Cork, Cobh, and Dublin

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i did not enjoy Cork much, the food was a lot cheaper. The city itself was just so dirty and nasty. I still had fun though. On thursday, we went off on to our overnight trips. I got to go to Cobh (cove), and this place I liked. It was really good for a one night stay. A large natural harbor with islands in the distance, a lot of titanic stuff, and this massive cathedral. It was over 300 ft. tall and was amazing. Took 47 years to build. Had really good seafood too. Then the next day we went to the Jameson Distillery and that was pretty cool too. But the best part in my opinion was on the way there. We stopped at Fota Island, which is a wildlife reserve. Got to pet a kangaroo, got really close to a cheetah (they also have a cheetah run later in the day but we didn't get to watch that, it's when they get the cheetahs to run after their food).

We had a party for the 4th of July, which is kind of celebrated in Ireland too. I think it is because the Irish want to laugh at the british but who knows.

After our late night party, we had to wake up very early to leave at 8 for dublin. It wasn't that bad but some were sick.

Along the way we stopped at the Rock of Cashel, which is this massive church castle thing on top of this huge mountain rock. It was cool. As soon as we arrived in dublin, we dropped our bags off and went to Croke park for the leinster (the region we are in) finals in hurling. Hurling is the craziest sport I have ever seen. It looks like a cross between baseball, field hockey, lacrosse, rugby, and soccer. They have to be the most skilled athletes in the world and they don't even get paid, it isn't a professional sport. I have a few videos of the game and warm ups for evidence.

Today we saw an extremely old book (Book of Kells, c. 800) and a library with thousands of really old books. I saw a book of transcribed music written by Beethoven.

and I finally got to do laundry for the first time since Galway. So I now have clean clothes.

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