We visited Blarney Castle and kissed the stone the other day and it was just as great as I had remembered. Being able to go up into the old rooms of the castle and see Blarney from the very top is a cool experience.. even if the process to get to the top is extreme. We're talking hundreds of steep steps in an extremely narrow corridor waiting in line for almost an hour and slowly moving upwards without being able to see the top.. but it is worth it. At the top there is something called the Blarney Stone that has a strong historical palace in Ireland. I added a photo with the saying explaining the "powers" of the stone. The story is that by kissing it you should give you the gift of eloquence and persuasiveness or a "silver tongue".. To kiss the stone you lie down on your back and a person tips you back so that only your butt is on the edge and the rest of you hangs over! The stone is fairly far down and most people actually accidentally kiss the rock above the actual stone because they are hesitant to go far enough or didn't know which it was. There are bars a foot below your head in case, but honestly trusting a stranger to dip you off the edge of a caste is still frightening even the second time..There are also beautiful gardens in the area that we walked through and a delicious little chocolate/gelato shop that we visited for samples after. We finished up the day with some tea at a nearby cafe, because it felt like the European thing to do.
Today is our first day of classes. I had nutrition at noon and then went to the gym. I found my way to school, the gym and home all by myself-- no map or gps! This is big for me, (I was safe mom) I can barely do this in my own areas around home or school. I am super proud of this achievement and trusting myself to try to go alone. I bought a phone plan here so I am able to have unlimited wifi and texting all the time, everywhere. Which is AWESOME. I am not able to Facetime from campus or around the city to show my friends/fam back home the sights in real time. I also found an app called Couple today.. I find this to be super exciting as well. As many of you may know, I am currently in a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend Mitch. If you are in one as well, I completely suggest this app! He may not think that it is as adorable as I, but he entertains me by using it which is what matters. Basically you "pair" with someone and then you can message, draw on the screen at the same time, send little videos or even touch one another's thumbs.. I know that last one sounds odd, but you put your thumb against the screen and it pops up on theirs. When they touch their thumb to yours, both of your screen vibrate and light up red. For two people that are this far apart, being able to have a connection like that even if it is through a phone still means a lot.. well at least for me!
I have had time to sit down and write out my finances, classes and trips. This is super important because I know these four months are going to fly by and I don't want to miss out on any experience, but also don't want to return home thousands of dollars in debt. As I mentioned, I have many trips already planned.. but Spain seems to be fairly inexpensive to visit (50 euro flight and 15 euro a night hostel) so that may be added in! Being able to travel around Europe was one of the main reasons that I chose to study here, so I am going to take advantage. Since this is basically "syllabus week" I have not been able to get a good feel of the difficulty level for my classes, but from what I have heard previously about Cork they should not be too challenging. There are some large differences between here and home in regards to school though. Well for one, I have classes in a bunch of different buildings (some even down the street) which is very much unlike Bryant. Also, some classes are in different buildings depending on the day and at different times (ex: Monday in building A at 8 and Wednesday in building B at 2).. that totally screws with me.
I was able to Facetime mom and dad and show them the campus yesterday which was nice, modern technology is truly amazing and making this trip so much easier for me. It was great to see their faces and chat with them about my day and plans. I wouldnt say that I am anymore homesick here than i would usually be a week back from summer break at Bryant. I think that has a lot to do with the ease of communication, having Bryant/US students all around me, Ireland/UCC being so study abroad friendly (everyone is so eager to help with directions or answer questions always) and that everyone speaks English. Some heavier accents are a tad more difficult to understand or terms/sayings that are from here which I don't immediately recognize, but I am enjoying trying to figure out what they meant and they are always willing to repeat or explain further. We've been told by our tour guide that it is almost impossible to insult an Irishman so that is GREAT for me.. since I tend to come acrossed a little insulting without meaning to and would not want to get in some sort of cultural miscommunication scene which leads to a brawl. I am hoping that I come back home having picked up a few terms myself and using them naturally without realizing it, its not exactly like learning another language but it'll still be neat!
Cork itself is adorable and reminds me of Portland, ME. Everyone marches to their own beat/ does not try to fit in. Music and art are huge and the style versatility reminds me of NYC. I hope my style evolves to reflect this European experience while living here.
Cork quirks
--They call the freshman "fresher"
--They refer to their freshman year of college as first year,.. so I am a "third year"
Bye for now!
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