Fish and Chips

While there are a bunch of convenience stores and pubs near the school, there are but few restaurants...save one Jackie Lennox's Fish and Chip Shop.

This magnificent establishment sells so much more than fish and chips. You can get burgers, fried chicken, steak and kidney pie (I don't actually get the last one but it is an option.) You walk in, it is always busy, you stand in line and then a guy asks your order when you are like five back from the front. You have to know what you want and yell it out. For any of you from Philly, it's similar to ordering from Pat's or Genos. First time I went, I figured I should get the traditional fish and chips. What happens when you order is they pull out a sheet of paper, throw an entire breaded fish on there, throw some fried chips on top, ask if you want vinegar on it, and then wrap up the fried goodness and hand it to you. It's kinda awesome.

Fun Facts About Other Countries

One of the great things about going to school in Cork is amount of international students you come in contact with. There are 2000 international students at UCC from 98 different countries. 

Some fun facts I have learned...

1. In Ireland, to dissect a body you have to get permission from the Church.

2. In Quebec, if you live with someone for a year, you are considered common law married. However it has to be 12 months consecutive, so if you take a week long vacation apart each year, you are not married.

3. In Holland, they ride bikes a lot. A friend of mine here said they used to have fights because everyone wanted to ride their bikes to elementary school and there was only so many bike racks.

4. Germans make fun of Austrians. French make fun of people from Belgium.

5. In Germany, you have mandatory either civil or military service for around 9 months after graduation from high school.

6. In Quebec, you have a mandatory two year program after high school if you want to go to college in Quebec.

7. An American girl I met said someone came up to her and was upset that she wasn't obese, wearing knee high socks with flip flops.

8. In Spain, a drink is to mix wine with coke.

9. In Ireland, you have these mystery tours where you are picked up by a bus, driven to a  undisclosed small town and have to drink the bar dry before you get back on the bus to come back home.

Cloudy With A Chance of Rain

Ireland's nickname of being the Emerald Isle is well deserved. It is one of the greenest if not the greenest place I've ever been. I'm learning though that to reach that brilliant level of green that is over so much of Ireland, you need a lot of rain.

I've been very lucky so far. I mean don't get me wrong as soon as I crossed the Atlantic, I haven't worn flipflops, tshirts or shorts but the rain hasn't been that bad. It's been sunny for some days. On a few occasions, I've even taken off my jacket and only had on one layer. And the rain has been pretty light (they call it "Irish Sunshine" when it's drizzling) so I've gotten to see a couple of rainbows.

However the time has come (the walrus said) for fall (or autumn as they call it over here) and it has come with a vengeance. My roommates are convinced that there is no way to appropriately dress for the weather because it will go from warm to windy to cold to rain in a matter of minutes. Another issue with the weather is America is the only place to do it's temperature in Fahrenheit. Unless I want to do mathematical conversions in my head, I'm pretty lost when I turn on the TV and see that it's 17 degrees out. To me, that's really cold. In Fahrenheit, it's 63 degrees which isn't bad at all.

In addition, I'm pretty sure the Irish are born with thicker skins. Or maybe it is developed. I'm a naturally cold person, and so I haven't gone out with less than three layers on. And I'm still cold. The Irish (particularly the females) will go out in short skirts..and heels. The roads are steep here. I'm constantly in awe of seeing how females walk down the street in stilettos.  But I digress...

There's an old English joke that goes something like a guy went to the bathroom and ended up missing summer. I didn't get it growing up. Now I understand.

Whiskey In the Jar

Yesterday me and the roommates decided to take a bus ride to Midleton and check out the old Jameson Distillery. The factory is closed to the public but the old one now a museum called the Jameson Experience.

We watched a brief video about the history of John Jameson, and then took a tour of the place. It was really interesting. I knew nothing about whiskey prior to going so it was very informative.

Fun Facts:
-In Ireland, you have to distill your whiskey for AT LEAST three years to be sold but Jameson usually waits for five years.
-The whiskey is distilled in used barrels from America, Spain and Portugal that had previously held brandy, sherry or port so as to give mix of flavors.
-The Irish monks actually brought whiskey over to Scotland.
-Finally, the older the whiskey, generally the better.

After the tour, we volunteered to be part of the tasting so we got little shots of Jameson, Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker. We managed to taste the difference between the straight whiskeys but when it came time for our complimentary glass of whiskey we all added Coke to it.

Anyway here are some pictures and then a video of that classic song "Whiskey In the Jar."

To Arthur

It's the good man's birthday. Raise a glass.

Butter, Crystal and Football Championships, Oh My!

So the past few days have been busy with classes starting up so this might be one massive entry.

Thursday: We were told there was an Irish music band playing at a bar called Clancys so me and my roommmates went down to check it out. When we got there, we heard such classic Irish songs from artists such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Johnny Cash. It was pretty cool though because "Walk the Line" was played with singing, guitar and an Irish flute. We did hear some Van Morrison and I believe he is Irish. In addition, "Wild Rover" was played and that's traditional Irish.

Friday was orientation and the Butter Museum. That's right, Cork's World Famous Butter Museum mentioned in an earlier post. My roommate and I checked it out. Turns out I knew nothing about making butter but I learned that you have to first separate the cream and the milk and then you have to agitate the cream. They were very emphatic about that point. I also learned that kings in olden days weren't considered worthy if they had not conducted cattle raids. Probably the weirdest point though was learning about the churns that they keep the butter in. Turns out that the Irish are very superstitious. In County Mayo, the hand of a dead infant was placed under the churn to protect the butter.

On Saturday my roommate and I went to Waterford to check out the Crystal Factory. It was pretty interesting learning how crystal is made. I didn't realize that frosting is what naturally happens and then an acid has to be applied to remove the frosting to give crystal that clear look. Waterford makes some of the big sports trophies and the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball. For lunch that day, we ate something called sausage, rashers blaa which I'm pretty sure was just sausage, bacon on a bread roll. It was pretty good though. Even better that we ate it all before seeing the pig that was essentially all carved up.

Sunday was the Gaelic Football All Ireland Championship between Cork and Down. Cork's colors are red and white so my roommates and I got as much decked out as we could in red and white and went to the student bar to watch it (one of two student bars on campus!) Cork had a great come from behind victory. It was kind of interesting but since we were at the student bar, not all the students had on red and white because the Irish students were from other parts of Ireland and didn't really care about Cork winning. However most international students had on red and white. They had an instructional to learn how to Irish dance lesson later that day, so I went to that as well. I have a long way to go before I'm on Riverdance but it was still a lot of fun.

Monday the team came home and there was a HUGE rally in the city. My roommates and I went down to join pretty much the rest of the city. I couldn't really see anything but it was still fun to be among the masses of humanity. There was cheers, speeches and lots of flag waving. We went out to a couple of bars afterwards and had a good night.

Anyway that's pretty much all from out here. Tomorrow is Arthur Guinness's birthday which I'm told is like a national holiday so that should be fun.

Waking Ned Devine

The other night the International Education Office offered a movie night to the international students. About 130 people showed up and it was really funny. Anyway the movie is called "Waking Ned Devine" and if you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it.

Food and Ireland

So yesterday when I was talking to mom and she thought it might be fun to know what I am eating and drinking for a little under four months. I know certain people have a special interest in this having lived with me in the past and consequently knowing how rarely I cook for myself. In all seriousness, this has been a topic of conversation for some of my friends, wondering how I will actually survive. In addition, I don't have any of my beloved Kraft products to fall back on here. To sum it up, it will be an interesting four months.

For those wondering, I have used the stovetop three times to boil water but as can probably be guessed I have gone to my old standbys. The big three. Burger King. Subway. And the only one that sounds like it belongs in Ireland even though the first franchise was founded in San Bernandino - McDonalds.

I know some people like to go to McDonalds in other countries to see what special food options they have. I would say this is the reason I have gone to fast food restaurants here but I think convenience is more the reason.

For those wondering, here is how they stack up to their American counterparts, ranked lowest to highest.

3. Burger King - I ordered what was termed "chicken balls." I thought seven would be sufficient until I found out I would be getting breaded chicken the size of marbles.

2. Subway. I went for my standard meatball sub. Pro's: they gave me one more meatball than usual in the United States. Cons: They shoved the meatball over so they weren't in a straight line. It seems a small issue but I know some people (person) who would be annoyed by this. Fun facts: they sell prawn cocktail chips and the Subway has the same exact smell as the Subway in North Philly.

1. McDonalds. I ordered chicken mcnuggets and fries. The cashier apologized because "it was a little busy in here but if I told him where I was sitting, he could see if he could bring it to me." I said I was fine waiting, and he goes "Are you sure? Because it might be THREE minutes." I've never had anyone apologize to me before because it might take them three minutes to cook my food.

Some of you might be wondering (or probably not) what are the indigenous foods to Cork. According to the tourist book I have picked up they include the following:

1. Drisheen - a type of blood sausage or pudding made with a mixture of sheep's and beef blood. Heat it in milk or water, skin it, pepper and serve with bread and butter. Otherwise sliced and fried. Believed to be good for invalids, people with delicate stomach and no teeth! (Exclamation point added by them - I have a feeling the sick people feel a whole lot better real quick after eating it.)

2. Tripe - beef tripe is the most common and is the first stomach or rumen of an animal. It is cut into small pieces and cooked in milk for up to two hours. Served in a sauce with milk and onions, well seasoned with salt and pepper and sometimes drisheen.

3. Pig Offal - Bodice is the rib cage sold as cured or salted for boiling; the skirt is the diaphragm and is stewed with pig's kidneys, Crubeens are pigs trotters - boiled for three hours and popular as snack foods, often eaten cold at football or hurling matches.

4. Spiced Beef - traditionally eaten at Christmas. Marinated or cured in salt water with a mixture of herbs and spices such as all spice, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Then boiled.

5. Buttered Eggs- Buttering was a traditional method of preserving eggs and keeping them fresh for up to 6 months and sometimes longer. Couldn't be eaten during Lent, plentiful during summer but not so much during winter, so buttering became a way of preserving them.

6. Battlebord - Dried salted ling, a large Atlantic fish of the cod family. Cheap and plentiful food and often eaten during Lent and on Fridays. In its preserved state, it is stiff and hard. Soaked overnight to re-hydrate it and then boiled in water or milk with onions. Not as popular today as it was associated with fasting and penance.

Sooo if I'm daring enough I will try one of the above mentioned foods, any votes on which one?

Little Bit About Cork

So when I came to Cork all I really knew was that it was the second largest city in the Republic and the people were supposed to be "the friendliest in all of Ireland." Having not travelled everywhere in the country, I can't verify this is true but the people are very friendly.

Example: I was in the 2 Euro and below store to shop for apartment supplies. I was standing in front of the hand soap section and my arms were pretty full with paper towels, dishwashing soap and sponges. A local made a comment to me that I wouldn't be able to carry anything else and I laughed and said "yeah but I need soap." The gentleman made his recommendation to me and left the section. There was an older woman who was standing there during this conversation. She went up to the front of the store, found a basket, brought it back to me, made me put all my stuff in it while she held it and just said "take it" and patted me on the shoulder. While walking home that day, another man came up to me and started talking about "how the weather looked troublesome." I had never heard weather described with that adjective before, but I had to agree that it fit.

Cork has a few other fun aspects in addition to the friendly people.

1. According to wikipedia, it is one of Ireland's sunniest cities with 3.8 hrs of sunshine a day.

2. It is nicknamed the "rebel county" due to the town's support of the English Pretender Perkin Warbeck in 1491 following the War of the Roses.

3. The big drinks are Murphey's Stout and Beamish Stout.

4. The Cork Gaelic football team is playing in the Championships this Sunday. They haven't won in twenty years.

5. The city colors are red and white and are everywhere right now due to the team being in the championship.

6. It has a butter museum in honor of the importance butter has played in it's economy. I hear it is free on Fridays and I will be going because really, where else has a butter museum?

Quiet Before the Storm

So I have a couple of free days before registration starts up. I'm used to the United States where you register at least a month and a half in advance and have already heard from teachers about what to read before class starts.

Ireland...not the same philosophy.

While I have enrolled online, I don't actually register for classes until orientation which is the end of this week. So I have no idea about what classes I will be taking. There are some classes I can look at online but I have been warned that these classes are provisional and may not be offered. Huh, comforting.

Other than that, I found a park yesterday with a good size lake in it and a bird preserve in the middle of the lake. Also interesting is I found a sign about the bat population in Ireland and which 4 out of the 8 species could be found in the park. Haven't seen any yet but to be fair, I didn't know about the bat population in Ireland and haven't been looking specifically for them.

Okay, think that's all from the emerald isle for today. Hope everyone is well back in the States.

Erin Gets Adjusted to Ireland

Hey Everyone,

So since my internet is a bit unstable at the moment ie. I have no internet at my apartment, I decided to create a blog so people (if they want) can follow how I am doing in Ireland. Please feel no obligation to read but figured this might be an easy way to keep in touch.

I've been in Cork now for about a week. It's a neat city. I'm pretty close to the school and a little walk to the city center. I live on top of a hill and have to go down to get anywhere so my time in Ireland is quickly becoming Operation 2010: Calves of Steel.

The week has been spent getting set up and figuring out my way around the city. For example, I learned how quickly I enjoy hot showers when I didn't have hot water for a few days but that has now been resolved. The campus is very pretty. My roommate Maria says the quadrangle looks like somewhere you would play Quidditch. I have to agree with her. A lot of flowers, and trees and old gothic buildings.

The weather has been alright. Pretty typical Irish weather which means it will rain during the day, but you never are exactly sure when. Wonderful thing about Ireland is there is a pub approximately every fifteen feet. I was lost and caught in a downpour one of the first days I was here, so I went into a pub until the storm blew over. All was good until I saw a mirror and realized I looked similar to a drowned rat. Turns out I can't pull off the drowned rat look but I did enjoy that stout.

I have two roommates so far, one from Spain, the other from Montreal. I should be getting one more. Both are very nice so so far, so good.

I took a couple of day trips through the International Education Office. One to Kinsale (the gourmet capital of Ireland) and the other one to Cobh (last port of call for the Titanic). Both neat little towns on the coast. Out of 50 some students on the tour, about five were American, five were from somewhere else and the rest were French or German. I had tried to learn some French before I came from an old travel tape, but somehow the sentence of knowing how to order bread or croissant for breakfast did not come up in conversation with the other French students. Shocking, I know. The students were nice even though I got a lot of blank stares and nods when I would speak and then a couple of minutes later, "I'm sorry but I don't understand." One girl said she was ready to go back to her apartment, and I said "long day?" She heard "one day" however, and responded that it was going to be "this day, after she got on the bus."

There are five television channels. One is in Gaelic except for random showings of Judge Judy, Friends or "Cheaper By the Dozen" A few are all news or sports and one features just music videos. I didn't realize that Katy Perry was so big over here. Not many people know Philadelphia. One guy knew it because Will Smith was from there, a couple of people know it because it is in the Eastern Conference for NBA. No one has been there but a few have been to New York or Boston. It's kinda funny because I read about the Bruins playing a game in Ireland and being described as "the premier world famous Boston Bruins" which they are, but I got a little laugh when I think about how Philly beat them in the playoffs.

Anyway I should probably sign off for today but just wanted to keep people updated on how I am doing. Hope everyone is well back in the States!