There are a lot of things that I have done that have been the best experience in my life. Yes, that sentence means what I intended, and is meticulously true. Study abroad is an unparalleled experience of freedom and falls into the aforementioned category.
Enough of that.
I went to Dublin and Cork with Justin this weekend. As you may or may not know, there are a group of students from my college, CSB/SJU, studying down there on their study abroad trip. Two of them are very good friends of mine, which came up in a conversation with Justin. He then said, "let's go to Cork this weekend." I thought, "this man is insane, that's like 6 hours by bus for basically two nights." Well, I wasn't wrong, but I had the wrong reason. We had some adventures (meaning walking around in the rain) before we got on the bus to Dublin. I should mention, the bus system here has an unnavigable website. Atrocious. Like a horse riding a walrus.
When we got to Dublin, we learned that the last bus to Cork left at 6 pm. Awkward. After deciding there is no way in hell we would pay 50 Euro extra to take a train, we found a hostel map and set out to find one. The first one was nice, but 26 euro is pretty steep. Of course, then, we decided that 19 euro for a super terrible hostel was reasonable. Honestly, though, this place was hilarious. Pizza joint in the front, hostel in the back. The owner even offered a discount on pizzas for his guests. This place obviously was not clean, we slept fully clothed and did not shower there. We did eat at a cool persian place and have an awesome Paulaner's at a pub in Dublin.
Waking up at 7 am to catch the 8 am bus to Cork put us in Cork at 12, just in time to meet Eric and part of the crew for the end of their breakfast. It's cool, though, we had toast.
We then went to the Jameson factory, where I discovered again that I much prefer a whiskey drink to a beer. The tour guide was also hilariously bad. I've heard GPS systems with more personality than this woman. Not an exaggeration. Lucky for her, though, the tour was set up very well and was quite interesting.
After the tour, we went grocery shopping, which took us past the shopping area. I will have to go back; they had a sale on jeans for 13 Euro! Not the only tempting sale, just my favorite that I managed to confirm. They, being the Cork students, made us an excellent 'feast' that made us feel quite welcome and also full. Apparently, there was a beer-fest of sorts in town, so we went to the Franciscan Well and had a few. I had the Rebel Red, which was OK. There were also tasty looking burgers being grilled, but I wasn't in the mood to pay 3.50 euro for a burger. It was a pretty great day.
Hannah, an american on my floor, made macaroni and cheese last night and invited a few folk over. It was pretty awesome, and made me want to make some cookies. I'll report back with results later.
Look forward to "A day in the life of Brandon" AKA "People can live this happily?" style post with pictures when I have a bunch of time. Maybe the week after next.
I'm going to Derry this weekend with a ton of international students; should be great craic.
I love reading about your experiences in Ireland. You are funny. I can't imagine buying whiskey and not having the common sense to have a burger with it. But, I guess I have been around that too much for too long. Keep enjoying your time there, you are lucky and I am envious. Love and enjoy
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