University College Cork

I also wanted to show everyone where I go to school! Here are a few random shots from around UCC's campus...This is the Quad, which is probably the prettiest part of UCC. If you ever visit, walk around the edges--if you cut through the grass, they know you're not Irish!

The O'Rahilly Building. I have one day of my European Studies class here. Apparently there is also a Starbucks hidden in here somewhere...

The chapel.

Once again, everything is in Irish and English. This sign was a good friend on mine while I wandered around campus for the first week (okay, first TWO weeks). Behind it is the Kane Building, a science building where I have a lot of English, history, and Celtic Civilisation classes (go figure!).

To the side of the Kane Building is a memorial (and burial place) of 13 members of the IRA. The dedication says that they were executed by British firing squads in the Cork Military Barracks in 1921 and buried in this spot, which used to be a part of the exercise yard of the Cork County Jail. Just last night there was a memorial ceremony here for them.

My Home in Corcaigh

I wanted to give you all a little taste of where I live and what I get to see everyday...

A view of where I live! It's the yellow/white building straight ahead--the complex is almost on the edge of the River Lee. Since it's Ireland, I of course live between two very important things--that's a brewery on the right of the picture and a church to the left!

Elizabeth Fort is right across the street from the entrance to the complex.

St. Finn Barr's Cathedral. Lucky me--this is the view from my living room!

All street signs in Ireland are printed in both English and Irish and posted on the side of whichever building in on the corner. But they're never in the same place, which always makes it an adventure to try to figure out where you are!

One way to get to UCC's campus is to walk down this street. I took the shot from the park that's on the other side of the street.

Fota Wildlife Park + Old Midleton Distillery

The kangaroos and me! I was seriously tempted to pet one, but also scared of getting kicked.

I had a faceoff with the llama in order to avenge a traumatic incident with a llama at a petting zoo at age three. I can now take back control of my life.

So close to the peacocks! Amazing.

Welcome to the Jameson Experience at the Old Distillery!

Sorry, no taps on these! From left to right, new whiskey, 3 years old (and then legal to sell in Ireland), 5-7 years old (when Jameson begins to sell it), 12 years old, and 18 years old.

The only disappointing part about his weekend was not finding any more stores with family names on them. I'm up to three Joyce/Cleary signs so far!

"It's nice to see you're from America and none of you are fat."

This past week, as I mentioned before, was Rag (Raise & Give) Week at UCC. It was great to see the Irish equivalent of the fundraising stuff we do at home on college campuses. City centre was packed every night like I've never seen it before. And it was really fun to see what they had going on on-campus every day--they had a giant blowup obstacle course, bands playing, DJ battles, and lots more stuff that I'm sure I just didn't see. But once again, things ran from Sunday to Thursday--so many people go home on the weekends that they didn't have any events on Friday, and the official end of Rag Week was Thursday night.

I was heartbroken this weekend after not running into Will Ferrell in Cork. As most of you know, I may or may not have a mild interest in the actor, who happened to be in Ireland this past week with his dad and brother researching his Irish roots, and I think he also received an award from University College Dublin. Anyway, on Wednesday I heard he was in town in Cork, and I was DETERMINED to find him. Apparently someone's boyfriend from the flat above mine met him in a pub, bought him a pint, got his autograph, and chatted with him for awhile. And I got really excited when I was at UCC on Thursday and there was obviously a group with security getting a special tour over by the quad--but it wasn't Will Ferrell. So unfortunately it didn't work out for me...

But I did have a great weekend! Since our Irish friends are mostly gone on the weekends, it makes traveling a great option. I'm liking Cork more and more every day, and one of the reasons is because so much is accessible from the city. The whole country (and even Belfast) is open for a weekend trip, and you can do so much in day trips. I took two this weekend! When our program directors came to campus on Thursday to pick up some forms and check on us, one of them recommended that we go to a wildlife park. So since the weather was supposed to treat us better this weekend (sun on Thurs + Fri + Sat = excitement!!!) a few of us decided to go on Friday when none of us have class. One the commuter train, Fota Wildlife Preserve is only 15 minutes outside of the city. And it was amazing! It's a wildlife park, and not a zoo, so the majority of the animals can wander around wherever they want. The only things that were caged where the cheetahs and the eagle, and the bison, rams, ostriches, giraffes, and zebras were fenced into these huge fields. But even so, you could get up close to them, and nothing was behind glass. And everything else was free to roam! I got to walk right next to llamas, kangaroos, maras, peacocks, monkeys, and more. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done! The animals would hop right in front of you on the road, and you got to see things like flamingos that you would never think you would see in Ireland. And now I know where the train station is!

On Saturday, two others girls from my program and I took a bus to Midleton (Mainistir na Corann), which is about half an hour away. It's a cute little town, and we actually showed up when they were having a farmer's market, so we wandered around that for a little while--all the food looked really good, and it reminded me that I should look for one in Cork. I also finally got to have an ice cream cone that I had been craving for awhile, and while it was no Handel's, it was delicious! The three of us stood out with our American accents, so the two guys running the stand were asking us where we were from and what we were studying at college. One of the girls is from Minnesota, and so they were talking with her about the bridge collapse there--the fact that people here know SO MUCH about international news never ceases to amaze me. They can talk with you about politics (even though it's just the primaries) and sometimes even American sports. It's something that you don't see reciprocated in the US. Anyways, after the farmer's market, we went to the Old Distillery for the "Jameson Experience." They've restored the original buildings and everything that went along with it, so we were able to see all the storehouses, the water wheel, and even whiskey aging in the casks. (One old man got really excited about those and asked if there were taps on them. Sadly, he was disappointed.) One of my friends was chosen to take part in the whiskey tasting at the end, and they even gave the four participants certificates that said they were now official Irish whiskey testers--and encouraged them to put that on their CV's or resumes. So I'm bummed I missed out on the chance to add that...

It's hard to believe that I've been in Ireland for a month! Time is seriously going even by even more quickly than it does at NU, which I never thought possible! Four months suddenly seems like not enough time to fit in everything that I want to do, but darn it, I'll try! I'm starting to feel really comfortable in Cork, and I'm even learning street names and giving directions. But the moments when I feel like a total stranger pop up really unexpectedly and are completely random. And it's in the little things, too, like when I couldn't figure out how to work the washers/dryers in the laundry room, the fact that ketchup is sweet, when I awkwardly can't figure out how things work in a restaurant or cafe, and how Coke doesn't taste the same as it does at home. And while our American accent is usually a great conversation starter with anyone because people are so friendly, I've finally realized what it's like to really stick out somewhere whether you want to or not. And people definitely do have certain stereotypes of Americans--just see the hilarious title quote. The views of Americans here are nuanced--although people seem to have a negative view of America in general, they generally only have positive things to say about their visits to the country and are usually nothing but warm and friendly in conversation. But they aren't bad moments, just different, and something that I think is helping to give me a better worldview. Because at the same time I'm learning things like the way around the city, the fact that I'm a sucker for Australian soap operas, and how to be confident in a completely new environment. I wouldn't trade this for anything--like I've said before, this is definitely one of the top three, if not the best, thing I've decided to do in college!

The Blarney Stone + Rock Close

You want me to climb up to where?! And lean across the hole in the floor to kiss the stone?!

Well, okay.

View from the battlements at the top of Blarney Castle.

A waterfall on the Rock Close trail.

The Druid Stone circle. And a possible sacrificial altar.

Gift of Gab

Today a few of us took a day trip over to Blarney (An Bhlárna). It's actually a lot closer than I thought, about a 20 or 30 minute bus ride at most. The Blarney Castle, and everything it includes, sits on a HUGE property on what I think might have been the outskirts of the town. It has the Blarney Castle, where the Blarney Stone is, the Rock Close, which is a trail with crazy rock formations, another trail (maybe around a lake), and a manor house and stables, which are only open in the summertime.

The castle was really cool to walk through. They had explanations of what each room was and you could pretty much walk anywhere that you wanted to. The stairways were SO narrow and steep, and some of the steps were almost too tiny to step on; combined with my fear of heights, it was a slightly scary climb to the top! When we got up there, I couldn't look too closely over the edge of the battlements. It did not help that when we first got to the castle, we heard some old lady yelling from the top when it was her turn to kiss the stone, and then again climbing the stairs on the way down. I looked pretty terrified while I did it, but I kissed the stone! Now I have the gift of gab (yes, ironic, I know).

We also got to walk around the grounds, on a trail called the Rock Close. It was beautiful, and it had everything from tunnels to waterfalls to evergreen trees. It was also fun to see some of the mythology of Ireland come out. There were stops on the trail where they said that witches come out at night, where druids lived, and where fairies fly around. It sort of matches up with stuff in my Celtic Mythology class, which was cool. The only sad thing thing is that we couldn't see the whole thing, since it's still winter. Definitely a fun day trip to make!

School is still going well, and I feel like I'm starting to slowly get used to the Irish system. And (small world) it turns out that my favorite professor (the one from Turning Points in History) actually was a visiting professor at NU a couple years ago! So Tatiana, my NU flatmate and I, got to talk to him about NU, Chicago, and Evanston after class for a little while. It's always funny to get a reminder of home when you least expect it!

And this week at UCC should be fun, it's Rag Week! I guess it's sort of a Dillo Day combined with DM, except it lasts for a week. There's supposed to be a ton of stuff going on all day, every day on campus, like sumo wrestling and DJ battles and that sort of thing, and somehow it involves raising money for charity. And then city centre is packed early every night! I think it might be something that every university does at some point during the year. I'm excited to do something that's so traditional for Irish schools.

And now we're starting to talk about where we want to travel. We've been throwing around Scotland and England as possible weekend trips, and Spain, Italy, and France as places to go for the monthlong spring break. And maybe Frankfurt. So many places I want to go!

Katie the Horse

This post of Katie is dedicated to Jennifer Chen and her love of horses.

Homestay in Castleisland, Co Kerry

We went to the neighboring town, Tralee, to do some shopping while our host sister had some music lessons.

The O'Connor family house--at the top of a little hill!

They had the most amazing view from their dining room. Those are the Killarney Mountains in the background. Are you as jealous as I am?

Frosty and George/Lassie came along on our walk by the O'Connor's house.

Amazing, amazing place. I could just keep going on about how beautiful it was!

First Full Week in Cork

Although it feels like I've been in Ireland forever (in a good way), I've just finished up my first full week in Cork (Corcaigh)--the first week of classes. I have to register with the English department on Monday, and then submit everything to the International Students Office to be officially registered, but so far I'm taking:

• Victorian Lit
• Romantic Lit
• Turning Points in History
• Politics, Society, and the Irish Novel
• Comparative European Politics
• Celtic Religion/Mythology

I like all the classes so far, but it's an adjustment to get used to the Irish/European style of teaching at University College Cork (Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh). First of all, we're lucky because we can mix modules (classes) from different departments; students in the Irish college system, which is only three years long, pretty much only take modules in their department. Also, the system is much more independent than the States. Here, the lecturer (don't call them a professor unless they're the head of the department!) hands you a very simple syllabus with about a bajillion books listed on it. It's up to you to decide which books and articles you feel like reading. And at most for each class you will have one paper and a final exam--it makes the way of doing things back home seem closer to the high school way of having everything really structured.

I'm not in class a whole lot, just about two hours for each class. But the way the day is set up is different, too. The two days that one class falls on is random, nothing follows the MWF or TuTh pattern. And they meet at different times in different classrooms; my Victorian Lit class meets in a science building on Mondays at 1, but on Tuesdays it meets at a different time in the basement of the library. I definitely have to make more of an effort to remember my schedule! And most of my classes are being taught by more than one lecturer--at this points, all their faces are a blur and I really have no idea who is teaching and when. I also have a lot more American lecturers than I thought! I guess that means I don't have to concentrate on understanding the accent so much. The best teacher so far has to be the guy we have for the first few lectures of Turning Points. He's a yeller, so every few minutes he'll just start screaming about something exciting...this past week it was "SHEEP ON THE LAWN OF THE WHITE HOUSE" during WWI. He also kept yelling that Woodrow Wilson was "A PRESBYTERIAN" every few minute. And then he yelled about being from Montana. I love him for the sheer entertainment value and how passionate he is about history. I'm going to be very sad when the other lecturer takes over for the second half of class.

Other than that, the campus isn't too big, so I haven't gotten entirely lost. I seem to have trouble finding classrooms, but I've been able to get Irish students to help me so I don't wander around for too long. And classes never start on time (add 10 minutes to the time your class is supposed to start and that's more like when it will really begin), so I haven't even been late yet! And the campus is BEAUTIFUL--I'll try to get some pictures of it soon...as soon as it stops raining so I can take pictures.

The biggest change is weekdays and weekends at school. Students here tend to not go very far from home to go to school since it doesn't seem like there's a huge difference in the universities. But even if they do, the country is so small that they're only about 4 hours away from home. So instead of going out on the weekends, students go out on some weekdays and then go home every weekend. It's definitely different than at home, but it's perfect for the rest of us for traveling! Now we don't feel like we're missing anything.

Then, this past weekend our program sent us to Castleisland, Co Kerry, for a homestay weekend out in the country. Our family was so nice! Two other girls from the program and I stayed with a family with four kids, a few random friends, two dogs, a cat, and a horse. We were way out in the middle of nowhere; Castleisland (Oileán Ciarraí) only has about 3000 people, and they lived a couple miles outside of it. But their house was big and their land was beautiful!

We got there on Friday night, where we immediately got a HUGE dinner, followed by tea and "biscuits." Then we just sort of met the family, talked a little bit, and watched TV with them. The mom wanted to know if any of us had Irish background, which They seemed to get a kick out of the fact that my last name is Joyce, and they wanted to know if my dad was born in Ireland. And they told me there are a lot of Joyce's in Co Galway. The mom was also shocked that I don't go home to my family every weekend, especially since it's so normal to do that. It was definitely weird to her, especially since the other girls on my trip both happen to go to school in the town they grew up in (or at least really close to it). She also said something about families in the States only having two or three kids--some of the Irish really do have large families! We were watching a game show with our host dad, and one contestant gave a shoutout to her seven sisters and five brothers!! Jesus.

Saturday morning, our host dad took us into a neighboring town, Tralee (Trá Lí), while the oldest host daughter had music lessons there. It was very tiny and cute, but it rained ALL day, so that part kind of sucked. But we did some shopping, which is always fun! Then we went back to their house, hung out some more, and ate a lot. That night, we went out in Castleisland and met up with other kids on our program. The town is so small that when we called the taxi to go home, all we had to say was that we were going to the O'Connor's house, so we didn't even have to bother with an address. They seemed to know all the taxi people personally, anyway. The only downside to the stay was the heating thing I mentioned earlier. They told us it was the coldest and most damp it had been all winter, and since you don't really heat things, I slept in two pairs of socks, thick pajama pants, two tank tops, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, and gloves under a couple sheets, a blanket, and a comforter. And I was still cold. I wish for their sake that gas/oil was cheaper!

On Sunday it finally stopped raining, so Kate, Giada, and I took a walk through all these country roads around their house. Their two dogs, who were adorable, just followed us, too. It was beautiful, and you could see so far that in the distance you saw the Killarney Mountains. I'm going to post some pictures because words just don't do this area justice! We came back to UCC around dinnertime, and overall I'd have to say it was a great weekend. All the O'Connor kids were so friendly to talk to, and the oldest son actually goes to UCC, so now we have one more familiar face to see around campus! The trip made me even more excited (if that's possible), to see the rest of Ireland.

Pictures from Cork

Walking along the river in Cork's city centre.

Cork Opera House.

Walking across the River Lee.

A Few Pictures from Dublin

This is a view of the street we stayed on for orientation in Dublin from across the River Liffey. Our hostel is the bright blue building.

A random street in Dublin. At the end, with the red doors, is St. Anne's Cathedral.

A side shot of Christ Church Cathedral.

This picture shows a little bit of what I think is Dublin's business/financial district from a bridge on the River Liffey.

And now on the way to Cork! SUCH pretty countryside!

Dublin: Good "Craic"

So, my trip started out with an orientation in Dublin (Baile Átha Cliath). We stayed in a hostel right on the River Liffey (An Life) , next to McConnell Bridge, which is on (from what I could tell) was one of the main streets in Dublin. Right across the river was the Temple Bar (Barra an Teampaill) area, which is full of kind of more upscale restaurants, pubs, and bars. It's a little more touristy, but was always full of people and fun to walk around.

The first day in Dublin was kind of worthless--I was so tired from the plane rides and my lack of sleep (I got into Dublin around 5 AM) that I could barely eat and fell asleep at about 7 PM--there was definitely minimal walking around the city. But the next day, after we had a few hours of orientation, we took a Hop-On/Hop-Off bus tour, where I got to see a lot more of the city. We walked around Christ Church Cathedral (a big Anglican church), some Dublin city gates, and then took a tour of the Guinness Factory at the St. James's Gate Brewery! I discovered that regular Guinness is pretty much one of the most terrible things I've ever had, but the Sky Bar up at the top of factory had an amazing 360-degree view of the whole city! There were a few other things on the tour that I never had the chance to see, like the jail, so I know that I'll want to come back up to Dublin for the weekend or something later in the trip. The next day was full of more meetings, and then we went out for New Year's Eve. Dublin was really packed--sometimes they even sell tickets you have to buy at least the day before to get into certain pubs because it's so crowded. Because Ireland already has a pub culture, something big like New Year's just means that even more people will be out on the streets. It was really fun to just be in big city to celebrate! New Year's Day was much quieter. We had another meeting in the afternoon, and then Arcadia took us to the theater to see "Great Expectations." The next day we headed off for Cork.

As a city, Dublin was a great place to visit. Everyone was friendly and the whole place seemed outgoing and beautiful. But I'm glad that I decided to study in Cork because it seems smaller and less touristy. Starting in Dublin was great, though, because it meant that I got to meet everyone else on the Arcadia trip. Overall, even the meetings in Dublin were really good to go to--we even got to learn a few surprising things about Ireland. I thought they were interesting--hope you do, too!

--People in Ireland refer to things as "good craic" (pronounced "crack"). It means fun, but if you don't know what it means and someone talking to you in a meeting or on the street says "there was lots of craic there" or asks you where the craic is, it can be pretty funny. There are a few other funny translations, too. If you're going to "meet up" with someone, you say you're going to "hook up" with someone. If you make fun of someone, you're "slagging" them.

--Ireland is not a tipping culture. You don't tip your bartender, waiter, hairdresser, taxi driver--anyone. If you have an exceptional experience, you might tip, but you would give them only a few cents up to one or two euro. Which is nice, because the exchange rate kind of sucks!

--Ireland is a very, very small country (about the size of Maine or Indiana). There are only a little over 4 million people. Which means that a lot of people know each other, or if they don't, they know someone who does. Apparently, it's almost like they play a game of Six Degrees of Separation each time they meet someone new. It's also sometimes a way to find out if they might somehow be related to each other. So instead of asking what you do for a living, like in America, they like to ask each other where they're from and where they went to school (because it's usually in the same place). They tend to do this to Americans, too. I met someone who, when they found out I was from Ohio, told me that they knew/were related to someone in North Dakota. Which I'm sure is a nice place!

--Gas here is quite expensive. Although it's measured in liters, when translated, the Irish pay roughly $6/gallon for gas--and they have the cheapest gas in Europe! Which means that instead of heating the whole house, they tend to only heat the room they're in at the time, and usually not as warm as we're used to. And showers can run out of hot water very quickly because they only heat so much for the day. So we got a talk at orientation about not wasting heat and water like us Americans do in order to keep our Irish flatmates happy by keeping their bills down! Thank God it's not quite as cold here!

After a four hour bus ride through what reminded me of the Midwest, except for more sheep and less corn, we arrived in Cork. We've mostly been settling down in the apartments and shopping for things like mobiles. I'm living with two other girls on the trip, and one other roommate. Whoever they are, they're probably Irish, and most likely won't get here until Sunday because school starts up for the spring semester on Monday.

I've had a great time in Ireland so far, and it should be really interesting to get into the swing of the European way of college. And then next weekend is our homestay in Co Kerry. Apparently the accents are even thicker there than they are here in Cork, which should be fun to try to understand. And it'll be a chance to experience country life here!