"Most People Prefer Jameson"...NOT!

---

Alright, lots of updating to do so bear with me!

On Monday I had my first Irish Traditional Music class and we got to listen to various harps and fiddles which really got me into the Irish spirit. Our lecturer also played a little jig for us on the Irish Whistle (I believe that is what it’s called) and I just wanted to jump up and start dancing…except for the fact that I have no idea how to step dance or anything like that! For that class I only have two essays that are 1000 words each. One of them is based on a “session” vs. a concert. A session occurs at a pub and is very relaxed and just a bunch of people playing the same tune on various instruments. She told us this pub to check out, An Spailpín Fanach, to listen to a session. We decided to go there that night around 10 and it was awesome! Whoever is coming to visit me, I am taking you there. They have live music every night but on Monday nights a group of UCC students play. There were about 15 fiddlers, a few flute players, a guy playing the accordion, and a guy playing the guitar. You could hear the live music as soon as you walked into the pub which, by the way, was the most legit Irish pub I’ve been to yet! Stone walls, wooden tables and chairs, live music, and plenty of pints 😊 There was also this really creepy/funny old Irish guy who came over to us and was playing a coin on a pint? He was like drumming it to the beat and it was so funny!

On Tuesday, I saw my first Irish rainbow! No pot of gold, but it was pretty exciting 😊 I also attempted laundry, which is super expensive (5 Euro to wash and dry..aka 7 US dollars) and down a creepy flight of stairs in our building :/ Later that day I had my Intro to Irish History class which is super interesting. We have been discussing the potato famine and the political turmoil that revolved around it. I figured it’s a pretty good class to take since it’s only 2 hours a week (one night a week), one 1500 word essay, and a written exam that is taken in March, so I don’t have to worry about it after my travels in April! Tuesday night was lovely, as usual. We went to The Wash for some karaoke and to meet up with some Irish friends. After not getting to sing into the microphone (no worries, I screamed out the lyrics anyway), we headed to smelly An Brog (a pub that is actually opened late). It wasn’t that fantastic and we left like an hour before it closed and got HILLBILLY’S. This place is FABULOUS. It’s basically a fast food joint that specializes in fried chicken. The Irish love it and so do we! It was the perfect end to the night and hit the spot 😉

On Wednesday, I had Physics at 10 and decided to sleep most of the day away haha. Then at 6 Meg and I went to our Physics tutorial and actually understood what was going on..yay! We have problem sets do every week in that class but our TA in the tutorial basically does the problems for us so that’s awesome! We pretty much were bums that night. We watched Sweet Home Alabama with Meg’s Irish roomies and order some pizza..yum!

Thursday we had Physics at 9 and I took another nap (they are addicting, esp. when you stay up until 3am to talk to your friends and family at home!). The night brought some excitement. We went to The Wash first and an Irish guy, Keith, was celebrating his birthday yet he bought us drinks? Haha! We also saw a crew of our friends there who were playing card games and the Irish were fascinated by the concept of Kings and the “King’s Cup” (it’s a college card game for those of you who are not in college :P). After The Wash we met up with some friends at Gorby’s. I, unfortunately, wore unbroken-in shoes that night and still have blisters 😞 I asked the bartender for some band-aids but they didn’t have any, plus they call them PLASTERS here..weird, I know. So Gorby’s was pretty fun and it was just a hilarious night cause we ran into so many random people unexpectedly and it pretty much was an episode of Gossip Girl, except less backstabbing :P

Friday I slept in as late as possible but Meg and I had Physics Lab at 2 so I still had to wake up before evening haha. Lab was MISERABLE. It took us the full 3 hours and they use all of these old school machines and you have to graph BY HAND! Sorry guys, but in the U.S. we use these machines called COMPUTERS. Sheesh! Anyway, we fortunately didn’t have to draw out any graphs, but you have to write up the entire lab neatly by hand and pass it in by the end of the period. Boy, did I have a hand cramp! After that miserable lab, we went grocery shopping which was a process, as usual. I was pretty excited to get a cute top for only TEN EURO at the mall near the grocery store 😊 Once we unpacked and ate some dinner, the girls came over and we watched Titanic. WHAT A DEPRESSING MOVIE! I haven’t seen it in years and I just wanted to cry at the end…poor Jack 😞 The cool thing is the final port that the Titanic left from is in CORK (where I am!)!!! There is a museum and a walking tour and such that you can do here, but I think one day we are just going to head over there and walk around, maybe check out the museum.

Saturday, we went to the Midleton Distillery, about a half hour bus ride away (on the bus to the bus station we ran into our Physics professor! he was so nice and gave us some tips to traveling around Cork!), to learn all about Jameson (and get a complimentary drink!). “The Jameson Experience” was pretty interesting..10 euro if you’re a student..and I took waaay too many pictures, considering I do not like whiskey at all! I’ll eventually get them up on Flickr but the internet is so slow and frustrating that they probably won’t be up for a few days. They are on Facebook though (took me almost all day). After “The Jameson Experience” we were desperately trying to find some legit Irish cuisine in town but everything that served that type of menu was closed so we had pizza instead! Saturday night we pretty much went pub hopping and eventually ended up at An Brog. It actually didn’t smell this time and we had a big table with all these students from QU, with a few additional French and Irish folks. All in all it was a good night!

Today, I just slept in really late and have been updating stuff online. Tomorrow will be more productive…I hope! Oh and fun fact, my friends and I are going to London February 4th-9th for only 21 Euro each! Also, I Skyped with my mom the other night and it worked so well! Considering it was 2:30, 3am here, I guess not many people were using the connection haha.

Well, I better get back to doing nothing. I’ll try to update halfway thru the week this time so the post isn’t so long! Cheers!

---

Comments

[Stephanie]

updates
Meg told me to check out her update, so I thought you might have an update as well. SHe hadn't mentioned having to graph by hand, lol. I think the last time my kids did it was in 7th grade, when the science fair required hand graphs! Looking forward to pictures.