November 10 – 23

I haven’t written for a while, but there hasn’t been too much to report – until now! I’ll glaze over the details of some of the geology stuff (email me if you want specifics), and hit on the major points.

On the 14th, my Introduction to Geology Course took a field trip out to Ringaskiddy and Myrtleville bay. The trip was the first time in the field for many of the students in the class, and so it was kept at a faily basic level. However, I did see some pretty cool stuff, and learned a little more about the geology of Cork.

I was a resource to a few people in my group, as our leader was a little bit over their heads and in his own world. For example, he pointed out crossbedding in some sandstones, but didn’t exlain what it was or how to spot it. Since I have done more geology than any of the people in the course, I knew what he was talking about, but as our leader wandered off, most of the students asked me what on earth he was talking about… so I explained it a little more, and pointed out the various features that show it. Fun fun.

Myrtlyville Harbour

Last week (the 16th – 20th) was pretty low key for me – I just had school, ensemble, and chill time with friends. All wonderful, but nothing out of the ordinary.

And then Thursday struck. We had rain throughout the day, but I wasn’t too worried about it. I went about my business (mainly getting ready for my weekend trip – bought amazing new gear!), and in a shop I heard the first mention of flood warnings. I didn’t think much of it as the warning was for a town to the west – up river – of Cork. I returned to my apartment, chilled with friends, and then looked at the news. Flood warnings indeed. Apparently, water – lots of water – had to be let out of a dam up river in order to prevent further disaster (ie, dam bursting). Cork was going to flood.

I stayed in that night (obviously), and woke up Friday morning to sunny skies and dry streets. My apartment building was perfectly fine, and the streets around me looked like they hadn’t seen any water in a while. I turned on my computer and saw many of my friends facebook statuses – the northern half of city center had been submerged! Over 18,000 homes had been damaged by the floods, and some of the city immediately lost water and electricity. In addition, much of the Ireland and some of the UK had been flooded – the worst floods in living memory. In Cumbria (UK), the flood was a 1000-year flood. Catastrophic, for sure.

Admittedly a little selfishly, I was glad I was leaving Cork for the weekend to higher ground, for what was to be one of the best weekends I’ve had here.

On Saturday morning, I was picked up by my favorite lecturer at UCC, and we headed out for a weekend of field work up in the Burren. I was a little worried we wouldn’t be able to go due to the flooding of roads, but he assured me that all the roads were open. Besides, he had a Landrover. We would be able to drive through water on the road.

We set out for the Burren, and arrived a couple of hours later. We looked at a Turlough (limestone periodic lake), some great limestone terraces of Carboniferous age (~320 million years old), hiked around through hazel and bracken, saw a Neolithic tomb (4000 years old), and generally had a great time. We did have a few misadventures including getting a little lost while walking around, experiencing a small storm burst, having to renavigate due to closed roads, and helping an Italian group change their tires, but it was all part of a good day’s work.

Mullaghmore and the turlough

After it got dark, we drove to Lehinch to our hotel, where I met Amy, the co-leader of Sunday and a fantastic girl with a background in geology and geography. We all stayed in a lovely suite – two bed rooms, one common room. The three of us chatted for a while, and at 7:30, headed down to a pub to meet the class.

I should expain something: Ed, my lecturer, was kind enough to invite me along on a trip he was heading for a geology course he is teaching for Open University – an adult education school. Saturday was just an extra day in the field (thanks, Ed!).

We had dinner, hung out, and I was able to meet some of the people I was going to be spending the day with. The people were lovely and had a huge variety of interests. At about 11, one of the students, her husband, and I headed back to the hotel. I was tired, and wanted to be at my best on Sunday, so I went straight to sleep.

On Sunday, we all got together, and headed out to the localities. First, the Cliffs of Moher. I had been there before, remember? Well, this was a whole different experience. Add the Cliffs with

• 100 mph winds
• Stormy seas
• Pelting rain

WOW. At one point, I jumped up just for funzies, and was carried at least 3 feet! At was incredible! Water was actually blown up the cliffs – like an upsidedown waterfall! Looking over the edge (of the wall), it was impossible to breathe, but at the same time, refreshing.

I had to buy a hat to keep my ears warm

The Upsidedown waterfall!

The next couple of spots were in the burren on the coast, at a limestone terrace outcrop. We weren’t able to go to the especially amazing fossil sites, as they were right on the edge and edge + winds = dangerous, but we still got to see some pretty neat things, including a coral fossil that was originally named after basalt due to its resemblance. I wasn’t able to get a picture, due to the extreme winds and rain, but it was neat!

Limestone Terraces

At the end of the day, we returned to Lehinch, and seven of us ventured out to get some lunch. Afterward, we left and headed home. Ed and I were having a fine drive until we arrived in Limerick… and then his car broke down! Silly fan belt. We called the Irish equivalent of AAA, and waited two hours for the mechanic/tow truck to arrive. After that, we were driven to a hotel where we were supposed to pick up a rental car, but apparently the tow man had it wrong. We then caught a cab to the Enterprise storage unit, waited in the cold rain and wind for the security guard to arrive, and then finally got on our way to Cork – four hours later!

I walked in to the common room of my apartment, saw two of my flatmates, and was informed that we had no water. Cork City has turned off all water until next weekend due to sanitation issues. I hiked around all Sunday in mud, dirt, sea spray, etc, only to learn that I can’t get clean? Ewwwwwwww. I’m not a fan.

Thus, I am heading out o Dublin tomorrow, partially to see the sights, and partially to take  a shower. I’m taking the train tomorrow morning, staying two nights, and returning on Thursday. I’m super excited!

Thanks for reading!

Oct 26th – Nov 9th

With the exception of Halloween, there isn’t much to report! I have just been going to classes, working on projects, and all sorts of other school-related things. Nothing blog worthy, for sure!

I suppose I’ll post pictures of the spooktastic night. There isn’t much of a story – I went to one of my good friend’s apartment. We hung out, told scary stories (bad idea on my part!), carved pumpkins, bobbed for apples, and generally halloweened out!

For my costume, I decided to use what I had – a ridiculous, sequined, peach colored dress. My first instinct was to be a fairy princess, so I tried to find wings. I only found angle wings. I succumed to the idea that I would just be an angel, although it wasn’t my first choice. But then, in the shower, I had a great idea.

Check the name tag.

I made a name tag: cake. And voila – Angel Food Cake. Cheesy, I know but I had to.

More party pics:

Weilding that knife. Skillz.

Finished Product

Me 'n the Gang

Hopefully, the coming weeks will prove more exciting! This coming weekend, I have a field trip to the Cork Harbour with the geology department. Then, I’ll be heading up to the Burren with one of my geology lecturers the next weekend. I won’t be able to see Verdi’s Macbeth in Dublin like I wanted to, but hiking around the Burren with a geologist? Yes please!

Alright. Not very exciting, but that’s what’s going on!

Thanks for reading!

Emma

October 23-25th

On Thursday evening, I hopped on a plane to Belfast, in Northern Ireland. I brought a few snacks along for the ride (and the weekend in its entirety). In hindsight, its a very good thing that I I did that! When I arrived in Belfast, I had about 150 euros with me. I figured that I would exchange these at the airport and use the sterling to pay for my three nights in two guest houses, food, and whatever else. I brought along my debit card and credit card for back up and to pay for train tickets.

After I collected my luggage in the Belfast Airport, I made my way out to the main area, only to find that the Bureau de Exchange had closed five minutes before I landed. No biggie right? I wandered over to the ATMs to pull out enough for transport to my hotel. Problem? The ATM said that I didn’t have enough in my account to pull out anything.

Start the panic that would endure for most of the weekend.

The night before I left, I made sure to transfer PLENTY of funds into my account, just in case I needed to pull out anything. I pulled out my phone and dialed the international Wells Fargo number to see what I could do. I was talking to someone, and was just about to find out how much was actually in my account…. when my minutes ran out. I was left not knowing the situation with my account, and still stranded with no viable currency.

I talked to the tourist desk, and the woman there told me that taxi drivers would in fact accept Euros. So I made my way out to the taxi lane… to find that the first three drivers I talked to would in fact NOT accept my money. I’m fairly certain that the only reason the fourth driver said he would accept Euros is the fact that I was about to burst into tears.

When I finally arrived at my destination, I was ready to collapse. It was only about 8:30, but the stress of the situation was a little much for my system. Besides, I was waking up early to catch my train.

In the morning, I went down, had some breakfast. Being the only person awake, the owner came over and talked to me for a while. As I finished up, I asked about checking out. I explained the Euro situation, and asked if she accepted them. Nope. Cards? Nope.

The internal panic began again.

I asked if there were any ATMs near by, just incase the bank situation had cleared up over night. She gave me directions to the nearest one – I made my over, to find that I was still unable to pull out any money. After explaining the situation, she decided to be nice. I gave her a fifty Euro note, and she gave me all the sterling she had – 2o Pounds. All in all, I probably lost about 10 Euro from the deal, but I was happy.

I walked over to the train station, and luckily I was able to pay for transport with my credit card. Phew! The train ride to Corelaine and the subsequent bus ride to Bushmills were fairly uneventful. The scencery was nice, but nothing spectacular. I was fortunate to have a very accomadating bus driver, who dropped me off at the lane that led to my second guest house, which was not an official stop.

The panic subsided for the most part after that with the exception of one issue: food. With only about 5 pounds extra once I took out the cost of the bed and breakfast I was staying at, it was going to be slim eatin’s for the weekend. I decided to get the most nutrient rich thing I could: Peanut Butter. I also got some soda bread and a bag of apples. Luckily, the B&B did have a pretty great breakfast buffet, with an optional cooked breakfast (although, not very vegetarian/lactose-intolerant friendly. However, the tomatos and potato bread were divine!). I pretty much survived on breakfast, PB, bread and apples for my trip.

And now to the non-panic laden part of my trip: as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

On Friday, the sky was gorgeous, and I took a lovely walk from Bushmills to the Causeway.

The Causeway was incredible. As a geologist, I was in heaven.

Picture taking FAIL

Even when it started to rain, it was absolutely beautiful!

Even when it rained all day Saturday, it was gorgeous.

Okay, so when it started to rain AND blow, I called my hike quits. The weather was just … terrible. I ended up spending about half of Saturday curled up in bed with a book (Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris), and ended up finishing it. I haven’t done that in a while, and it felt lovely.

On my last night in Bushmills, I ran into a couple – a middle aged man from Scotland and his Indonesian girlfriend. It turns out, they were taking the same train to Belfast that I was. They asked me if I would like to take the taxi to Coleraine with them – at no charge! They seemed nice, so I took the gamble…

… and it was a great decision! Barry  (the man) was rather, erm, well off, and paid not only for my taxi but also bought me some tea in Belfast and gave me a few pounds to get something to eat at the airport! But beyond that, both Barry and Fina (his girlfriends) were absolutely wonderful people. We had a great time just chatting and wandering the streets of Belfast for a while. Hurrah for meeting people!

I’ve spent today chatting with friends, studying for my Mineralogy test on Wednesday, and generally chilling . Exciting, I know.

This week – classes…. and that’s it! Thanks for reading (and leave some comment love!)

Oct 10th – 18th

Last weekend, I did quite a bit of adventuring!

The Cliffs of Moher are one of Ireland’s most beautiful natural wonders. I decided to take a Paddywagon Tour – one of the most popular tourist companies in Ireland. I was lucky not to be the only young woman on the tour – a lovely girl from Virginia was on the tour with her mother. She was in Ireland touring medical schools, and we had a lot in common. We both are sciencey gals with a broad spectrum of other interests – including music! She was a violinist and clarinet player. We talked for most of day! On the way to the cliffs, we briefly stopped in Limerick, and then at a great little spot in the Burren. While most people admired the great scenery, I immediately headed out the the edge of the sea, and looked at the various ways the sea has eroded the limestone base. It was truly beautiful.

Cool, huh?

We then went to the cliffs. As a geologist, they are wonderful, because they consist of several different layers – a limestone, the Namurian shales, and throughout the formations, trace fossils cover the layers. I loved hiking around, seeing the history of our Earth in front of me. My new friend an I went out to the unprotected edges of Cliffs – peering over the edge of the 215m high cliffs down to a rocky sea took my breath away!

From the safe part, behind the wall.

The sign we blatently ingnored

I'm out of focus. For the Cliffs sake.

Looking down

We got back to Cork, and I spent some time skyping some buddies. I went to bed early, as I knew I was getting up early to go out with the Mountaineering Club.

Before I begin my tirade about bogs, I should explain things. I have a relatively new found love for being outdoors and hiking. When I was growing up, I fought tooth and nail whenever my dad dragged me out hiking. I hated it. Last summer however, I became completely in love with walking around in Mother Nature. When I found out about the Mountaineering Club, it sounded perfect. However, I didn’t take into consideration Ireland’s climate. I am used to hiking in dry climates. While there might be some mud, for the most part, the trails I have been on have been clear, dry, and rocky.

The hike on Sunday began by taking a paved road to a trail. The first 20 minutes or so were fine – exactly what I was used to. And then…. we went off trail. STRAIGHT up the mountain. In a BOG. Luacra (an Irish brown grass that is prickly and long) was the ground covering – and when I mean cover, I mean cover. The random four foot deep holes in the bog were completely hidden. I didn’t know where to step! In addition, everything was soaked and slippery. The Irish students accustomed to this type of ground were practically running of the mountain, while I was struggling just figuring out where to step! I ran out of breath trying just to walk (by running out of breath, I mean I felt like I was dying), and had to stop once or twice. Ugh . At some points, the sticky bog mud was unavoidable, and by the end of the hike, I was pretty brown. That pretty sums up my day. Despite my rough time however, the views were absolutely phenomenal. Totally worth it.

STRAIGHT up.

From near the top of the mountain.

Please ignore the hair.

Class this week was pretty standard. Okay, not so standard. I missed a geophysics lecture for my exam (which was alright), and the practical for my intro class was super simple. I was frustrated because it was time consuming (think lots of rock drawings) and I wasn’t challenged at all. However, the lab leader Ed (also my Geohazards lecturer) is a total high class hippy, and we just chatted about random stuff for most of the two hours. My class on Friday was canceled – This was quite fortunate, because my good friend Julie and her roommate Cassie came down from Galway to see me (and Cork). So instead of going to class, we went to Blarney!

I went there in the first few weeks I was in Ireland, but it was a lot of fun to go with other people.

For example, they can take pictures of me in a tree.

Blarney in Autumn Glory

Friends can take pictures of you kissing the Blarney Stone!

No, I'm not that tall - I was propped on the walls.

On Saturday, we explored parts of Cork – UCC, St. Finbarre’s, and the Old Cork Gaol (jail).

Inside the Gaol - the dude at the top of the stairs is a "Warden"

We had a lovely time, if I do say so myself! On Friday night, we had a bit of a girls night, complete with Cosmo and gossip. Tons of fun. I’m very glad they came.

Sunday I stayed in for most of the day, doing some reading, attempting to put up pictures online (hence the delay in posting – I wrote most of this by 4 pm on Sunday), reading, and grocery shopping. Today I had classes – nothing big there!

Off to do more reading for class!

Emma

Sept 21st – Oct 1st

Goodness! I’m so sorry – its been 10 days since I last posted. No, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. No, nothing terrible has happened to prevent me from posting. I’m just rather busy – school has started and I have a ton going on!

I’ll begin by telling you of the two ‘special events’ that weren’t part of my day-to-day schedule.

Friday the 25th of Setember was ‘Culture Night’ in Cork City. Several different tours were scheduled, and I went on two of them with some of my friends. The first one was a ‘Food City’ tour – for those of you know me, this was a perfect activity. When I first heard about it, I assumed that it was going to be a tour of different restaurants and things like that. Boy was I wrong. Instead, it was a history of food in Ireland – going all the way back to the 12th century. I was one of two vegetarians on the trip. and boy was it hard for us. This was just a little bit of what the culinary history of Cork included:

• Lard
• Salted Pork
• Bacon
• Sausages
• Ham
• Cruibín (Pig’s Foot)
• Tripe
• Tongue
• Beef
• Black Pudding

We got the dirty details of every single one. Dis. Gust. O. If I hadn’t been a vegetarian before that night, I definitely would have become one after that. Oh boy. Anyway, we learned all about the food in the Cork valley. The tour began in the City Hall building and wound around, through the English Market, and over to Cornmarket Street. Unfortunately, my friends and I had to leave a little bit early in order to get to our second tour.

In the English Market

We returned to city hall, and climbed into a van for our ‘Culture Cab’. Basically, we were driven around the city and asked questions about ‘cultural things’ – music, art, and film. The guides were fantastic – loads of fun. The bad thing? The questions were mostly directed to people of a generation before us – we knew very few of the answers. I, however, managed to correctly answer all the ones about opera and ‘classical’ music. Go me. I had a lovely time with my friends, even if we failed miserably. Gotta love it.

The second ‘fun’ thing was Saturday. I woke up and was planning on working on my papers for most of the day, but when I went out to the kitchen, my friends were leaving for Kinsale. I had already been, but I tagged along anyway. It was sort of an … interesting experience for me. The people I went with were are very different from me – they like to drink, party, and go out clubbing several nights a week. They would rather talk about what they did last night whilst drinking than… well, anything else. The girls were bubbly (not in the me sort of way… in the ‘Laguna Beach’ sort of way), and the guys were rather bawdy and lewd. I made the most of it though – Kinsale is a lovely place, so walking around another day was lovely. We returned to Charles Fort, and instead of going inside like I did the last time, I walked around the exterior. It was nice – I climed down to the water’s edge, and just sat for a while.

On the way to Charles Fort

We had lunch at a little fish place – I had a ‘warm fish salad’. It was okay, but it gave me a terrible stomachache afterwards. I don’t know what it was… everyone else felt fine, so maybe I’m just strange.

When we got back to Cork, I was pretty tired, but I had to do some work for my classes (I’m getting there!). I did go to sleep fairly early, and pretended to work on my essays and read some papers all day long. Boring, I know.

Monday was Yom Kippur, but I had to go to all three of my classes. The lecturers made it very clear that I had to be there Monday, or I would be lost for the rest of the semester. I went to a morning prayer service, went to UCC for my classes, came back to apartment, and went back to services. The shul here is the most orthodox shul I’ve ever been – it was a very different experience than what I’m accustomed to. I felt very seperate from the whole ordeal. When I got back home at 8:30 or so, I made my self a nice, large dinner to make up for the fasting.

On to the classes: I am taking the 4 I mentioned -

• Intro to Geology
• Geophysics and Plate Tectonics
• Optics, Mineralogy, and Crystallography
• Geohazards

along with a Renaissance Vocal Ensemble. In addition, I’ve officially joined the Choral Society and the Geological Society, but I think I’m going to have to drop Choral. Somehow, I became an officer (the Public Relations officer to be specific) in the Geological Society. Combined with all of my classes, my ensemble, and my vocal music from back home, and I might just have a little much on my plate. Back home, I wouldn’t mind, but I want as much free time as I can get over here to travel.

Classes…. Everything I’ve experienced is so unlike everything that I am used to at Macalester. At Mac, my professors know my name, know me. They will get coffee with me, and invite me to concerts with them. My classes – even the ‘big ones’ – have a sort of intimate feel, where discussion is encouraged, and the professors treat us as competent, intelligent adults. If we are given papers or handouts, we are expected to read them ourselves, and if we don’t, its our fault.

Here, I am a number (no really – my student email address is a number). I may make an impression due to my status as the lone American in the department, but other than that, I am a no-one. The lecture classes are true lecture classes – no room for questions that push the topic into higher intellectual grounds. My professors do recognize me as I usually sit near the front. In two of my classes, I know everythnig that has been said already, so they’ve talked to me about some other topics outside of class. Other than that… Especially in my Intro course, the students are hooligans. Straight out of secondary school. Its a bit better in my other classes, but I still feel a bit out of place. I have found a few people ‘more like me’ that I like, but they are few and far between. I hope as the semester progresses, I meet some more of them!

Okay… I have to go take a shower and get to class! This weekend is the Cork Beamish Folk Festival – I’m excited!

Emma

Sept 14th – 19th

Hello faithful readers!

I hate to disappoint this week, but I don’t have too much to report this week! On Sunday evening, I came down with a terrible cold. I was sick Monday and Tuesday – I stayed in, rested, and took care of myself. Exciting, right? It mainly consisted of sleeping and watching BBC’s Robin Hood.

On Wednesday, I felt well enough to go back to class. I thought our lecture was at 9:30, so I climbed the hill up to the Music department. I waited until about 9:40, and no one showed up! I had no idea what was going on, so I returned to my room. After opening my UCC email, I realized class had been moved to 3:30. Sigh. I had checked my email before leaving, and there must have been a problem with the system, because I never got that email. Oh well – the plus side? I got to take a nap before the lecture, which was great!

The lecture that day was the final lecture by Daithí, our main tutor. We wrapped up the various forms of musics in Ireland, and discussed how they all came together: from Turlough Carolan and Sean Ó Riada to Moving Hearts and U2, the music of Ireland and the Irish identity is constantly evolving and changing to reflect modern influences. During the last few minutes of the lecture, we learned what our exam is to consist of: two essays. Easy peasy.

Wednesday evening found me in bed early, as I was still recovering. I was able to get about 9 hours of sleep, which helped me wake up feeling even better than the night before.

I decided to start on one of my two papers for the Early Start Semester. The topic? ‘Evaluating the Irishness of Georgian Dublin’. I walked over to the library on UCC’s campus, found 4 books for sources, and found a nice cozy reading nook to start writing. I read approximately 40 pages, found some quotes, opened up my computer… to the dulcet tones of a rock band that set up right outside the reading room. I had to relocate. Where to? The music department of course! I walked over to the department, set up in the canteen, and wrote about ½ of my paper right then and there.

Our final lecture of the program was about Irish song, and began at 4. We learned more about Sean Nos singing – the old style of singing. To end it all, we sang two songs – one in Gaelic, one in English. I don’t remember anything about the Gaelic song except that it was about a raging goat. Yes, you read that correctly, a goat. A raging goat.

I went home cooked some dinner, and then set out again – this time to our group’s open mic night at An Spalpin Fanach, a local pub. We had the upstairs of the entire pub to ourselves! Most of our tutors and a few local musicians joined the 23 of us. Everyone was required to do something for the night. Given the fact that I was still sick, and I didn’t have Lawrence, my incredibly talented accompanist who never fails to make me smile, I had to do something simple. However, I wanted to make it relevant to what we had studied – so I chose Handel! I did the first half of Bel Piacere, an aria from Agrippina. Even though I was still sick, I managed to do alright, or so I thought. Apparently, I did … very well. Everyone told me that they had no idea that when I said I was a singer, I meant it. I was the only person that evening who didn’t need a microphone, and I still blew them away. It was … not my idea of fun, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

On Friday, I finished up my paper (minus editing) in the morning.  Relaxation ensued for a few hours, part of the time at my place, the other at a m friend’s apartment across the city. At 9:30, we set out to see Lazik – the same group I saw last week. Again, their eastern European tunes blew me out of the water. Besides the link I just posted, feel free to check out the videos I took that night. They aren’t the best quality, due to the low light and background noise of the pub, but you’ll get the idea. It was great. I didn’t get home until early this morning, and I’ve spent today hanging out, taking it nice and sllllllllllllllow.

Anna, Emily, Keavy, and I

Sorry about the poor lighting, but its all I could do!

I am looking forward to this next week. Classes begin on Monday, and I look forward to being in real courses. My schedule will look something like this:

Monday:
Intro to Geology 10 -11 (Lecture)
Optics, Mineralogy, Crystallography 2-4:30 (Lecture and Lab) – First 6 weeks
Geophysics and Plate Tectonics – Second 6 weeks
Tuesday:
Intro to Geology 9-10 (Lecture); 2-4:30 (Lab)
Choral Society 7

Wednesday:
Optics, Mineralogy, Crystallography 2-4:30 (Lecture and Lab) – First 6 weeks
Geological Society 5

Thursday:
Geohazards 12-1 (Lecture)

Friday:
Intro to Geology 2-4:30
Optics, Mineralogy, Crystallography 11-12 (Lecture)

Sometime during my free time on Wednesday or Thursday, I’ll have a Renaissance Vocal Ensemble. I can’t wait – I’ve never been part of something like that, and I look forward to it!

My excitement is slightly dampened by a touch of anxiety. My time here has been wonderful, but many of the students I’ve interacted with don’t seem to have the same passion for knowledge and learning that I and many of my fellow Macalester students have. I enjoy reading articles, going to lectures, and talking about whatever we just learned in class outside of class. There are several students I have met that I do think have this same sort of mindset, but unfortunately I won’t be taking any classes with them – as you can see from above, I’m taking all geology classes, while they are going to be taking social science and humanities classes. I will just have to spend as much time with them as I can outside of class!

That’s all for now. L’shanah tovah to everyone celebrating a new year!

Emma

Sept 7th – 14th

Sorry about the lack of updates! I’ve been rather busy the last weed(or tired), so posting was put on the back burner! I hope to be more consistent in the future. This took quite a while to write – it is longer than many papers I have had to write.

Monday was a free day, so I, in true Emma fashion, hopped on a bus to Kinsale for the day. Kinsale is a lovely harbour town, full of history dating back to (before) the 13th century, with a castle, two forts, and a glorious view.

It was sunny for most of the day (shocker!), and so when I arrived, I made my way to James Fort first thing. It was a lovely walk, but not too exciting at the end.

James Fort

Along the road to and from Kinsale to James Fort, there were wonderful, glorious road cuts into some shale – my geology side came through quite strong, as I would stop in awe while examining some of the bedding. One couple stopped me as I was examining a chunk of it with my handy-dandy hand lense, and they gave me a rather funny look when I explained that I was studying geology, and that this was what I loved to do. However, I didn’t mind, and I continued to study some great things – hummocky-swaley cross bedding, perfectly strata, and an occasion gastropod snail hiding out in between.

Snale in some Shale

I got back into town, and decided to tag along on a guided tour of the city. Our tourguide was named Dan – originally from Ireland, he moved to Boston when he was very young, and then returned after his children were grown on request of his wife. He was truely delightful, and knew everything there was to know about the small, but mighty, town of Kinsale.

Our knowledgable tourguide!

The history of the town relates entirely to its remarkable location on the coast, combined with the natural harbour. Kinsale has been the center of wars between Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Britain – the rich history shines throughout. The very structure of the city can be related to the various coastlines over time, a medieval walling in of the city by England, and the formation of two forts (James Fort and Charles Fort). Culture (especially culinary culture) from all parts of the known world were brought to Kinsale, and to this day, Kinsale remains the ‘Culinary Capital of Ireland’. Unfortunately, I was unable to sample any culinary delight, as all of the vegetarian friendly restaurants were closed for lunch. Sad.

The end of the original, medieval town

After the tour, I meandered over to Charles Fort – a wonderful star fort from the 1690′s. In the 250 years of operation, the fort fell only once to outsiders. The fort was built in conjunction with James Fort to secure the harbour for Britain – because of this, it was built on the edge of the sea, BELOW the hills. In the 1700′s, the Spanish invaded from the overlooking hills, but the fort was once again reclaimed in Britain’s name not too long afterward. Due to Ireland’s mild climate, the fort is relatively well preserved – from the fort walls to the barracks (built about 30 years after the fort itself).

The enterance to Charles Fort

By the time I returned to Kinsale from Charles Fort, the beautifully sunny weather had turned sour, and it began to spit a little. I meandered around town a little bit, and found a sale. A shoe sale. I wandered in, optimistic but not expecting to have any luck, and walked out with two beautiful pairs of shoes: a pair of Birkenstocks in a style that isn’t sold in my size in the US, and pair of boots. Due to my mysterious foot problems, I was forced to give up all heels, including the boots I found in England my freshman year. Since then, I have been on a quest for boots – I was thrilled to find these! I promise pictures soon!

After shoe shopping, I caught the next bus to Cork, and returned. Hmmm… I forgot what I did when I got back. Probably cooked some dinner and just hung out.

Class on Tuesday was cancelled, so I decided to explore the north edge of Cork City – by now, I’ve seen quite a bit of east Cork (my side) and west Cork (UCC area), but I haven’t seen much of the north edge. I wandered around for several hours, admiring the views from the hills overlooking both the city and the surrounding country – I would love to show you pictures, but my camera’s batteries died, and I, being a terrible blogger, didn’t have any extra batteries. Sorry!

I had class on Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday’s lecture was a continuation of popular music in Ireland, this time with a focus on U2 and Enya and what they mean to Irish popular culture and Irish identity. In the afternoon, we had a rockin’ Javanese Gamelan Workshop – it was great fun. I played a number of the instruments, and did much better this time that my prior experiences with the gamelan.  Jazz in Ireland was the topic for Thursday, and our lecturer was very entertaining. The Jazz Festival is coming up at the end of October, and I’m excited to hear everything we learned in ‘action’!

We went to a concert on Thursday at the Pavillion, a club downtown – for class! Woo! From 10 – 11, a band called Silta played. An intiguing mix of Norwegian, Finnish, and Irish folk musics, they were layed back and great to listen to. There were some songs, sung in Norwegian, and also some purely insturmentals. The second band, Lasik, was a great eastern-European band, and they played everything from Klezmer and Macedonian folk music to Bulgarian and Roma (Gypsy) tunes. The violinist was Stella, one of our programme’s main tutors. She is basically the coolest person I’ve ever met.

Silta

Lasik

We didn’t have class on Friday, so I hopped on a bus to Galway to see my good friend Julia. It was a very long 4 and half hour ride, which I spent asleep for the most part. I got to Galway, checked into the Sleepzone hostel (awesome place!), and wnadered around for a bit while I waited for Ms. JB to get out of her class. I found a new wallet, for which I’ve been looking for a while. It isn’t perfect, but its the closest thing I’ve seen to what I want for a very long time. I’m not quite as creative as my dear friend Anna, so I’m going to let it stay the way it is, but I’m okay with that.

Galway is a lovely city – full of pedestrian streets and beautiful river views. In comparison to Cork, I think that galway is a little more tourist oriented, as I ran into many smaller ‘Irish’ shops, obvious tourist traps, and travel booths to the Aran Islands, the Burren and Connemara along purely pedestian, photogenic, and …’cute’ streets. Cork is much more of a city, full of higher-end fashion shops, specialized stores, and vehicle traffic. This is not to say that Cork is not a photogenic city – it truly is, with things like St. Finbarre’s Cathedral, UCC, and lovely neighborhoods. They are just different. Different is not bad – they have two very different personalities, souls if you will, and I thoroughly enjoy both.

Shop Street in Galway

The flags of the clans in Galway's City Centre

Julie called me when she was ready, and we had a little bit of an adventure finding each other, but we finally met up with many hugs and laughs. We continued to walk around for a bit, and then she showed me her campus, and we made our way over to her apartment. I met her flat-mates, Cassie and Clare, and we hung out for a while. Julie and I walked back to the City Center, making sure I could find my way back, and then we said good-night for the evening.

I returned to my hostel, and talked with the girls I was sharing a room with. I learned from my last hostel experience – travelling alone, I would rather pay a few extra euro to have an all-girls room than end up with… disruptions during the night! At this hostel, I shared a room with 5 girls -  two Australians, a German, and a Japanese. Our room was en-suite, which was very convinient for getting ready in the morning! I had a good night’s sleep, and then woke up at 6:45, at some breakfast, and heded over to Julie’s apartment at about 7:15.

I got to her apartment, and then met the two other people who were joining us on our day trip to the Aran Islands – Stephen and Gonzalo. Stephen is another US student (Haverford) and Gonzalo is from Jalapo, Mexico. The four of walked to the bus station, caught a bus and a ferry, and finally made it to Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands, around 11.

On the ferry - SUPER windy and sunny!

We walked the entire length of the island for about 3 hours, stopping to admire the gorgeous coast, lovely ruins, and the rocks. Okay, only I admired the rocks, but I did so with gusto. We all talked with each other in ‘shifts’ – both Stephen and Gonzalo were very nice, and I greatly enjoyed their company. Of course, Julie and I talked much of the time, singing and laughing while the boys were confused, but we had a jolly old time. I’ve missed her so much – and its only been a few weeks!

One of the views

Near the fossiliferous beach

We made it back to the Harbour for lunch, and then headed in the other direction. After about an hour of walking, we meandered down to beach, and I had a blast finding all sorts of fossils! I won’t show any of the pictures now, as I’m sure none of you are all that interested, but if you are, you can check out the ‘Geology’ photo album in the right hand side bar! I saw corals, mollusks, brachiopods… it was a gold mine to me! I could have spent hours on my hands and knees just looking at things, but due to the ferry schedules (and my friends’ attenion spans!), I limited myself to about 20 minutes.

Perfectly preserved mollusks - these are fossils!

We caught the ferry back, and then the bus – we got back to Galway around 6:45. By the time we returned to the apartment it was about 7:30. We freshened up, ate some dinner, and then went to a ‘Vivo Mexico Fiesta’. Julie’s friends Rodrigo (from Spain) and Ricardo (also from Jalapo) were the hosts, and it was a great time. We began by playing some card games, and then some unexpected guests arrived, and it just turned into what I consider a ‘chilling’ party: everyone just hung around and talked. Most people were having beer, and some fancy-shmancy shots were made (a hollowed-out jalapeño with lemon juice inside was placed in a shot glass, rimmed with salt, and tequila filled the glass to the rim), but I decided not to partake. It just isn’t my thing. Besides, by this point it was far past my ~10:30 bedtime, and by sheer exhaustion, I was a little loopy anyway. I did meet some great people though, and if I go back to Galway again, I hope to see them!

After most of the party went out clubbing, Julie, Stephen, and I returned to here apartment to chill some more, and eat chocolate chip pancakes. we were a little dissapointed by the pancakes, as they turned out to be more crepe like than pancake like, but they were tasty nonetheless. At about 1:30, Stephen left, and Julia and I went to sleep. I fell asleep almost immediately!

The non-cakes.

I woke up and got ready, said a slightly sad but lovely good bye, and went back out to the bus station. I caved and bought a puzzle book and magazine for the bus ride. I wasn’t able to sleep on this one, so that was a good idea!

I returned to Cork around 2:30, got back to the apartment, and took a shower. I think I am coming down with a cold – its been going around both my apartment complex and my programme. I’ve made it this far, but I finally caught something. Sad. I’ll be drinking lots of tea and trying to stave it off, but if its what many of my friends have/had, I’ll be a little down for a couple days.

This afternoon, I’m just chilling, uploading photos, and watching bad TV – the best medicine for a cold!

Sept. 4th, 5th, and 6th

Hello again!

When I left you last, I was getting ready for my fieldtrip to the Dingle Peninsula (also known as the Beara Peninsula). I set out on Friday morning for our meeting point, which was about a mile and a half away from my apartment. I’m sure that I looked ridiculous, as I was carrying my backpack, stuffed to the seams with a towel strapped on, as well as my Macalester tour guide bag. We got on the bus and began out journey. Along the way, Daithí (our main leader) would tell us stories about the towns we were passing. Some of them involved the people and styles we are learning about in our classes, and others were just anecdotes about funny places he knows about. Many of them were given a Daithí-esque spin, making all of us laugh anyway.

Our first stop was in Cordal/Glountane at the home and school of Padraig O’ Keefe, a very influential fiddle master at the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century, who defined the Sliabh Luachra (pronounced Shleeve Loo-crah) style. There was a lovely little memorial to Padraig, which had two of his polkas inscribed on it – in the way Padraig wrote the music for his students. Both Daithí and Stella, our other leader, played a tune in memoriam for the great fiddler.

His House

Cool fiddle notation

Daithí

Stella

Our next stop was at Eamon Kelly’s – the great actor and storyteller – memorial. Although he was not a musician per se, he was essential in maintaining and bringing life to the Sliabh Luachra identity. He returned to the little town, almost every year. Knocknagree was our next stop – to see the building that Dan O’ Connell’s pub used to be, and where the great poet Eoghan Rua Ó Suillebháin died. The pub was the heart of the musical and dancing tradition in the area, bringing in musicians from all over the world to partake in a session. Johnny O’ Leary (accordian) and Denis Murphy (fiddle) were regulars at the pub, and became a famous pair.

Dan O Connell's old building

Eoghan Rua Ó Suilleabháin was born in 1748, and became on of the last great Gaelic poets. Daithí told us all sorts of stories about this ‘character’, as Daithí called him – he was kind of a trickster and a rake, but is poetry remains some of the greatest in the Gaelic language.

Eoghan Rua Ó Suillebháin's Memorial

We stopped in Rockchapel at Brú na Carraige, a center for the Comhaltas Celotóiri Éireann. The CCE is an international organiation whch promotes Irish traditional music, song, and dance. Jack Roche, one of the local CCE masters, gave us a little lecture, and then we head some authentic Sliabh Luachra music. Daithí then made us employ our new found dancing skills – the room was rather small, but we had a grand time. After dancing, we were given two special gifts – Daithí danced for us, and then he, Stella, and one of the students in my group played with the CCE men.

We finally arrived in Dingle. We checked into our hotel, and then quickly headed over to the Goat Street Café to eat dinner. I had a Leek and Courgette Soup and a Morrocan Tagine with couscous. I swear, I’ve made this dish before – chick peas, black beans, tomatoes, carrots, celery, raisin, and a ton of spices. It was delicious.

Immediately after dinner, we went to a folk music concert, which was lovely. There was a man who played the tin whistle and the Uillean pipes, a singer/songwriter guitar player, and two seán nos singers (old style), who also happened to play the accordian and the bodhrán (traditional drum).

The main dude.

After the concert, we went to a pub to kill a little bit of time, and then we headed to a different pub to hear some live Trad music. Daithí and Stella were both playing, and it was lots of fun. I went home and promptly fell asleep!

On Saturday (birthday!), I was the first to wake up in our room, and I took the first shower. I had about two hours to kill before breakfast was served, and so I decided to go out and catch the sunrise over the harbor. Unfortunately, there were a bunch of clouds, so I wasn’t able to see any color.

No color, but still lovely!

I went back to the hotel, and my friend Samm and I went back out, because she wanted to get some pictures. I was paying more attention to the cute little town around me that I sort of… fell down off the sidewalk. I skinned my palm pretty badly. Stupid stupid stupid. We went to a grocery store in order to get some first aid stuff. Sigh. We went back to the hotel, had breakfast, and then the group set out for the Blasket Island Center.

The Blasket Islands are a set of Islands that were inhabited by an all-Irish speaking community until the 1950’s. A center has been built to commemorate and memorialize the people, the culture, the literature, and the hardships that were endured. After we watched a short film at the center, we were given a lecture by one of the only scholars to study the music of the Blasket Islands. It was very interesting – she played examples of how although many tunes were shared with the mainland, many were tweeked in a specific way, and the islanders wrote quite a few of their own as well. We had lunch, and then we were allowed to explore a little bit – I climbed down some cliffs, and was able to get some wonderful pictures. I also found some neat rocks – of course. I picked up two lovely, smooth, green sandstones, and a quartz crystal.

At the bottom of the cliffs - please exuse the raindrop.

The big island in the distance is the major Blasket Island

We returned to Dingle, washed up, and then went to a dance studio to learn some more steps – so much fun. We danced for about two hours, and then we were set free on the town. I walked around with some friends, poking our heads into shops, exploring, and having a grand ol’ time. We briefly returned to the hotel to freshen up before dinner.

Dinner was back at the Goat Street Café. This time, I had Carrot and Ginger soup, a Roasted Vegetable Roulade, and a Fruit Salad with a lovely spiced syrup. My friends and I went out to a pub for a little while, once again, killing a little time. Daithí and Stella went head to head with some people in a few game of pool or two. At 9:00, a DJ set up an all ABBA night. I ran as quickly as I could out of there. I don’t like ABBA. We went to another pub, and caught the last of one of the World Cup Qualifying games – Ireland won! That was wonderful – everyone was cheering and hugging. Good times right there. Since there were about 15 of us, we claimed a room in the back of the pub while we waited for the trad session to start. At 10, we went up front for some more music. The music from the night before was better (even Stella said so), but it was still fun. It was a lovely end of my birthday.

On Sunday, we went to Tralee to visit the Kerry School of music. Aiden O Carroll talked to us for over an hour on modern composition in Ireland. He was very nice, and had a great composition style – he played about 4 different pieces. He told us that he was ‘ unapolagetically tonal’. I don’t mind that at all. After leaving Tralee, we drove for while, and then stopped for lunch. We finally got back to Cork around 3:30. That gave us around 4 hours to ourselves before heading to a concert – Moving Hearts.

At 7:30, I meandered over to the Cork Opera House, where Moving Hearts were to be playing. I was a little skeptical, given the name ( I think it’s a little cheesy), but I was absolutely blown away by the end of the first song. Moving Hearts blends Irish Traditional Music, jazz, latin, and rock for a very unique and absolutely HOT sound. I had a blast. (Sorry no pictures – we weren’t allowed!) I went home and promptly fell asleep! I was exhausted.

I know this was a monster – I hope you enjoyed it if you got all the way down here!

August 31st, Sept 1st and 2nd

Hello all!

I’ve come to the conclusion that posting once every three days or so is going to be the best schedule, at least for me. I hope you don’t mind!

On Monday, I went back to class – this time, for a lecture on Irish Traditional Musicanditsevolution since 1960. In reality, we began in the 1920s, but who’s counting? It was fun, and our ‘tutor’ (as they call them here) is a musician/producer/set director etc. He brought a very different energy to the classroom, and I enjoyed it.

On Monday evening, I took a nap, as I was still rather tired from the weekend. Originally, my class was supposed to go to a concert, but the date has been moved to Sept 6 – Sunday – after our trip. So instead, I just sort of hung out – I was tired, and I figured it was a good idea.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up and checked the weather for the day: Sunny, with rain in the evening. Fine with me! I decided to take a walk before class, so I grabbed my things, and headed out….

… only to find it was pouring. Oh well. I still took my walk. I made my way to Sunday’s Well Road, which is the street the Music Department is on, and I instead turned the other direction. I made my way out, with no problem, but on the way home? Apparently, a black berry fell off a bush, straight down my front. My rain jacket was a light yellow, so I had a lovely red streak for the rest of day. Even more embarassing: I had a streak of berry on my jaw line all day, and I didn’t notice until Tuesday evening. WHAT?! I asked my friend Bridget if she had noticed, and she had, but told me that she thought it was just a cut. (On my jaw? Huh?)

I had been looking forward to Tuesday evening for quite a while, and I was quite excited when it arrived. Around 7:20, I walked over to St. Finbarre’s Cathedral, and took my seat for a lovely concert from the New Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra. The Program?

• The Four Seasons – Antonio Vivaldi

Break

• Divertimento in D Major KV 136 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Concerto in D minor Op. 9 No. 2 for Oboe and Orchestra (2nd Movement – Adagio) -  Tomaso Albinoni
• “The Tears of Jaqueline” for Cello and String Orchestra – Jacques Offenbach
• Concerto in C Maor BWV 1055 for Oboe d’amore and String Orchestra – J.S. Bach

It was INCREDIBLE. The first violin soloist in the Four Seasons was superb – he has a sweet, clear tone, even in some of the more … violent phrases (1st Movement of Summer, for an example). In my experience with the Seasons, many groups take Summer too slowly for my liking, and the NCPO did not dissapoint in anyway – they flew through it. I was in the front (ish) and I was left breathless. I don’t know how they did it!

The oboist was wonderful as well, but I could not take him seriously at all. His sound was one of the best I’ve heard live, but they way he played combined with his facial expressions made it difficult not to burst out in laughter. Luckily, the second violinist felt the same way, as I saw him smirking most of the time.

More on the second violinist – from a completely extra-musical observation: he was my favorite of the group. He seemed to be having a grand ol’ time up there. He and the violist would often catch eachother’s eye after something silly (mainly the oboist’s face) happen, and silently laugh a little. I loved watching him.

The cellist was absolutley outstanding. It is commonly said that the cello is the instrument that most closely resembles the human voice. This cellist made her cellos sing like an angel. Period. The end.

After the program ended, we were lucky enough to receive a 2 part encore: “Gabriel’s Oboe” by Ennio Morricone and a Piano Sonata from Schubert (I didn’t catch the number). Both of them were beautiful.

I wish I could have taken pictures, but they asked us not to – even without flash.

Needless to say, I rather enjoyed myself. In addition to the lovely music, I was lucky enough to sit next to a lovely girl, Maevy, and we talked for a while. When we left, we were both heading in the same direction, so we walked together. I ran into her again on Wednesday, and we exchanged phone numbers.

I ‘slept in’ on Wednesday, and then went to class.We had a two part workshop: 1 hour on the bodhrán (the traditional Irish drum), and 1 hour on the tin whistle. I had a grand ol’ time. The workshop was followed by a two hour lecture by Daithí about regional styles in Irish Traditional Music, specifically the Sliabh Luachra (pron. Shleeve Loo-hra) style and region. We will be travelling there this weekend for our long field trip, and I’m quite excited about it.

After class, my friend Bridget and I were walking home, when we were stopped by an old man. What happened next? The Strangest moment of my life. He grabbed our hands, and asked if we were both singers (we are). He then proceeded to ask us who the most ‘famous woman in all of the United States’ was. We rattled off some names of famous women, but he kept repeating the question. Then he got distracted and told us a story about a girl playing piano.

Eventually he told us that the most famous woman was St. Catherine of the Mohawks. Then… he asked us who our favorite saint was. Bridget said Bridget. I said… I don’t know my saints very well, but I would have to say Francis of Assisi. Apparently, that was his as well, and he told us a story about that though.

He kept grabbing our hands and holding them. Weird. Eventually, we broke free, and then proceeded to laugh awkwardly the entire way home. I wish I could have taken a picture of the scene, because I’m sure it was hilarious.

After getting home, I hung out with my flatmates for a while, and we watched a special on sharks. Interesting. The graphics sometimes got a little cheesy, but the science seemed to be fairly solid. As in, everything I know about sharks was mentioned, and interviews were conducted with some leading experts).

I then proceeded to read some Cosmo, play around with photoshop, and go to sleep. Hopefully I will do something interesting today – a session, perhaps? A walk? We’ll see!

August 29th-30th

According to the Bus Eirann website, the bus to Killarney set out at 9:00. I left early to get some trail mix for the road, and I’m glad I did, as it turns out the buss was leaving at 8:30!

I hopped on, expecting a 4 hour ride, but was surprised a second time, when we arrived in Killarney at 10:00! I checked into my hostel, and quickly went over to the meeting spot for a guided walk of the Killarney National Park. I had read about Richard and his tours online, but since they began at 11 and I thought I was going to arrive in Killarney around 1, I didn’t think that I was going to be able to go on one!

Neptune's Hostel

The meeting point was directly across from St. Mary’s Cathedral, and I still had a little time before the walk began, so I decided to take some pictures. I managed to get some lovely ones of the exterior, and then decided to venture inside to see what I could get. I did NOT realize that it was going to be full of parishioners. I took one step inside, and then quickly made my way out! I felt too uncomfortable walking around with a camera instead of a rosary – everyone stared at me the moment I walked in, and I’m not one to be the center of attention. Oh Well. I headed back to the guided walk meeting point.

St. Mary's Cathedral

After a few minutes, a pair of girls arrived, and soon after that, at third. The four of us sat around awkwardly waiting for the guide to arrive, not speaking to each other. All of a sudden, the guide arrived – in his car, with his two gorgeous red Irish Setters, Rua and Goram (Irish for red and blue). We all introduced ourselves, and set out.

The very beginning of the 6 hour hike

Rua

Gorm

Richard was an excellent guide – he took us all around the Naitonal Park on less traveled trails to beautiful sites. He grew up in Killarney, and he knew all the lore and history of the park.

Rua and Gorm (Red mom and Blue pup!) were two of the sweetest, most wonderful dogs I have ever met. They were so friendly, and I loved them. During the few drives we took, Gorm climed into my lap and would sit there with her head on my shoulder. So sweet. Richard kept saying that I was adopted into her family.

Gorm and Me - a new movie?

At one point, he showed us a tree that had been planted for Queen Victoria in the 1870s. Since then, it has been ‘tradition’ for the youngest girl to climb it. Or at least that is what Richard said. We compared ages… I was the youngest by at least 3 years! I made my way up, but getting down was a little more difficult – I accidentally sliced my finger and my shin, but not too badly.

I only climbed a little ways.

I won’t go into to many details for the rest of the hike, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words! Here’s a good 5K.

Torc Waterfall

Killarney National Park

Killarney National Park

Killarney National Park

Killarney National Park

The guided tour was originally supposed to last 2 hours, but since Richard didn’t have any other customers that day, it was extended to over 6! Halfway through, Richard invited the 4 of us to his house for tea, before setting out again.

The three other girls were simply lovely – all of them were from Germany, and we exchanged many stories about our travels, our studies, and our homes. It turns out that one of the girls is living in the same apartment building in Cork that I am! I hope that we can catch up again.

One of the girls were staying in the same hostel as I was, so we had dinner together, and chatted some more, before both of us headed to bed! I was exhausted.

At around 10:30, the one other person I was sharing the dorm-style came in to the room. When he opened the door, I woke up, but just closed my eyes and waited to fall back asleep. He must have thought I was asleep or something… I don’t know what it was, but I definitely heard some grunting coming from the other side of the room. Um. Awkward to the max. I just kept my eyes closed and tried to fall back asleep.

It happened again a couple hours later. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

At 6:30, I woke up, and got out of the room as quickly and quietly as I could. I ate some breakfast, checked out, and headed off to Ross Castle.

The castle itself has an interesting history – it was the last in Ireland to fall to Cromwell’s Army. However, it was much smaller than I expected! I wandered around, and then headed off on to Ross Island. By this point, keep in mind, it was lightly raining…

Ross Castle

Looking out from the castle

Hurrah for self-timers

Near the castle

I made it over to the copper mines – Europe’s oldest! One of them is about 4000 years old, from 1800 BC (Bronze Age). It was neat, but rather unimpressive, sadly.

Not so neat

I made it over to the copper mines – Europe’s oldest! One of them is about 4000 years old, from 1800 BC (Bronze Age). It was neat, but rather unimpressive, sadly.

I then proceeded to Governor’s Rock, which just turned out to be a nice look-out point over the lake. I then wanted to go to O’ Donahoe’s Library/Library Point… but on my way over, it started to pour. Luckily, I was exactly at the fork in the road between Library Point and back to town. I wasn’t sure how much longer it was going to rain, so I decided to play it safe and head back to town. I made a very, very good choice. It rained the entire 4 km back.

I barely missed the bus, so I just hung out at the station with my book – I didn’t mind at all. I’m currently reading Spook by Mary Roach – if you’ve never heard of her, I highly recommend everything she’s written.

I got back to Cork, and preceded to take a hot shower – I didn’t realize how sore I was! I did all my hiking with my backpack on, and although I didn’t have much with me, it certainly made a difference! The rest of the day, I’ve just hung out with two of my flat mates – Quinn and Hope – watching bad (and some good) TV. Just what I needed, and what I continue to need.

I’m sorry about the two monster posts! I hope you didn’t mind reading!