February 9th-10th - The Beautiful City of Cork

On February 9th-10th, I had the opportunity to go to Cork with some of my fellow Atlantis classmates.

Some background information about Cork: 

It is the third largest city in Ireland and the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland. (Trust me.. there is a difference.)

Cork is about 2.5 - 3 hours south of Dublin, about 20 minutes from the southern coast of Ireland.

One thing that is always discussed about is the beautiful view around Ireland when you drive around it. In the picture below is an example of some of the views on the drive down to Cork.

However, nothing is ever said about the amount of stops available along the way. Honestly, anyone driving on a highway in the U.S. right now should be grateful for restroom stops within every few miles. Along the way, it took a long time for us to initially find a way to veer off the highway and, once we did, then it took a few miles before we found this restaurant in the middle of nowhere. 

We decided to stop there for both drinks, food, and to go to the bathroom (Thank God for that place!).

In the picture below, you can see that I chose to have tea and it was a great choice. I think that I may be addicted to tea with milk by the time I return. 

After we went to the restaurant, we continued our trip down to Cork with some views such as the picture below. 

When we first arrived to Cork, we couldn't figure out how to locate the hostel and nearly got into an accident due to a two-way street only having enough room to operate as a one-way street.

In fact, this was something interesting to note because this was a problem navigating in some parts of Cork and in neighboring towns outside of Cork on our journey. 

After arriving at the hostel, we decided to drop off our stuff and roam around the city centre to see what we could do here.

Long story short.. there is not much to do in the city centre of Cork during the day. The English market is a wonderful site where there is fresh meat, vegetables, fruits, and other items for sale in a market setting. We did not buy anything but it was a sweet sight to see a fresh market.

However, here are a few other pictures from around town. 

This first picture showed water falling along the rocks next to a restaurant in the city. 

For those that have ever been curious if they call anything 'American' in other countries like we call things 'French fries', etc. here is an example that they, in fact, do call things 'American' in other countries.

I do not know for a fact but I think this was one of the main streets in the city. However, I took the picture because I liked how the lights were aligned on each post. 

While walking around, there were some notable signs and I couldn't resist taking a picture of the one below. 

This is a view on the bridge overlooking the river coming into town. 

We walked inside of a church but we were not able to walk inside of this Lutheran church but I decided to take a picture of this one but not the other church (It doesn't make sense). 

Well.. this is only a tribute to IU basketball fans that Ireland does care about their coach.

As for dinner, we decided to make pasta with sausages and.... it was a disaster. Thankfully, I do not have pictures of it but I was embarrassed to have to admit of being the chef of that meal. First, I put way too much pasta into the same pot and not enough water, which many of you back home will know is a recipe for very very sticky pasta and unevenly cooked pasta as well.

Therefore, some of the pasta was WAAYY overcooked and some of the pasta was WAYYY undercooked haha. Looking back at it now, I can chuckle but I was really embarrassed about the whole situation. Furthermore, the sausages were of the cheap quality and... they stuck to the pan and caused a mess as well. All in all, I take the responsibility for the meal disaster but it is unfortunate that I was responsible for cooking for all 5 of us in that meal.

Fortunately, on Sunday, February 10th, I had a small opportunity to redeem myself by cooking.... scrambled eggs. They came out well but I still have a ways to go in terms of getting better at cooking haha.

Sunday was filled with traveling around nearby places outside of Cork.

The first place was to the world-famous Blarney Castle. Honestly, I did not know that it was famous until after I left and I did not kiss the stone for various rumors and reasons. Either way, it was 10 EU to enter and the landscape was truly beautiful. I had a nice time navigating around the castle with the group and here are a few pictures from outside the castle and the surrounding landscape.

However, if I want to be completely honest, I think it is a waste of money and the best part was actually walking around and seeing the streams, landscape, and lake. 

The lake is absolutely peaceful and breathtaking (at least for me). So if you do make a trip out to Ireland to see the Blarney Stone Castle, make sure to walk around the whole campus and take in the full beauty that it bestows. 

After our trip to Blarney Stone Castle, we drove out to Kinsale to visit the city and find the historic Charles Fort. 

Upon arriving, we initially walked around for a little bit because we were lost and wanted to glance around the town. Kinsale definitely has the feel of a typical sea port establishment: lots of places with fish or fish references, not that many shops, and a lot of water in view around the town. 

Earlier, I complained that there wasn't much to do in Cork but Kinsale was a much smaller town and most of the establishments were closed by the early evening. 

Regardless, we were fortunate that Charles Fort was open until 5 so that, when we arrived at 4, we were able to roam around for about an hour on the premise. 

My first reaction was.. 'wow' and my lasting reaction was.. 'that was amazing'.

I have a couple of pictures below to show some of the view that I saw at Charles Fort but I don't think it really captures being there and being able to see it the view in person. Maybe I was more surprised that it was a sunny day than the view itself but it was still a wonderful view and a great place to visit. 

Afterwards, we ate at a local restaurant and I finally decided to try the traditional fish and chips as my meal. I definitely understand why fish and chips are so popular in the UK and Ireland because it was delicious.

All in all, Cork and the surrounding towns around it were beautiful. If we had more time, we definitely wanted to check out Killarney but maybe we can make a trip out there before we depart from Ireland. 

A Beautiful Day in Ireland

While here, I have realized that the weather is mostly the same almost every day: cold, rainy, and, occasionally, windy.

Here is a photo of what the sky typically looks like here in Dublin.

Cloudy Day in Dublin

However, there are times when the weather changes and the natural beauty of Ireland can be seen.

Here are a couple of photos that I collected around Dublin when the sun shone brightly for the day.

Partly Cloudy Day in Dublin

Sunny Day at St. Stephen's Green

Sunny Day at St. Stephen's Green

Also, after talking to a couple of people here, I realized that I have not been cooking at all. In fact, I think it has been two months since I cooked a meal. 

Hmm.. so, as shown below, I took some bread made by my roommate and made what I am known to do well: omelets! It is nothing special but it did feel great to be able to cook something once again. 

Cheese Omelet with Homemade Bread

On Wednesday, I wanted to do a brunch where I made an omelet with the tomato and cheese sandwich that I have been making during my time here. However, the bread that I had was all molded so I had to improvise. So I decided to make the following in the picture below. I call the creation 'Omelet Salad'. 

It is an omelet with cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, and tomatoes. Underneath it is a layer of salad and more cheese. One of the eggs came out as sunny side-up and acted as a dressing for the salad.

When I usually do the arrangement, I have the salad cooked within the omelet but I can say that I enjoyed cooking it this way too.

Omelet Salad

Finally, I needed to figure out a dinner to make because I usually struggle with this dish type. However, after putting things together, I ended up cooking chicken with cheese, tortellini with spinach, uncooked tomatoes and tomato sauce. 

Dinner

Dinner with Tomato Sauce

To cap off this food edition, tonight, I had dinner with my friends from Valencia and Mallorca, Edu and Maribel. Yeah.. I'm not quite there in terms of making a dinner haha. 

I'm a little disappointed that I did not get a picture of it but the dinner consisted of: salmon, bread, potatoes, carrots, and broccoli. To cap it off, they created homemade apple pie with vanilla ice cream.

Yum yum yum.. they did a brilliant job cooking tonight and it was a pleasure hanging out with them too. 

The Transition

For the past three weeks, I have had the benefit of being a tourist around this beautiful city of Dublin but, now that I am settled, it looks like I am transitioning into being a full-time student once again.

The long days and nights of exploring the city will be replaced by long days and nights toiling over projects, exams. and this thesis proposal.

However, if everything goes well, my goal is to be an international student by week and an international traveler by weekend.

I will still attempt to post daily to the blog but there will be weeks where it will be only a weekly post that summarizes key events during the week and where I traveled for the weekend.

Thank you to everyone that has been reading this blog. You guys are all amazing and, although I would do it anyways, you truly make it worthwhile for me to write about my experiences here.

Also, if you want to keep in touch, message me on Facebook or comment here and we can set up a time to use Skype, Oovoo, or Google +.

Cheers and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Culturally Infused in Ireland

So last night, my roommates and I went grocery shopping at 3 different grocery stores to collect our groceries for both dinner that evening and our personal stash. I had a great time comparing prices and finding out which products were better and/or the best 'bang for your buck' around these grocery stores.

After that, they cooked the apartment dinner, which I can only simply describe as 'Chicken Curry Casserole'. I really loved it and it was incredibly filling because it was stocked with carrots, curry, potatoes, onions, and I think maybe another ingredient too. 

A close-up of it is shown in the picture below. 

Chicken Curry Casserole

Next, I went to the Bleeding Horse to meet up with others from my program to watch the Super Bowl.

I was genuinely surprised by the amount of Irish people that were interested in the game and, for those wondering about what team they rooted the most for, it was the 49ers. 

Also, throughout the game, one of the other Americans in my program, Brandon, explained to everyone the basic rules of the game and the overall objective as well. However, he and I both realized that, although we grew up with it, this game is very complicated to explain due to the variety of rules and 'hidden rules' of the game. 

Nevertheless, everyone had a great time and, more so, enjoyed being able to hang out with one another on a Sunday night. 

My inner sportswriter wants to go in so much detail about the game but I will keep it brief for everyone's sanity. 

I really enjoyed the game and I personally think that the game would have remained a blowout without the delay. That was probably the best that I have seen Baltimore's offense play in years and this has to be the best four game stretch of Joe Flacco's career. He looked great out there and commanded the game beautifully. 

Until the delay, the defense played just as well with Ed Reed even getting an INT for the first time in a long time. 

However, despite that, I really liked the fight that the 49ers exhibited throughout the game. They drove deep into Baltimore's territory a couple of times in the first half but just couldn't convert either chance into touchdowns. 

Also, regardless of the reason, the 49ers played amazing in the second half and were 7 yards away from being Super Bowl champions. 

On a side note, I have to say that it was very weird watching the game and not being able to see any commercials from the U.S. Therefore, I have no idea what amazing/terrible commercials were produced this year but it was also comforting because I just socialized with others around me during that time. 

Also, Beyonce's halftime show was, in my opinion, really well done. I'm sure there were a few things that could have used more work but I never heard a bar here stay silent until the halftime show came on. 

Honestly, during that whole show, most of the men just stared at the screen in awestruck. I had a difficult time figuring out what was more fun to watch: their reactions or the show haha. 

The only terrible thing about watching the Super Bowl here though is that I didn't get home until very late and ended up sleeping around 5:30 AM on a school night. However, looking back, I would do it every time. 

As for today, I had my Irish Cultural Studies class and... it was mind-blowing the amount of information that we were trying to learn today. We went from learning about a summarized history of Ireland to attempting to learn Irish words by the end of the class. 

Some Irish words are not bad to learn.

For example:

Ard is Irish for height.

Ballimore is Irish for Big Town

Carraig is Irish for Rock

However, if you look at the picture below, these are some of the larger words/phrases shown to us today. I have looked at it a couple of times and still can't imagine fully how the professor actually said the words. 

Irish Words

Also, a brilliant twist to the class is that he asked us where we were from and if we knew what the place meant. 

So I said that I was from Palm Beach, which is straight-forward, but that a town near me is called Boca  Raton, or the mouse's mouth. 

A couple of others were:

Valencia - Derived from Latin for Brave

Beijing - Capital City of the North

One last thing that I found interesting to note is that he joked about how different cultures pronounced words in other languages.

For example, he said that a French student came up to him asking for a sheet of paper and pronounced it as 's%*t of paper'. Another one was instead of saying beach, the person said 'b*%&h'. 

Thinking of the last example, I could only imagine the horror if one of them were in a relationship with an American and said the following:

"My trip was so amazing. Last night, I stayed outside and laid down on a b^*&h. It was so relaxing and wonderful."

However, the professor did end that topic with saying that he accidentally said in German to a guy waiting on the same bus at the bus stop 'Gay Day eh?' and prompted the guy to walk away from him so the language confusion happens to all of us. 

As for tonight, an Irish friend in the program, Aine, cooked a wonderful dinner for the rest of us that was really delicious.

The dish consisted of: smoked salmon wrapped in tortilla with cheese, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, peppers, and chicken wrapped in rasher and stuffing. 

To top it all off, she made a crumble pie with a lemon flavor to it that was delightful, too.

Aine's dinner creation

Another cool thing is that we learned that Guinness has a nitrogen ball inside of each one that causes the fizz when you open it. Since we are very curious students, we opened up the can and did find the nitrogen ball inside of the Guinness as shown in the below picture.

Nitrogen ball inside of Guinness can

The only thing that we could think of for its use is for the ball to be initially connected to the can top. After it is opened, the ball drops and causes an overflowing fizz on its fall through the can.

I'm really enjoying the group of friends that I have made here. We are also in the talks of making trips around Ireland and possibly going to Scotland.

This should be grand to see what occurs over the next few months but, until then, I think I'm going to catch up on sleep from last night. Have a great night everyone!

Super Bowl Sunday!

With apartment searching and the class structure out of the way, I think I finally found a church here.

Unfortunately, I did not wake up early enough to go today but I am excited to see what will unfold at services starting next week. 

Also, after looking at the website, one thing that I want to try out at least once is the homeless feeding. 

We will see how it goes but it will be interesting to attend church service here in Ireland.

Today was also a day that I finally cooked my first meal here. It was homemade bread (made by my roommate) and an omelet.

I honestly think it has been almost two months since I last cooked so it was weird making a dish once again.

Also, my roommates are cooking an Irish dish tonight so it will be grand to see what they whip up in the kitchen.

As for the rest of tonight, it is officially Super Bowl Sunday!

The name of the place that I am going to watch the event at is called The Bleeding Horse and the Super Bowl begins at 11:30 PM here. It is really weird seeing the times in the U.S. and then adjusting to this time zone whether it is from the Eastern, Central, or Pacific time zone. 

It's really simple whom I want to win... the Baltimore Ravens. I really want to see Ed Reed finally win a Super Bowl not only because he is a great player but because he is from the University of Miami. Also, any Purdue fans that are undecided, you should root for Baltimore because they have Bernard Pollard on the team.

Also, the rumor is that we will not be able to view the commercials for the game.... I am not sure how I feel about this but I am all for new experiences haha. 

Anyway, have fun eating tonight, do not kill anyone over the game (it's just a game...kinda), and, if you do not care, watch and enjoy the commercials. Cheers!

Touring the City... Again!?!

The past two days, my Atlantis group and I decided to explore some hidden gems within the city. 

One of these places is called 'Cafe En Seine'. Just like most places in Dublin, it is a pub but.. my goodness... on the inside, you would be amazed.

Someone that told us about it described it as 'four floors of beautiful architecture'. Let's just say that we all had the same expression about the place.

The place has the feel of entering a mix of a palace ballroom and an elegant dining room due to the dim lighting in the room.

Cafe En Seine

I honestly think that I could sit in there for hours and find something new to look at around each room. Also,the service is laid-back and the place overall really had a nice and relaxing vibe to it. 

In my opinion, it appears to be one of the best places to go to after work, especially around the early evening when you want to just kick back, relax, and just talk to other people. 

Another place we went to visit was this restaurant that had a 'little Italian' feel to it because the guests are allowed to bring their own wine to accompany their meal for less than 10 euros.

Finally, we checked out one of the recommended places that we wanted to go to for the Super Bowl: The Bleeding Horse.

I was a little skeptical about the place because of the name but it is MASSIVE. I can't wait to see the Super Bowl in this place on Sunday but I am also more interested in how other people will react while watching the Super Bowl. 

Today, I was caught on the other side of the coin because the highly anticipated rugby event 'Six Nations' started today. 

I have no idea what are the rules for rugby nor how scoring was done but, after watching it for a little bit, I became fascinated by the gameplay.

My friends told me the basic rules of rugby while we watched it such as scoring and the passing but I was always interested in how often athletes got injured in this contest. Within 10 minutes, I saw 3 players getting helped off the field with varying injuries. I can definitely see the joy in watching this game, especially with the enthusiasm presented after every score.

Also today, I decided to go on my third tour of this wonderful city. What can I say? I can't get enough of learning about this place haha.

I found it interesting to be able to listen to this walking tour for the second time and, despite it being a different tour guide, being able to remember a good portion of what my previous tour guide discussed with my group about Dublin. 

I did learn a couple of new interesting facts about Dublin on this tour. For example, Dublin originally was named based on a mis-communication between natives and Vikings establishing themselves in Ireland. The Vikings thought that the people said that the name of the city was Duvlin and hence established this city by that name instead of its original Irish name, which is Baile átha Cliath

The name of the city eventually became Dublin under the English rule of Ireland.

Another thing that I learned is that the top of the remaining part of Dublin Castle was renovated in the 19th century because the city authorities did not think that it looked 'castle enough' to be considered a castle without a renovation.

As shown below, I also learned that the Temple Bar area had some history other than the 1980s tourist boom. It was the main area of Dublin where navigators would settle in during the marine trade through Dublin throughout the centuries.

Temple Bar

 In fact, some parts of Dublin are built where the river used to flow through Ireland during the 800s. 

Finally, I really did not know too much of the cultural significance of Trinity College. I thought it was just known for being the tourist destination for the Book of Kells but it has also been used in movies or replicated in movies such as Star Wars and Harry Potter. In fact, as part of an agreement, Trinity College had to sell Star Wars memorabilia for three months to promote the movie.

I bet even the most fanatic Star Wars fan did not know that. :p

Inner Part of Trinity College

 Finally, another thing is that Trinity College give a 10-year window to graduates to marry in order to use their campus for the wedding. As I took the picture below, a bride and a groom appeared under there shortly after and prompted the tour guide to talk about another spontaneous occurrence when 200 Bollywood actors did a 15 minute dance in Trinity College on one of his tours!

Courtyard of Trinity College

I also heard that, if you know a student from Trinity College that you can see the Book of Kells... for free. Let's just say that I'm going to start to use my connection there so that my group can hopefully see this ancient book! Unfortunately, there is a great chance that no photos can be taken so I will just have to look for a replica around here so that you can still see how it will look.

Bonus fact(s): Ireland is typically referred to as a Catholic nation but, until the early 1800s, only Protestantism was allowed as the main religion in Ireland. In fact, Catholic life was very brutal until that point and not very welcoming to practice in public until a guy named Daniel O'Connell fought for the rights of Catholics here.

Nevertheless, although Irish are predominantly Catholic, the two main cathedrals in Dublin are Protestant based on the heavy investments by Guinness owner Arthur Guinness to St. Patrick Cathedral and Whiskey owner Henry Roe to Christchurch Cathedral.

I always heard that Irish drink pretty religiously but, in this case, you could say they are doing it out of respect for those that saved these main cathedrals in Dublin. 

Cheers!

What is your Impact?

Yay! Everyone that I know here has finally found an apartment/house and safely moved in as of yesterday. Also, many of the errands that I have needed to do are done and taken care of.

For the past week but, especially the past two days, one word has been circling through my head: impact. What will be my lasting impact here in Dublin? What will be its lasting impact on me?

On Wednesday night, one of my friend's roommate was having a good-bye get-together after being in Dublin for the past 5 months to return to Belgium for school. It started as any get-together where everyone talks and mingle but the entire atmosphere felt different compared to other gatherings.

Throughout the night, I would see the guy get hugged and consoled by different people throughout the night and hearing thanks from them for being there for them and the memories that they had. 

Upon seeing me gaze at it, my fellow American friend simply told me "It is never easy to leave." Wow... I never truly thought about the attachments and the connections that I would make throughout my journey here. Obviously, my focus is first and foremost on school but a close second are the connections and impact that is made during the duration of this trip.

I have only been here a little more than two weeks and I have already had some difficulty saying see you later to some people that I met in my hostel. 

What will my reaction be when I say it to the girls that took me in for a couple of days while I had no home?

What will my reaction be when my core group has to go our separate ways to either the United States or Spain?

Finally, what will the lasting impact and imprint be as a result of our time together?

As of now, I have no idea how to answer that question but I am excited to see how it ends up.

For example, it has only been a couple of weeks but I already can see how much the groups of friends that I have here have impacted me.

The below picture shows a dinner consisting of chicken, pasta, grated cheese, and tomatoes at one of my 'family dinner' on Thursday.

Family dinner with Atlantis crew

During our short time here, we have realized that eating out here every day is REALLY expensive and that it is better to instead make a large meal together. Also, I feel that the environment is more friendly because we are in more control of the environment and pace.

Nevertheless, all I can suggest to everyone here and back home is to strive to learn something new every day, be focused on what you want to accomplish, and express love and understanding to others even when they may not show it to you.

Cheers!