that's me!)

Helping with the potatoes- cheeky girl thought she didn't need a vegetable peeler

Taking a quick break from helping....

"Do you know how to carve a turkey?"

Dealing with the leftovers...

Our house isn't really equipped to deal with leftovers...

And our fridge definitely isn't equipped to deal with leftovers.

Household god, did all the dishes himself.

Taking a (well-earned?) break

Ouch... grumpy!

The ten of us had a lovely weekend. Those American girls came back to Ireland just for Thanksgiving with us, and we had a blast. Lots of good food, good wine, and good laughter. The boy even brought champagne and glasses for everyone xx The lads did their fair share of helping out in the kitchen, so I have to say it was a great success. A new Irish tradition for sure!