Kinsale, Clonakilty, and Waterford

This weekend was full of day trips from Cork, starting on Thursday when Caitlin and I went to Kinsale, which is a small fishing town about a half hour away from Cork. We started the day by going to Charles Fort, which are the ruins of a fort that protected the coast. We walked through the fort, then walked along the coast into town, where we were able to see part of Druid Castle, which has been restored and turned into a winery. The town itself was completely adorable, with brightly colored houses and courtyards on almost every block. So far, this was my favorite trip outside of Cork.

Friday, we went to Clonakilty, which is the town closest to the beaches in Ireland. There wasn't much to do in the town itself, but we went down the the beaches, which were absolutely gorgeous. The waves were huge, and believe it or not, there were surfers riding the waves in the 35 degree temperature. We were freezing on the land, and I can't even imagine how cold they must have been!

Yesterday was Waterford, where we started at the Treasures Museum. The museum consisted of artifacts tracing Ireland's history from before the vikings landed until the present time. It was a really interesting way to learn about Ireland, and I'm sure a lot of the stuff we saw will be discussed in my classes. After the museum, we went to Reginald's Tower, which is one of the remaining towers that has been restored from the original city of Waterford. It was really cool to see an ancient tower in the middle of the city. Theree wasn't much inside, but it was interesting to see. To end our day, we went to the Waterford Crystal Factory, which was amazing. It was full of beautiful crystal, and it took us forever to decide what to buy.

I'm still loving Ireland, and next weekend I will be in Dublin, which I'm very excited about. There is a lot to do, so the weekend will be pretty much non-stop, but it will be fun! I'll be back with a full report of how it went next week :)



The harbor outside of Charles Fort

The fort from the outside

Caitlin and I at the entrance


The ruins from the top

Inside the ruins

What's left of one of the buildings


Green Telephone Booth in town. Awesome.


Beautiful chapel in Clonakilty

The beach...you can kind of see the castle by the sea in the distance



View from the bus on the way to Waterford

Reginald's Tower

Old French Church, which is now an art gallery


My two favorites from the Crystal Factory :)

Blarney Castle and Cobh

So this week, I took my first couple day trips with some friends. On Thursday, we went to Blarney Castle, which is about a half hour away from Cork. It was wonderful to see a little bit of the countryside. The weather was beautiful in the morning, which turned out to be a good thing as we climbed to the top to kiss the Blarney stone. The castle itself is basically the ruins of an old castle, and in order to get to the top (which is extraordinarily high up from the ground) we had to climb a tiny, narrow, uneven set of spiral stairs, with only a rope to hold onto. It was worth it to see the wonderful view from the top, where you could see for miles around. As for kissing the stone...I was absolutely terrified to do it, but I somehow got the courage to do so. In order to do it, you have to lean backwards over the ledge of the castle while an attendant holds your waist to make sure you don't fall. It was really scary, but I did it, and I was rewarded with the gift of eloquence, as the legend goes. After a very slow journey down the formidable steps, we walked around the castle grounds, which felt strangely like we had been transported to the rainforest, with pathways surrounded by waterfalls and huge, beautiful trees.

This morning, we ventured out to Cobh, which is the seaside town from which the Titanic set sail for the last time. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries so I wasn't able to get any pictures, but I should get them from my friends sooner or later. The town was really adorable, and we went to mass in a church that was absolutely beautiful. It was one of the biggest cathedrals I have ever seen, filled with stained glass windows and carved archways. We also saw the port where both the Titanic and the Lusitania took off from, and walked through a virtual tour of what it was like to emigrate from Ireland to America back in the day.

I'm still really loving Ireland. During the week, there are lots of pubs that have local musicians come in and play traditional Irish music, which is a lot of fun to listen to. I'm taking a class about it, so hopefully I'll be an expert by the end of the semster! The one thing I doubt I will ever get used to is the fact that you can experience all four seasons in one day. When we left this morning, it was bright and sunny, proceeded to downpour, got sunny again...etc for about two hours. Then on the walk home we were soaked to the bone in a hailstorm...go figure. Other than that, I'm completely loving Ireland, and looking forward to seeing Dublin and Tipperary, which are the weekend trips coming up soon.

I included some pictures from Blarney Castle below, and hopefully I'll be able to steal some pictures from Cobh before too long. I hope you're all doing well :)


Blarney Castle from far away

Closer view

View from the bottom

Okay, you see that hole in the top of the castle? That's what you have to lean out of to kiss the stone

The view from about halfway up

The stairs we have to climb to get up to the top

Me at the top

I kissed it!

Random waterfall in the middle of Ireland


Walking up the Wishing Steps. Supposedly if you can walk up these steps with your eyes closed while making a wish, your wish will come true. We'll see...

Me in a cave

Pictures!

This week has been really busy, and it's hard to believe that I've only been here for a week. I met all my flatmates on Sunday, and they are all very nice. Nile and Sean are both from Ireland, so it's highly likely I will be taking some weekend trips home with them. Lizzy, my female companion is from Chicago, and we are already good friends. I've met a lot of American students, which is nice, but I'm looking forward to meeting more Irish people as I get more settled in.

Classes finally started, and they are all going to be very interesting. Three are based exclusively on Ireland, and the other two are psychology courses that will go towards my major at Wheaton. The professors are all very nice, and love having international students in their classes (It's a bit weird to consider myself international, but I suppose I'll get used to it eventually.)

Yesterday some of the girls and I went on a walking tour through Cork, which took us to many of the famous churches and other historical points throughout the city. We have now seen pretty much everything we wanted to here, and are looking forward to seeing more of Ireland. Cork is a nice city, but very similar to any city back home. Last night, Caitlin and I spent about six hours planning our trips for the rest of the semester, and we have several exciting trips coming up soon. This coming weekend, we will be heading out to kiss the Blarney stone and see the emigration town of Cobh, where the Titanic set sail for the last time.

I have some pictures below, which I hope you'll all enjoy. It's a little embarassing to walk around with a camera on campus, so there aren't many pictures of UCC, but luckily the tour yesterday was a perfect excuse to take some pictures and act like a tourist!

I hope you're all doing well, and please keep in touch!
Love, Becky

They still have the manger scene set up in this abbey, which is kind of cool. Just because Christmas is over, they don't forget its significance.


This church was absoluetely beautiful, and to me it looks more like a castle!


I loved the prayer cushions inside the church!



Caitlin and I




Caitlin and my flatmate Lizzy


The view from the top of St. Patrick's hill, which was a beast to climb.


St. Patrick's hill. It doesn't look that steep, but it goes up even more, and it's so steep that they had to put stairs in the sidewalk so people would be able to climb up it.


The view from outside my window.


My bed. I lucked out and got a full size :)



My room. I was lucky and got a huge room with my own bathroom :)

First Few days

Well, after a long couple days travelling, I'm finally settled into my room in Cork. The waiting time in the airport was very stressful since a lot of the people from Wheaton didn't have seats on the plane, but they ended up putting us in first class, which was absolutely amazing. My room is wonderful, with its own bathroom and a beautiful view. Once my own computer is hooked up to the internet, I'll have some pictures up :) I still haven't seen very much of Cork since I've been busy grocery shopping and getting settled into my dorm, but hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow. That's pretty much it for now, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm here safely, and getting settled in. I'll probably update later this week. Happy New year!