Blogs from Cork, County Cork, Ireland, Europe - page 5

...does the word "haunted" mean "lucky", while "bold" is another term for "naughty." Some of you may remember my Irish coursemate from Bonfire Night and the trip to Durham. That is Yvonne, and she and her Grandmother were kind enough to let me stay with them for a few days in the beautiful Republic of Ireland. I have been to Ireland before, to Galway on the west coast. I was only there for two days (with a non-functioning camera for the majority of it), and the things I remember most were brightly colored houses and Guinness signs approximately every 30 feet. Check and check for those in Cork. Except that the Guiness signs we... read more

This awesome Jazz week of October 2011 started with our very first pumpkin carving on the Tuesday 25th. Corey and I were very excited to carve pumpkins for Halloween. Not know what to expect we made our way downstairs to our very good friends Mariah, Corey aka sexy bottoms and Amy's apartment. We cracked some drinks and got the music pumping as we drew our designs on the pumpkins. I was going for a happy pumpkin where Corey went for a more scary looking one. We started to hack into the pumpkins carefully carving around our designs and scooping with out hands the insides of our creations, saving the seeds of course for my room mate Sam's grilled pumpkin seeds - which surprisingly tasted really nice and salty! After a few drinks and more craving we ... read more

Day One: San Francisco Why is it that no matter how much time one has to plan and pack for a trip the last day is always a mad scramble to get to the airport? This year we are blessed with Victoria our beautiful volunteer chauffer who gets us to the gates on time. A celebratory glass of wine, a stroll to pre-stretch out our legs to get ready for a 10 hour flightand we are up in the air right on time. By 7PM we are above the golden pink clouds and rolling fog: the Golden Gate Bridge peaks out, and we are on our way. Let me tell you straight up that Premium Economy Class ROCKS! And it's not just the leg room—we actually have some—there is the sparking wine before take-off, the hot ... read more

August 24th -- Day Four -- Road Trip & Cork Driving in Ireland is an experience that is difficult to describe. It’s like telling someone what something tastes like. Now, to be fair, I’m not the one driving; I’m the one being driven. David does the driving. The roads are narrow, fast and winding. At any moment another car may pass very quickly, or you may find yourself behind a slow moving piece of farm equipment. Roundabouts may have rules, but we’ve yet to discover what these may be. Stopped at an Abbey on the way to Cork. David got some wonderful photos and I got bit by a wasp. The Abbey is still in operation and its members observe silence at various times during the day. Perhaps the wasp was trying to enforce the rules? ... read more

Hey everyone, I'm back with more adventures and get prepared for the pictures 'cause they are amazing! I've done some really exciting travelling in the past two weeks, hence why I haven't really been keeping up with this blog as well as I should, but I promise to try my best! I've also been very busy with work since I finally have a semi-permanent full-time job and I'm fairly knackered by the end of the day to be honest. Yes I know I just used that Irish word; I don't have a goofy accent yet, but the slang is pervasive and slowly creeping into my speech haha. I also work with a very large group of young Irish people so I'm definitely picking up the lingo faster now, my personal favourites are "that's/you're grand", "deadly", "just ... read more