"Crisis"

I've been living in Ireland now for exactly 10 weeks. That is two and a half months. As you millions of loyal readers know, a lot has happened in these 10 weeks. The first few weeks were relatively quiet, uneventful, filled with lots of shopping, walking, and general calmness. The past 7 or 8 weeks have been a frenzy of lectures, papers, music, friends, and general craziness.

But as anyone who's ever studied abroad, anyone who's lived abroad, or even anyone who's moved to a new place knows, there's a point around the two or three month mark that you lose it. You lose whatever motivation, whatever excitement, or whatever just plain inert movement you had to make the move and to make the move work. I think I might have hit that point.

Ever studied abroad and you've probably seen this graph before. Schools and universities and international offices are always using it to demonstrate the range of emotions students experience when they go abroad and also, interestingly, when they return home.

First, there's the honeymoon phase. Pretty self-explanatory. Everything's new and exciting, you're so glad to be wherever you now are. You barely have time to call home. And you wouldn't have it any other way.

Second comes "culture shock" as they label it. Basically, you're not so sure anymore. You're getting homesick, you're missing customs you're familiar with, you're frustrated with customs you're not. And you're probably constantly complaining about your new culture and ready to tell anyone who will listen how much better everything is in ..... wherever you're from aka the greatest place in the world.

Third comes Adjustment. You're over it, that homesickness or whatever it was that started you on your downward path to misery. You're not a part of your new culture, but you're not apart from it either. You feel pretty competent in both your own customs and the ways of your new culture. You're feeling pretty "dual-cultured".

And finally, Mastery comes. This one's a little vague and open to interpretation. And I also think it depends on the person. So whenever that happens for me, I'll just write again and let you know what it feels like....

I used to live in Ireland; I've already returned home. So basically, I've already experienced almost everything on this graph before. And therefore I really don't think I'm doing so again. I've looked at the graph over and over and over again recently trying to see where I fit on the plane, and it's just not working. There is no longer an infographic that will help me understand my life.

However, I am feeling a bit homesick. In fact, I turned on Christmas music the other day because it seemed like the home-y-est thing I could do. A few of my friends weren't particularly happy with that one. But it worked!

 So I apologize in advanced if I start going a little off-the-grid with blog posts for the next couple of weeks. I've got lots of fun American and Irish, and Irishy-American things planned to share with all of you. But it's all in an attempt to get me through the end of the semester and into Christmas. And Christmas might be coming early here as well. I need an outlet, since I'm apparently not allowed to tell any of my friends here that I'm listening to Christmas music already. I have to wait until December... but not for you !!

Friends, hobbies, day-trips, afternoon plans are all ways to fight homesickness, I'm finding. Lots of work continues to pile up (it's that time of the semester), but finding time for yourself (sleeping, gyming, reading, blogging) and finding time for friends (and a few pints or a few cookies, depending) are essential.

I've taken a silly break from this blog, but never fear. I'm back. Let's have fun in Ireland together xx

How To: Find Autumn in the Rain

Beautiful, isn't it? Welcome to my morning run last Saturday. I live so close to the city and so close to the country, a step in either direction takes me to two different worlds. But notice anything weird about this picture? That's right, you figured it out. It's GREEN!

Maybe you're bad with calendars, and dates, and life, and seasons. But it is October, which, at least for me, usually means autumn! Leaves! Red! Yellow! Hot chocolate! Pumpkins! But here in Ireland, it really just means a little bit crisper, a little bit colorful, a lot of rain, no pumpkins. The poor Irish.  Never dramatic changes in seasons, always small incremental ones.

So I've been madly hunting around for even just a small hint of autumn as an American remembers it. It's truly an adventure. Here's what I've found so far.

After a rainy night, the morning is perfect. But very green... Wait! Do I see some yellow leaves happening?

On the river run around the neighborhood (a post for another day). We'll blame the pitch for the green here....

YELLOWISH GREEN LEAVES!

As you can see the pickings are slim. But the lack of abundance in the leaf department turns into a small blessing. Never have I appreciated every single little leaf, every small moment of crisp breeze, and every cup of hot chocolate. It's not a given that red, yellow, and orange will surround me; but the mild changes force me to appreciate every mild, little thing. Happy Autumn, Ireland!  

Spotted at UCC's main quad. Success! Truly red! But it might be the only red you'll find in Cork.

How To: Celebrate a Ridiculous Holiday

The last Thursday in September is a ridiculous one in Ireland (and all over the world, in actual fact). It is Arthur Guinness Day! The international Guinness toast takes place at 17:59GMT, and people all over the world (who are aware of the event) toast their pints in unison.

Guinness pays for almost all festivities planned in major cities. Some of the bigger bars in Cork had headliner acts. Apparently Kodaline has been here a couple of times (supposedly they were in the city this time, too), Ellie Goulding, etc. Pretty cool, actually. But there are plenty of places that just serve reduced pints and gather people for an evening of fun. 

I was already in town early enough in the day, so M came and met me and a couple of classmates at The Wash. We had a couple of pints and headed over to meet the friends over at one of the bigger bars in Cork, Crane Lane. We spent much, much longer in the Crane Lane than I think I've ever done in one night, but we had great fun dancing and queuing for hours on end.

Now if you do this "holiday" right, you will be like me and have utterly no pictures. Any photo I have was screenshotted from a snapchat the next morning. #winning right?

M and I, I don't remember who we were responding to, but it was probably deserved.

Our favorite place... utterly packed.

Plastic pints to ensure they wouldn't run out (or break...!)

Any body else celebrate Arthur Guinness Day this year? What sorts of things do you do in your city?

And if you missed out, don't be down. There's always next year!

How To: Entertain in your Adopted City

I've been in Cork for a month this Wednesday. I only started classes last Monday. My room is still in shambles, and I don't know yet where we keep the colander in the house. My Irish life is still developing, and I am still lucky enough to have already had visitors! (Eeeek!)

 Little K and Tall K flew from Edinburgh to Dublin and hitched a bus from Dublin to Cork (the bus was a journey much longer than the plane ride) to visit their old and my current stomping ground, the beautiful Cork City. 

What do you with guests when you've only been in your house for a month? Luckily, my friends know their way around, too. Otherwise, who knew what would've happened this weekend!

Just off the bus, they thought they looked bad. I wasn't much better....

I picked them up from town, and the first stop was for some lovely sausage rolls from the infamous English Market. I didn't get one, and I didn't take any pictures, but they've inspired me. I'm going back soon.

Then we caught the bus back to the house to relax and cook some food. We bought cans and cooked with the awesome sounds of 2010 playing in the background. We spent a few hours working on a playlist entitled Irish Reunion, which included such popular 2010 hits as "Only Girl in the World", "Dynamite", "Empire State of Mind", and "Teenage Dream". Little K, Tall K, and I all studied abroad together at University College Cork here in Cork City three years ago, and we were having a great time reliving the awesome and terrible moments had on those nights out. 

My friend S made the incredible trek on the bus all the way out to the house, and we all had a blast. We headed into town for a reminiscent pub crawl. First stops were the Franciscan Well and An Spailpín Fánach. Fran Well was a favorite of the Ks back in the day because of their infamous beer coupons. The place brews all of its own beer, and it used to be the only craft brewery in Cork City. It's been a bit upstaged recently, but its beer garden will never come in second. The Spailpín has always been one of my favorites because it's cozy, filled with nooks and crannies, and because it hosts dozens of Irish music sessions.

Picture struggle bus

The Thirsty Scholars playing for the incredibly large amount of tourists. It's true though, no one else would go to the Spailpín on a Saturday night!

Some incredibly Irish bevies: Guinness, Bulmers, Smithwicks, and a hot whiskey (clockwise from back left)

"Murphy's: The official pint of us" (Cork City)

Our next stops were where our night went from chill and "European" to club crazy. Two more favorites are The Washington Inn and Rearden's. Now if you know anything at all about Cork City, you're probably rolling your eyes and laughing with that sort of pained, I've-been-there groan. For those of you who've never been to Cork, allow me to explain. 

The Wash is one of my favorites because, on the regular, it's small, sort of rough, and you can always find someone to make friends with, even if it's the bartender. But at night (every night, really, but especially at the weekends), it turns into the party-goer's heaven. Relatively inexpensive pints, a live DJ (even if it is tiny in there, no one seems to mind!), well-dressed drunks. It's a pretty good spot. The number of stag and hen parties I've run into there is incredible. But I will admit: it's kind of a mess. Go with a grain of salt and a little stubborn integrity and you might make it out in one piece.

Irish reunion buddies (and a photobomb)

All four of us! (is that the same photobomber, do we think?)

 After the Wash, we headed across the street to the incredible Rearden's, which is a place that's not everyone's cup of tea. But at the weekends, it's one of my utter favorites. They play good music, but it's still a crowded (if incredibly large) bar. The crowd tends to be younger, and incredibly sloppy. But as long as you've got some good girlfriends who love to dance, you're solid. 

I didn't even whip out the camera at Rearden's because who knows who would've spilled what on it. But the four of us danced tons, got incredibly sweaty and gross, and caught a cab back to the house. Not before we had some spectacularly delicious chips from the new chipper on Washington Street (I've been there a few times already; I think I'm inadvertently making friends with the people behind the counter there).

 

 The next morning, we managed to drag ourselves out of bed at an unreasonable hour to hike to the city for the most important part of an Irish weekend: breakfast. The Flying Enterprise does one of the best restaurant Full-Irish breakfasts I've ever come across (the first prize would actually go to a great B&B I stayed at once).

We walked around the city a little to try to work off all that food and cholesterol, and after not long enough, we went for Butler's hot chocolate. Definitely worth the pain of the itis for that one. Dark hot chocolate is one of Ireland's greatest charms!

New addition to Wash Street. Um... what?!

Little K was stuck in gum...

We were all obviously exhausted by Monday morning. Actually we were exhausted by Sunday morning, which was easily proved by the number of spill-like accidents poor Little K had. But it was a great trip. It was awesome seeing these lovely ladies; it was the first time I saw both of them together since we were all here in 2010! And it was a great experience having visitors in my new city! It's good to finally know how many guests the house can hold, too. ;)

Special thanks to Tall K for some of the pictures!!