Weekend Number One

At 10am on Friday morning, orientation began. It was packed with short speeches from various advisers, professors and student-leaders. There was a lot of information at once, but it was nice to meet other students and get the program started. From across the room, I recognized Carly Cavanaugh, and was extremely surprised to have some one from West Side in Cork! I sat behind her during the rest of the morning. We registered as students during the "light lunch" -sandwiches and water- had a tour and then left to get ready for the evening.
Friday night, two other literature students I met during orientation, Michelle and Mary, walked back over to campus with me in order to meet others for the Gaelic football game. There was a much larger group of us than expected and it took nearly an hour to walk to the stadium. Nevertheless, it proved to be a pleasant walk with very quaint scenery of small, colorful houses and gardens. Each section of the city and its outskirts definitely has a different atmosphere. The fans were quite loyal to their players, as in any country; they cheered, sang, stood up anxiously, clapped and waved their green, red and white scarves with fervor. In general, the Irish appear to have no qualms about using words thought to be the most offensive in America. Informally, they use the f word in many sentences, but it's so nonchalant and fluid as if it's merely saying "wicked." Our male tour guide realized the difference in word usage when he dropped the c word while telling a story and everyone got rather quiet; the entire group was female. Anyway, I didn't mean to get too far off topic. The game was a lot of fun, but cold. I regret leaving my wool coat behind and will have to invest in a heavier sweater or two. We (Cork City Football Club) won, defeating Kerry 4-0. After the match, more than half of the group went to a club called The Qube (Cube). On Friday nights, the International Student Association has set up a deal where students get free admission and one drink. One drink being a pint, an Irish pint meaning in America that'd equal 20oz. Needless to say they're rather large. It was fun meeting more students in a relaxed atmosphere; yet the ear-wrenching karaoke made the environment not at all conducive to conversation. It was a bizarre melange of music, including some songs I didn't recognize, but that was expected.
Saturday morning, Michelle, Mary and I ventured to Cork City Center to find the Crawford Art Gallery. It was a small, but nice collection of art encompassing both the old and the new; paintings from W.B. Yeats' brother, "There, Not There:" an exhibition of modern Irish paintings, Harry Clarke stained glass and a sculpture room that was far too overcrowded. There was also a room set in the style of an 18th century Irish home; I love looking at antique furniture, books and china.
After the museum, we set about exploring more of the city and found two trivial but funny differences between America and Ireland. In a local bookshop, I found a copy of "Where's Waldo," only to find here, he's referred to as Wally. Secondly, there's a huge T.K. Maxx in the city center, which is the exact same store as our T.J. Maxx. We bought food in the English Market, which is just as excellence as I had anticipated. It's an indoor market brimming with smaller stands and shops; just about any food item you could want was there, as well as many I wouldn't go near... There were surprisingly many organic and vegetarian foods, but got to be rather pricey, and I only bought staples as it was the first of many visits to come. It's also the only place I could manage to find hangars for my closet! Saturday evening I was exhausted and opted to spend that calmly inside.
Sunday afternoon, the same two girls and I walked to Fitzgerald Park, for it was a gorgeous day. The park itself is wonderful; I'll gladly post the pictures at first chance. It's located on the edge of the River Lee, has a beautiful fountain and a quite interesting tree covered in small pieces of mirrors. The effect is bizarrely striking-appearing to be a disco ball misplaced in an organic landscape. We crossed the river on a modernly designed footbridge into unknown territory. The trees formed a canopy over the footpath and there were many people out for walks with dogs or friends. Back across the river, it had begun to rain slightly and we decided to make our way back to the apartments; this walk, evidently feeling much longer than the leisurely, dry stroll to the park. At five o'clock-or twenty past, as we were late-on Sunday evening, Michelle and I went to meet Brandon at his hotel in the city center. Brandon and I worked together this summer for JHU and happened to discover we'd be in Ireland at the same time. Unfortunately, he was simply on a ten day family vacation so we had only the one night to visit. It was great, nevertheless, and we enjoyed a delicious dinner and walk. We brought him over to the UCC campus and he was as impressed as we were on our first viewing. The campus is so very striking.
Monday was the first day of classes, ours beginning at 9:30 am. It was simply an introduction and a run through of the syllabus and planned field trips. Daily we shall have merely 2 hours of class, always broken up with a half-hour coffee break in the middle. In Ireland, I've quickly learned, they appear much more laid back in the teaching style, but they expect you to have the work finished on your own. That afternoon, we visited the Crawford Art Gallery with our class, Michelle, Mary and I for the second time. Yet we discovered another floor we had missed! After viewing the gallery, we had a fabulous and far too filling three course meal at Luigi Malone's. I ordered the garlic baguette, three bean cassoulet and profiteroles (similar to cream puffs) for dessert.
Today, we had our first actual lecture, which was interesting. Mary Breen began with a background on the author, Elizabeth Bowen, and then began with a comparison of the first and last paragraph-yes, last paragraph. Monday, upon a fellow student inquiring about the length of the first reading assignment, our professor answered with, "Oh just get started with the book." Apparently, here that translates to read it all or have the ending ruined. This upset me, but I'm trying not to care, as the book, The Last September, is really good and engaging nonetheless. I've still only managed to get through half, but I feel I'll be safe, as tomorrow is our library tour and she passed out a short story to discuss as well. After class today, I went with a few other from our class to the Glucksman Art Gallery on campus to listen to a curatorial tour of the exhibition "Bookish: When Books Become Art." It was fascinating and I'm glad I opted to attend. I'm still adjusting to the time difference; I feel tired most of the time, which is bad because I took a two-hour nap this afternoon and now it's 1am. I have to be up at 8 for my 9:30 am class. (It takes 20 minutes to walk to school.) I think I'll read and try to fall asleep.

Pictures from my first few days

My view out of the airplane as I was landing was a little hard to photograph.













These next few are from the bus ride from Shannon to Cork.














I love the stone walls everywhere and the architecture.

















Of course I had to photograph some cows grazing! There were dozens of hills withs cows and sheep.









Here are two shots of Cork as I was in the taxi.














Now on to the tour of my apartment suite.






When you first enter, bedroom one is straight ahead, but my roommates are not in Cork yet.







This is all I can add at the moment, because my camera has unexpectedly stopped working. This really upsets me..I hope there isn't a big problem with it because it's so new! But I have to go to the Crawford Art Gallery with my class and then to dinner! I'll continue stressing later...

Arrival & First Day in Cork, Ireland

After anxiously waiting for four and a half hours in New York's JFK Airport, I boarded the plane to Shannon, Ireland at 10pm (20-08-08). Instead of sleeping as I had planned, I watched The Other Boleyn Girl, which I had wanted to see for quite some time. It was a really good movie. I fell asleep for about 2 hours before the cabin began to fill with sunlight and I removed my airline eye mask. The flight crew served us croissants and bananas, which I happily ate. We landed around 10am, or 5am in MA.
The process of coming into the country was painless; I showed the man my documents and chatted about UCC. Once my bags finally arrived on the carousel, I noticed something was missing. My purple suitcase was rather beat-up. The front zipper was ripped open, revealing nothing inside the front pocket where I had placed the calendar Julian made me, photos of friends, a travel journal, notebooks and a few novels. A surge of panic subsided when I heard my (butchered) name called over the intercom. I went to the service desk and a friendly woman gave me all of the aforementioned items. I asked where the bus station was and a worker pointed me in the correct direction. The stop was right outside the airport and the bus arrived minutes after I went outside- perfect timing.
Staying awake on the bus was initially no problem, for the scenery proved to be enthralling. However, the jet lag soon caught up with me and I dozed for a few minutes. I turned my iPod on and took pictures out of the window, which kept me occupied and awake. Five or six older French travelers boarded the bus and I had now another diversion from sleep: bilingual eavesdropping. Unfortunately I overheard nothing exciting.
Even though the areas we drove through were not very remote, I still saw green hills with grazing cows and sheep. Limerick was a nice city to see. I love all of the colors in European cities; you never see that in America.
As I arrived in Cork, and unloaded my luggage, I noticed the purple demon had deteriorated even more. Now traveling was somewhat awkward, as the suitcase became quite cumbersome without the wheeling function. Nevertheless, the transition from bus to taxi was smooth. The driver asked, "Where in the states are you from?" to which I replied, "MA." He nodded and said, "Oh the New England Patriots, right?" I said,"Yes."
"You had a tough year.." Feigning more interest in football than I actually have, I laughed and said, "Yep." Chuckling, the driver transitioned by saying, "Ya like Guinness?" then shortly after continued, "Well you will by the end of the year." (I'm going to venture a guess and refute his claim.) Pulling up to my apartment building, he stated, "Ya picked the best city in the country."
I checked into my building quickly, anxious to find a pay phone to assure everyone I had arrived safely. Entering my suite, I was impressed with the amenities, but displeased to find two other empty bedrooms. Apparently my suite-mates will not arrive until September, which means I don't have built-in friends. I'm excited to meet people tomorrow morning at orientation. I then walked to the shopping mall, left messages for Dad and Mom, and spoke briefly with Julian. It was nice to hear a familiar voice. At the mall, I was hungry and thus bought a salad for lunch. However, much to my dismay, they do not use salad dressing. Instead, they use mayonnaise. When she asked if I wanted mayo for my salad, I said yes, because I thought they may called dressing mayo. Thankfully she gave me packets instead of putting it on the salad! So I ate it plain. I bought yogurt, grapes, apples, cereal and quiche at the grocery store. My room is all set up and my quiche is in the oven; so I'm going to see what the Irish watch for television while it's cooking.