You Never see a Hearse with a Trailer

January 31, 2010 8:26 pm

First of all I want to say WOW! I can't believe tomorrow will mark me being in Ireland for a whole month. That is insane to me. I am sad to see it go, but at the same time it is drawing me closer to new adventures and the reunion with all of you back home!

My title is a saying that my Irish friend Graham said to me last Tuesday night and I liked it. He said it and I just looked at him not understanding what the heck he was talking about. He didn't know why I was confused (he forgets we are American a lot I think). It is a saying from his home town in Wicklow about living life because you can't take anything with you.

For those who know about my eye I will give you an update. For those who do not I will catch you up (it is NOT a big deal I promise!) Thursday morning I woke up with cloudy vision and I just assumed it was a typical morning and me being blind I didn't really notice much. Throughout the day it kept getting worse, I assumed it was my contacts. When I got home I took out my contacts to discover that it wasn't my contacts. My left eye was completely fogged over. It was really scary. As time went on it started hurting and throbbing. I called my mom in a panic and she assured me that I probably scratched my cornea. I went to the living room and hung out with my roomates for awhile. Our French roomates showed us how to make something amazing that is horrible for me to know about. Fried bananas with butter and sugar..YUM! After indulging in those and watching a few minutes of Finding Nemo with Meghan M. and Kristen, my eye was red and watery and I couldn't even move it without being in intense pain. It hurt REALLY bad. Around 9:30 I took some sleeping pills and went to bed. The next morning I woke up with blurry vision in my left eye and it was swollen halfway shut. I looked like a troll. I decided that it would be smart to just wear my glasses all weekend no matter how awful I look in them! The next day my eye was back to it's normal self so all is well!!

This weekend was fun and very very successful. Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. Kristen O. and I caught a bus to Cork to visit Kristen G. After a four hour bus ride we saw Kristen waiting for us at the stop. It was a fifteen minute walk to her apartments and on the way we got to see how cute Cork is. It is the second largest city in Dublin but it is remarkably different. It is a college town but it is so easy going. You see only 1/3 of the people on the sidewalks and the street as you do in Dublin and everyone had a smile on their faces. It was a beautiful weekend with beautiful weather so that could have had something to do with it as well! It was so relaxed and very pretty since it is set right next to the ocean. After dropping off our stuff, Kristen G. took us on a mini tour and brought us to a really pretty park. We walked around taking in the greeness and then she took us to the English Market. WOW! It was awesome! It's a market that is open everyday and has every type of food ever. It has fresh fish (with eyes and all so a little scary), fresh fruits, a homemade chocolate booth (of course we stopped here) and much much more. It's open everyday and she lives about 10 minutes from it. She is a lucky girl! After buying chocolate and some apples, we headed back to her apartment, which is very nice by the way, and started making lasagna. That's right, I helped make lasagna and I have the recipe...I'll be like Rachel Ray before I come back! While it was cooking, we met some of her roomates. Two of them were going to Dublin for the weekend with their school, so we traded places pretty much. They were all really nice. We ate our lasagna which was delicious by the way! Then got ready to go out and view the nightlife of Cork. Britney, a girl from UNI, came with us, as well as one of Kristen's roomates, Ally. It was really fun. We went to a pub called the Washington Inn and they had karaoke! During Build me Up Buttercup the lady came over and stuck the mic in my face so I sang along to that for awhile! After a few hours of that we went to another pub where a man was playing live music. That was really fun as well. We headed to McDonald's after that and saw Leah, another one of Kristen's roomates and some of her friends. We stayed and talked to them for awhile then all walked back together.

We were all exhausted so we pretty much passed out when we got back to the apartment. I got to share Kristen's full size bed that night. It was so comfy! The next morning we got up and bought a bus ticket to Blarney. After the 20 minute bus ride we arrived in the very small town. We bought tickets to the castle and walked around the grounds. It was very pretty. There is a brook that runs through the grounds, surrounded by trees with little foot bridges on it. The day was sunny and the sky was clear as well, making it all the more beautiful. Looking into the distance you could see the stone Blarney Castle rising into the sky. We wandered the grounds for quite awhile before actually going into the castle. We were the only ones around for some time, until we met some other American's and we took their picture and they took ours. The woman told us to be careful when we went into the castle. We didn't understand until we actually went in.

After some fun photo ops, and pretending we were queens/damsels in distress/dungeon prisoners/archerers protecting the castle we walked into the Blarney castle. There were signs all throughout the castle saying they weren't liable for anything happening, including if we died. That was a little scary and then we found out why they had that. After poking around and reading about the different rooms, we started the ascent to the top. To reach the top, you have to climb up very very narrow stone steps that spiral upwards. You have to hold onto a rope on the side so you don't fall. SCARY. It really wasn't that bad, but that is really what happened. On each floor there were rooms you could get off and look at. They all started kind of looking the same because all they were were stone rooms with a hole in the wall for a window. It was interesting though to read each plaque that described what happened in each room. When we finally reached the top, you climb out to see very pretty views of the courtyard. We walked around towards the Blarney Stone. The Kristen's told me I had to go first (apparently they were scared). A little old man was standing next to it. He instructed me to take off my glasses and sit down next to him. I then had to take my arms behind my back, above my head, and hold onto a metal bar. I got tipped backwards by the man. You have to do this in order to reach the Blarney Stone. I kissed it and got pulled back up. It was quite a ways down there! The Blarney stone was white compared to the gray stone around it. Apparently, if you kiss it you are supposed to be able to talk more eloquently. I haven't felt it yet, but you can all be the judge :) . When I got pulled back up, the man told me that I should go out that night and practice my kissing skills. These Irish men, they are so ornery! I laughed as i put my glasses back on. The Kristens told me I was lucky I was blind while I was doing it, because if you looked straight down you saw how far up you were being dangled.

After exploring the grounds some more we headed back to Cork where we got some fresh chicken at the English Market and made pasta with fresh chicken marinated in garlic and herb dressing. SO GOOD again! That night we were going to go out, but throughout the day I started getting sinus problems (surprise surprise). I told them that they could go out, but I thought it would be best if I stayed in. They wanted to save some money so we all stayed in and watched Hercules and we made Kristen the fried banana amazingness that our French roomates taught us how to make.

We hit the hay early, and the next morning we headed out to Midelton. Midelton was about a half hour bus ride away and is the home of Jameson Whiskey. We took a tour of the factory which went through the history of Jameson. It was really interesting. At the end of the tour 6 people are picked to be whiskey tasters. I got chosen to be one. She had us compare scottish, american, and Jameson whiskey. Honestly, I hated them all, but Jameson was by far the best. In our group we had an older Irish couple, a woman from the Netherlands, 2 Americans studying at Cork. And an Irishman and American studying in Dublin. We all sat and talked for over 2 hours in the bar. It was a lot of fun! After heading back, we ordered Four Star Pizza which really hit the spot and watched Chocolat. It was a good movie. Unfortunately, on the website you watch it on you can only watch 72 minutes, then take a half our break and watch the rest of it. That was ok though because during the break we planned out what we were doing and when in London for this coming weekend. We have our itinerary down to a t. We all stayed up and talked until around 2 then went to bed.

This morning we got up and went to Finn Bar's Cathedral. There has been a church in that exact spot since the 600s. How crazy is that?! It was beautiful, with carvings in the stone. It was an Angelican service so I really didn't know what was going on, but it was awesome to see the inside. I miss my Baptist church back home though. It will be interesting to see different churches throughour Europe though.

After church we ate leftovers, then Kristen and I caught a bus back to Dublin. Tomorrow I have to go become an official immigrant in Ireland. Crazy.