Galway Girl ;)

It has been a week since my sister left and is now currently 5 days into Easter Break! Already this vacation has been truly awesome! Last Saturday was CIT's ISS (International Student Society) trip to Galway. We left around 8 am that morning and our first stop was in County Clare, more specifically Bunratty Village. I have been to Blarney Castle twice now, and have heard that it was rated Europe's number one over rated attraction. Now that I have been to the Bunratty Castle I can see why. Don't get me wrong, I definitely think that you should visit Blarney! After all kissing the stone is kind of a rite of passage if your visiting Ireland but, it is like 9 Euros and you basically walk up the old castle stairs and kiss the stone and they have a couple garden's. I have to say though, I was quite impressed with Bunratty Castle.

The castle itself is set in the middle of what they call a "Folk Park". The Folk Park is basically a reconstruction of the homes and environment of Ireland a century ago. It recreates not only farmhouses and villages but also a Main Street type of setting with shops. Like most of the tourists there I ate everything up, I really could not help it! The whole experience was far too quaint, and I found myself going "aww" on more than one occasion. The day started with a short tour of the castle. I liked the tour and would recommend one to anyone that visits, it was really informational and I found it to be interesting. We then were able to go around to the different parts of our castle for ourselves and explore. Rooms were furnished in mostly 15th and 16th century style, which was really cool to see. It may be a little morbid but I found the dungeon, drawbridge, and the built in spy holes (behind paintings) to be the most interesting. After the castle we walked around the village, had lunch, and watched all the farm animals. After a couple of hours there, we were back on the road.

Our next stop then was at our hostel in Galway. After checking in at the Kinlay House (great accommodations btw) a small group of us ventured out into the city. There were a couple of people in the group who had a friend that lived in Galway and knew a lot about the city, so when he offered to take us on a walking tour that afternoon we were all pretty excited! To be completely honest Galway was probably my favorite town I have been to in Ireland. It was absolutely gorgeous and everyone was so friendly. Seamus (the galway local) took us to the town center where we were able to see a piece of the original wall that incased the city in 1627. Behind that is a red metal statue the locals call the "hooker". It was inspired by a ship named The Hooker's masts. After seeing the marina and some other cool historic spots we decided to take a walk along the Prom. The Prom is a 2.5 mile walk along the coast of Galway. The weather was perfect for this and although we were all really tired after the 5 mile walk I think we all walked back to the hostel completely in love with the city. After a quick nap we ended the day (and began Sunday) in downtown Galway visiting some traditional Irish pubs! Sunday morning arrived and we left around 10 am to go to Kylemoore Abbey Estate. Driving through Connemara was breath taking! The Estate was also beautiful and the day was gorgeous. Before heading home on Sunday we stopped at the legendary Cliffs of Moher. It was almost surreal and it was definitely unlike anything I had ever seen.

In all it was a wonderful weekend and so far one of my most memorable times here in Ireland. Tomorrow myself and a few other International Students are going to be going up to Dublin for a couple days then we are flying over to Scotland, Edinburgh to be exact. After this past weekend in Galway, Dublin and Edinburgh have a lot to live up to. In Scotland however I think I have concocted a fool proof plan for success
1st Avoid anything that looks like it could possibly be Haggis
2nd Search for a Gerard Butler look-a-like

I will be sure to let you know how it works out!

Goodbye Ash/ Hello Spring Break

This morning I had my last presentation, it went really well, and things are definitely winding down at school. This is the last full week of school before Easter Break. Most of my classes are wrapping up the last bit of presentations or going over final bits of information we need to know for exams. From my understanding, after our two weeks off in April, we return to a four day school week. That week is meant to be a review week to help students study for exams. The following week after that is "study week", during this time teachers will set up blocks of time on a certain day that they will meet with any students who want to go over any information or have any questions, so that week we will not have regular classes and I will probably only have to meet in class rooms five times since I have five classes. That could be wrong though, I guess we will see. Following that is exam week! Ahh! Kidding, I think everything will go fine. I also found out the other day that some of the schools I applied to are willing to look at my CIT transcripts to see if I can get some classes accepted for transfer credit, which would be awesome!

Today is Ashley's last day in Ireland. I came home after my presentation and now her and I will be going to the Cork City Goal and hopefully around the University College Cork (UCC). They have a beautiful campus, but it is kind of cold outside so I'm not sure if we will end up doing that. The weather actually has not been that wet this week, I told Ashley she lucked out because she has not seen rain since coming here and they days have been long, sunny and warm. This streak of gorgeous weather has not gone un appreciated! After the Zoo on Wednesday, on Thursday we walked around town and got lunch then when food shopping at Dunnes and made a dinner too big for two here and ended the night watching movies. Friday after I got out of classes, we went with two other international students to see the Blarney Stone. Even though I have already kissed it and (hopefully) gained my ability to speak more eloquently, I thought that it is just something Ashley has to do while she is here in Ireland. That night we had a birthday dinner with some friends of mine and then went out to a pub to celebrate. I think Ashley enjoyed dancing in her first Irish pub, it ended up being a great day through! Sunday through Saturday we made our way up to Dublin and stayed in a Hostel. It was Ashley's first hostel experience and after have seeing the movie, lets just say she was apprehensive, haha. She ended up being pretty impressed and so was I, Ashfield house is a great hostel in the heart of the city if you are ever in the area ! We had a great weekend there and we both got Claddagh rings for each other (since it is bad luck to buy your own). Monday was pretty quiet, I had a some school work to get done for this week plus classes. In all its been a great week and I look forward to a class party coming up this Thursday and then a trip to Galway this weekend!

P.S I am going to include a couple pictures, because I know that I like looking at pictures in blogs haha, so for those of you who are like me, here you are........

Watch Out Cork, There is Another Mainah in Town!!

Ashley has arrived! I guess you can never truly appreciate your home life until you leave it for a period of time. Thats how it was for me at least. My sister has come at a perfect time, and we have planned a jam packed week for her.
Yesterday we went to the Fota Wildlife park. It was easy enough to get to, just a quick bus ride and then hopping onto the train plus I had heard great things about it. When we woke up it was cold and dark outside but, as I have become accustom to, the weather quickly changed and thankfully that afternoon and it ended up being a gorgeous day! The park was really amazing and I recommend it to any Cork visitors. Most of the animals were allow to roam free. It was amazing because, we were able to sit and have lunch with a peacock to one side of us and a group of lemurs to the other. We spent a few hours just walking around the park looking at the different animals. I think Ashley had a great time, even though the trip may have resulted in a new paranoia of birds for her. I got a great laugh early on in the day when I told her to go stand next to one of the free range birds walking around. She replied with "What if it attacks me" I assured her she was being ridiculous when out of now where the bird began to chase her. I ended up getting a great action shot and a huge laugh, I'm sure Ashley doesn't appreciate the picture as much as I do but she'll come around! haha!
As for my classes things are starting to wind down. I gave one of my presentations on Tuesday and I think it went well, I only have one more to go. Instructors are now trying to prepare us for final exams. I have also finally been able to wrap up all the applications I have to various schools at home. This summer I am finishing my degree at SMCC with the last two classes I need and then transferring to either Thomas College, University of Southern Maine or Saint Joseph's College for accounting. Applying from so far away has been a challenge but I did most of the preparation before I left, which helped a lot.
The weather is getting nicer and there is a buzz around campus that can only come with an approaching break. I am look forward to Spring break and my trips to Galway, Dublin, and Scotland! I will be sure to post all about them :)

April? Already?!

I cannot believe that it is already April! I know that I keep saying this but time is going by so fast and I know this month in particular will probably be the fastest! My assessments last week went really well. I'm glad to have them over and done with. This week I have one presentation in Marketing, its tomorrow morning and I am slightly nervous but I think that my group has done a really nice job. More exciting however, is the fact that my sister is coming tomorrow! I am beyond thrilled. I really need to see a familiar face. I have made a lot of good friends here, but there is nothing like family when you need them! She will be staying until next Wednesday, so she definitely will have time to really see Cork. It will be great. Eden Hall allows you to have guests so she will be staying in my room with me rather than at a hostel or B&B which will help her save some money.
Things do seem to be quite a bit more money here. As long as you can budget though, the scholarship is plenty to cover for food, laundry and such.I was actually contacted by someone who is interviewing for the Mitchell scholarship this month. Now THAT is exciting! I remember how nervous I was and then when I was named a recipient I was ecstatic but even more uneasy because I had no idea what to expect. This got me thinking, for any people interested in the scholarship I am going to do a post about what I wish I had known and tips. I know that I would have found that interesting and although no one can prepare you for an experience like this, it helps to hear from another student when there are so many unknowns.