Another Exploring Day

Ok, so here's another one, since I don't have much to do at the moment...haha. Yesterday, Janelle and I went to buy our step dancing shoes, so we wandered over to the city center. After we purchased them, Janelle went home, because, yes, she is STILL sick :( I, however, decided that while I was already over here, I would do some more wandering around the city. My Irish Traditional Music instructor had told me about a tiny little shop called the Living Tradition, which sells any kind of Celtic music cd you could want and also sheet music, so I decided to find the place. It didn't take me too long, and when I went in, I saw that she was right. So many cds of fantastic music, but, I didn't buy any because I figure I'll go back another time. There were several harp music books that I wanted too, and a BEAUTIFUL small harp, one that you can hold on your lap. It looked like one of the harps you see in pictures during the medeval times, made of oak wood and wire strung. I didn't play it, because I wasn't sure if this store was a place where you can only look and not touch, but I definitely would love to purchase one of those some day, because it's a lot more portable than my other harp...haha.

When I left the shop, I headed back into the main part of the city, and on the way I passed a hotel where there is a small waterfall in the back of the outside of it, so the hotel restaurant has guests eating right by the waterfall, which was really neat. I don't know if you can see it well in the picture, but oh well.

My purpose in continuing in a certain direction was to find St. Finnbar's Cathedral. My spelling might be off on that, but it's a really famous cathedral that I had seen the steeple of way in the distance, but I wanted to find it. On my way there, however, I passed by Tuckey Street, where a sign caught my eye that said Christian Bookstore, and I remembered that our gardner, John, had mentioned that he was great friends or the family of the people who owned that shop and had wanted me to go inside and tell them "hi" for him. So, I went in. There was an older, balding man in the back of the shop, so I went over to him and asked him if he knew a man named John Beagly. He smiled and said that yes he did, and when I explained about how I knew him and that John had wanted me to tell them hello, he was very happy. He apparently has been to Grants Pass ten or so years ago and loved it. He mentioned the Rogue River and how beautiful it was there. He also said that it's pretty rare to meet Grants Pass people in Cork. He told me that there is a Calvary Chapel in Cork, and gave me the email address of either the youth pastor or the pastor there, I can't remember, but now I can look into going there, since all the churches I have seen here so far are Catholic. After we talked a bit more, I left and continued toward the cathedral.

When I got there, I was really excited, because it's amazing. I didn't go in because it cost 3 euros, and I know I'll be back there with other people, so I just wandered around the outside. Here are some pictures of it.








Here is a convent I saw on the way back to the apartment after going to the cathedral. It's called "Convent of Mercy. St. Mary's of the Isle."


Ok, that's all for now, I'll write more later.

A blog of pictures! Yay!

The River Lee, a 5 minute walk from my apartment
The view across the river
Irish countryside
A cathedral in the city center of Cork
The chuch on campus
Another building on campus
Another picture of the music building. I have two classes in there. Yay!
A castle I discovered by accident
A little cathedral in Cork
Bed and Breakfasts in Cork
A building in the city of Blarney
Me with 2 of my roommates, Alison and Kate
Janelle and me with 2 of our roommates
Inside Blarney Castle
The view from the top of Blarney Castle
The stream on the grounds of Blarney Castle
The wishing steps. There is a legend that if you walk down them backwards and with your eyes closed, the witch of Blarney will give you your wish
A church on the grounds of Blarney Castle
Blarney Castle again
Another picture of the Blarney Castle

We arrive in Ireland

We arrive in Ireland.

Janelle & Jennifer in Cork, Ireland

We Arrive in Ireland

The train ride from Dublin to Cork was beautiful! It was a combination of beautiful farmland, green hills and forest. Then we went to a hotel to prepare for our big day of moving into our apartment.


Jennifer:

I am having sooooooo much fun. We went to the Blarney Castle today and yes, I actually did kiss the stone...haha. I wasn't sure if I was going to, but after I climbed that steep, tiny staircase to the top, I figured I might as well.
It's really awkward, because you have to lie on your back and lean way back and kiss it almost upside down.
Janelle didn't go up there, because she was feeling way too sick to make it up all the stairs. She's been sick since we got here :(

The college campus is gorgeous! It's so old, and medieval-looking. Janelle and I are going to go there tomorrow to find where our classes are, and while we are doing that, I'll take tons of pictures. Apparently, with classes here in Ireland, you have two weeks to try any class you want and then decide at the end of the two weeks whether to stay in them. You just have to make sure you attend the classes you want so they can put you on the list.

I have two options with the harp class. I can take the class itself, or I can play in a harp ensemble, with lots of other harp players. I probably won't do both, since that would put me over the limit of credits, but I am going to both on Monday to decide which one I would prefer. This is the university music building!!!

Janelle and I are going to try out an Irish Step Dancing class together, which could be totally fun. We are also going to take the Gaelic class, because it's for people who have never spoken it before, total beginners, and they take a trip to the part of Ireland where they only speak Gaelic. It's a really beautiful part of Ireland. The other classes I am looking at are Intro to Irish History, Intro to Irish Traditional Music, Music in Modern Ireland, Celtic Literature, and a class about the history of both Ireland and Scotland.

Oh, about our room and stuff. Janelle and I live with 3 other girls from the US in an apartment. We each have our own bedroom and bathroom and then we share a kitchen and a living room/tv area. The girls are all very nice, though they do all drink, which isn't the greatest, but since they are all nice, it works out ok. We went to a pub on Thursday where they had live traditional Irish music. There was a fiddle, a banjo, an Irish flute, and a guitar. It was totally fun :)

My classes are going really well. Janelle already told Dad this, but Mom, I don't know if you heard. Our step dancing class is SO MUCH FUN! The teacher is at least 75, though I would guess she's 80. She's a tiny old woman with a slight hunchback, and yet she's up there dancing and showing us the steps. It's amazing. She's so cool.

I decided only to take the regular harp class, not the ensemble, because the harp ensemble class starts at 6 which is when my Irish traditional music class ends. The two buildings are a 20 minute walk from each other so there is no way I would make it to the class on time. I love both the modern and the traditional Irish music classes, so I am definitely keeping those ones, however, I decided to drop the Ireland and Scotland class, and instead take a class called Irish Film History.

Irish Film History is a class Janelle is taking, and I wasn't going to, but since she was sick, she asked me to go to it in her place, and it sounds like a really interesting class, whereas my Ireland and Scotland class hasn't impressed me so far. The instructor is a really nice, older woman, but she talks really slow and quietly and it's really hard to pay attention, so I get bored, whereas this other instructor is really cool. Tomorrow I have my first Celtic Literature class, which I am really excited about, and I don't know yet about the Gaelic class. We have to turn in a form on Thursday listing when our other classes are, and then they assign us a time slot and the classes start next week, I think.

I met a middle aged man from Oregon the other day. He was taking pictures of the university and asked me for directions to some cathedral, which of course I didn't know, so I said I was from the US and he said he was from Portland, Oregon. He said he's basically doing a whole Europe trip by himself, which is pretty cool. But, besides him, I have yet to meet any other Oregonians. Most of the Americans here are East Coast people and Californians.

The people are really friendly here! They are all so nice. Cork is known for having a lot of international students or visitors so they are really friendly and helpful if you have any questions or need directions or anything. It's funny, though, people don't really tip waiters here. They'll leave maybe 50 cents or 1 euro, but there's nothing like the 15% they do here. They don't tip taxi drivers either. And they don't give you bags at the grocery store. You have to pay between 20 and 50 cents for one bag. So, instead, to save money, people bring backpacks and just stuff the groceries in there after you pay. Apparently they are trying to save the environment or something.

They also charge you 1 euro for the use of a shopping cart, they lock them up and the coin releases a cart to you. Hmm...what else weird....oh, haha. They have signs that say "Dog Foul is litter" I have never heard that name for dog poop, but it's funny. The word "crack" here means fun, so when they say something about crack, it's not the drug. They also say "brilliant" all the time. Like we would say something is cool, to them it's brilliant, and it seems to be the only adjective they use. The people dress pretty much like they do in the states.