Getting here

I've been in Ireland for about two months now. Actually, I think today (the 10th) marks two months since I left Pittsburgh. Since it's been two months since I left, I figured I would finally explain how I got to Ireland (by plane, obviously, but the details). My family came with me, kind of like a family vacation only it ended with me staying here in Cork. I think I mentioned before that we flew to Scotland first, visiting Glasgow and Edinburgh. Glasgow was reminiscent of Pittsburgh, at least in  my opinion. It was clearly a more industrial, business-focused city, as opposed to being focused on culture. That being said, it was probably for the best that our first stop was Glasgow because the jetlag kicked in after a day of touring Glasgow. We did stumble upon a massive cemetery, which was incredibly fascinating because of the sheer size of it and how old everything was. I think visiting that cemetery was when it hit me that we were actually in Europe. All the dates on the tombstones were so much older than anything we have in the United States and they were all consistently old. I'm talking older than the founding of America old. It was ridiculously intriguing for a history major (like me) to walk through all of the history. As I walked through the cemetery I started thinking about lots of things. I wondered who the people were (you see their names and dates, but not much else), how they died, what their lives were like, how they felt about their economic/political/social situation etc. The cemetery was built on a hill, very much in the vein of "city on a hill."


The cemetery (it was a lot bigger than this)--my picture

Part of the cemetery overlooking the city--my picture

The second city that we visited was Edinburgh (it is not pronounced like Pittsburgh). We took a train there, which was great because we got to see the Scottish countryside. I really loved Edinburgh, I think it was one of my favorite cities. It is very cultural and Scottish. We were there at a pretty good time, they were having a city-wide festival (I think) going on. There were a lot of street performers and plenty of tourists. We saw Edinburgh Castle from the outside, but hey, it was still the first castle I'd ever seen up close and in person. We also saw and climbed the Scott Monument. The amount of stairs that we had to go up to get to the top was astronomical. I couldn't even go to the very top (I'm not the most patient person in the world, or the most coordinated, and walking down more stairs than necessary just seemed like a bad idea...), though my brother and dad did. Regardless, the view was incredible.

Scott Monument--my picture

(my picture)

 

 (my picture)

(my picture)

 

The third city we visited was Belfast, in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom and is NOT part of the Republic of Ireland (they are two separate things). Belfast is possibly less glamorous than any of the other cities we saw on the trip, but this is mostly due to the scars the city has from the violence and political problems. Belfast is a case study, however, for how a city can try to come back from such violence and civil unrest. In case you don't know, Belfast since (and this is me being historically inaccurate with dates and oversimplifying for the sake of attempting to quickly explain an extremely complex and difficult subject that very few people fully understand, including me) the 1960's (it's really been like this since its conception, but explaining why is very messy and would take far too long so I'm going to be inaccurate and say the 1960's) has dealt with violence that is primarily both political and religious. The issue is that the dominating group in Northern Ireland (and Belfast) is religiously Protestant and wants to remain a part of the United Kingdom. However, it is not all Protestant, because no one religion, race, political group, gender etc.  is ever the only party in an area. That isn't how the world is structured. Anyway, the minority group is the Catholics and those who would rather have a united Ireland. Essentially, in the 1960's, the unionists and nationalists were fighting each other in a period known as "The Troubles." Thousands of people on both sides were killed. There were bombings (we drove past the most bombed hotel in the world--the Europa) and it was incredibly bad for decades. Eventually, there was a peace process and the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement was passed in the 1990's, which (kind of) ended the violence. However, there are still periodic outbreaks of violence. I think the week before we arrived there was an outbreak of violence, so there are still issues. However, it is trying to recover from all of the violence. We drove through a few of the areas that have murals devoted to peace and then other areas that show the divisions. It is entirely possible to stand on a street that is unionist and flies the Union Jack and then go one street over and find a nationalist street that is flying the tricolor flag of the Republic of Ireland. As a political science major and a history major, the area is fascinating because of all the divisions.  

 (my picture)

 (my picture)

 

(my picture)

 

We also visited the Titanic Museum. Belfast was where the Titanic was built. The museum was pretty interesting. I found the museum to have a similar, somber feeling like the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. It's laid out similar to the Holocaust Museum as well, walk through and there are a bunch of floors to visit. Overall, it was a pretty good visit.

 

Titanic Museum Belfast--my picture

 

The 4th city we visited was Dublin, which think may have been a bit better the second time I visited (on a class trip), simply because I had more time to see different sights. When I went there with my family, we primarily went to the Guinness Factory and the Temple Bar area because we didn't have very much time. The best part about the Guinness Factory was the very end of the visit because there is a 360 sky bar, that is designed so that you can sit and drink a Guinness and see the entire city.

 

 View of Dublin from the top of the Guinness Factory (my photo)

 

 Dublin (my photo)

 

Temple Bar (my photo)

 

 

After we left Dublin, we traveled to Cork. Most of that day was spent getting me situated in my new room. Overall, I think our European adventure was pretty special.  I liked all of the different cities in different ways. For example, I loved Edinburgh for the culture and Belfast for the politics and history. Most of all, I loved experiencing Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland with my family. So to wrap up, that is how I got to Cork, Ireland two months ago.





Normalcy, Home, Baseball, and Coffee Shops

It's funny what can become normal if you give it enough time. When I first got to Cork so much of what I was doing everyday was out of the ordinary for me. But at the same time I felt like a freshman again and not necessarily in a good way. I wasn't used to not having a roommate, the large classes or cooking for myself. However, within maybe two weeks, some of the strangeness of it all wore off. Walking alongside the River Lee at least twice a week to go to the city center for food became normal. I figured out how late I could sleep in before I had to get out of bed before class. Even not having a roommate has become normal. My apartment-mates were a bit horrified by the fact that, back home in the U.S, you basically have to share a room with someone. Honestly, I kind of like having a roommate back home because there's always someone to talk to. I think I actually might prefer having a roommate to a certain extent. There's a certain comfort level in knowing that someone else is there, especially when that person is one of your friends. The weekends here are a bit different though, because the Irish students go home and the apartment complex (and campus) is mostly deserted. I still don't really understand the whole concept of going home on the weekends. Granted,  I went home almost every weekend freshmen year, but after that year I had friends and didn't want to come home as often. In the U.S, college students go off to college in late August and basically don't come home until Thanksgiving. And after they get back to school, they don't come back home until Christmas a month later. So, I don't really fully understand why everyone goes home here. It's just strange to me because I'm so used to everyone staying on campus through the entire semester. I vaguely wonder if that difference is a different sense of family or hometown loyalty. But then again, there are really only a few colleges in Ireland, so perhaps they figure "carpe diem" and go home. There is also a lot less "busy work" to be done during the week for classes, which might play a role as well. So all of this raises question of is this place (Cork) home yet? I guess answer I have right now is yes and no. It's yes in the sense that I've always been fairly good at adapting to different environments and I'm getting used to things here and there is a sense of familiarity now. But is it HOME? And to that I am inclined to say no. Home, for me (and this is becoming very clear to me now) is Pittsburgh. I've always loved that city, so this isn't really a realization as much as it is a greater confirmation and clarity. The Pirates (baseball team) are in the postseason now and I literally ache to go home and be there for it, having grown up with a dad who has never given up hope that the Buccos would win again someday. An optimism that I'm sure is genetic, given my enthusiasm for the sport and unwavering love for the Pittsburgh home team. I actually went and bought the international package for MLB TV just to watch the postseason on my laptop. Home is also W&J and that particular realization has been bittersweet because the fact of the matter is that I'm graduating this year.

One of the suggestions for a post this week had to do with discussing a place in our study abroad city that makes us feel at home and why. For me, I think it would be at this little coffee shop in the city center, Cork Coffee Roasters. I went there for the first time with my family, before a day tour of Cobh, Kinsale and Blarney. I don't drink coffee, but their chai tea is really good. I went back there a second time the second weekend I was here (I think), after exploring the city center for about three hours. It's a bit of a walk from my apartment complex, probably about 20-25 minutes, but it's worth it. It's very small and is very much designed to be for locals who know about it. You also have to pay in cash, which is interesting. It's very quaint and relaxing and is excellent for people-watching. It reminds me of home for two reasons. One, I've been there before with my family. And two, I remember getting up early freshman year at W&J on Tuesdays and walking to the barista, getting a chai latte and sitting in the Ski Lodge reading the newspaper before class. Sitting in the coffee shop here reminds me of those things, of home. And sometimes I just really need to be reminded of home.

Cork Culture Night

The different cities in Ireland have a designated night to celebrate culture in their particular city. Cork's Culture Night took place about three weeks ago (September 20th) and it was really great. For the month that I've been here, I've seen a bunch of different things in Ireland itself, but I had yet to see very much of Cork City outside of the main shopping streets. So I was itching to go to Cork Culture Night. The basic setup is that participating locations around the city stay open much later than they normally would (11 p.m. compared to 6 p.m. mostly) and they offer different things to see and do. For example, the City Hall Atrium was open, several churches were open, the theater was opening (I think they were showing a production) a TON of art galleries participated, as did Cork City Gaol, Michael Collins Barracks, the English Market etc. There were about 90 different locations that people could have visited that night. And it was all free, so you didn't have to pay to visit any of the locations. The city also had a bus service that rode around all night taking people on different routes to the various places, which was also free and incredibly convenient. And, possibly the best part, on the buses there was live, local music. As in musicians with their instruments on the bus playing while the bus takes you to the wherever you are visiting. It was incredible. I went with a friend to a few of the places. We first walked to the Cork Butter Museum (yes, it's an actual thing) which was actually very interesting and cute. The deal with the Butter Museum was that Cork was strong in butter/dairy production years and years ago (I suspect it probably still is to a certain extent), and the museum was dedicated to that. Then we walked to St. Anne's Church, which has the Shandon Bells, but it wasn't open quite yet. We then walked back to the city center and got pizza for dinner. After that, we walked through the English Market and bought some cupcakes and pastries because it was "pick 5 for 5 euro" deal and I'm a sucker for pastries, so we couldn't pass that up. We ended up getting on one of the Culture Buses, intending to go to the Michael Collins Barracks, but they Barracks were closing about 20 minutes after we would have arrived, so we just stayed on the bus. Which was actually perfectly fine because the musicians playing on the bus were great, so we just rode the bus around for awhile. Then we finally got to the Shandon Bells and proceeded to walk up a TON of stairs to get to the very top because the view of the city was supposed to be absolutely spectacular. I was NOT disappointed. We got to ring the Bells on our way up to the very top, which was really cool. When we finally got to the top, the view of the city was incredible. It was dark and the city of Cork was all lit up and it was absolutely gorgeous. So all in all, Cork Culture Night was a really excellent experience and I felt like I got to know the city of Cork a bit better, which was one of my goals while I'm here in Ireland.

                                                           Cork Butter Museum (my picture)

                                Cork City from the top of the Shandon Bell Tower (my picture)

Cork City from the top of the Shandon Bell Tower (my picture)

 

Cities, Classes, and Cooking

The regular semester here at University College Cork has finally begun. I have been here in Cork, Ireland for about a month and a half now, and I have to say that I have grown to quite like Cork. At first, I was hesitant about the fact that it was a city, but I have come to realize that the cab driver I had my first day in Cork was correct when he said that Cork is really more of a big town, as opposed to an actual city. The city center is actually surrounded by the River Lee on all sides, so it's more centralized in a way, confined to a bunch of streets rather than being very spread out. The River Lee, at least near campus, isn't really all that wide. It's definitely not like the three rivers (Monongahela River, the Ohio River and the Allegheny River) back home in Pittsburgh, but I think it becomes bigger the further away from Cork City you get. Nevertheless there are little "bridges" that allow you to get across River. I have to be honest here, I don't really see them as bridges like we have back in Pittsburgh, they are much smaller and extremely short, one of them is actually right outside my dorm and it's basically just a regular road) that happen to be over the water, absolutely nothing like the bridges of Pittsburgh).

 This is Gaol Cross, it's one of the bridges that connects to campus (my picture)

 

 

The second thing I wanted to discuss was “So far, the biggest adjustment has been _____________ because……”, which is the suggested topic for this week. I think the biggest adjustment so far has been two things. First is the way that the classes are set up here. The international students actually had an entire week where we just went to whichever classes we wanted to, so that we knew definitively what classes we wanted to take. We registered about a week after the semester started. It was really strange just going to any class I wanted to, testing them all out. I was really unsure about that because I like knowing when all my classes are and being able to plan out the rest of my day around them. I think the other aspect of classes here that has also been a major adjustment is the lack of actual day-to-day work to do. Back at W&J, we usually have to read a chapter from our textbook  and then be ready to discuss it in class. At W&J, there are usually little assignments to complete and turn in. However, this is absolutely not the case here at UCC. First, the booklist here typically has about 10 books on it and they are all suggestions. There aren't really required textbooks for each class. I'm under the impression that we should be gradually working our way through several of these books, but we don't have assigned chapters that need to be read for each class. There aren't really even tests, we will have to turn in essays at the end of the semester and that will determine our grade. This system has been a bit of an adjustment for me personally because, as I mentioned before, I like having structure and knowing exactly when something is due. The idea of turning in an essay at the end of the semester and then that ONE essay determining my grade (or marks, as the Irish phrase it) for an entire class is terrifying. In addition, I'm never really sure what to do with myself because I don't have a chapter from a textbook that needs read or an assignment to complete.

 

The second adjustment has been cooking for myself. I have to come to realize that I am incredibly used to having a meal plan back at W&J. There is no meal plan here, so I have to cook every meal. Now, I really love cooking, so this hasn't been a major issue but I have been eating a lot of pasta because it's easy and quick to make. Also, pasta is cheap. I have become very conscious of how much food costs (not that I wasn't aware that food was expensive before coming to Ireland, but actually having to buy my own food has been a bit of an eye opener). Also, cooking takes effort. Occasionally cooking for my family on Sundays is a very different experience than cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner for myself every day. I have found that it's easier to buy staples (which, for me, means Ritz crackers, pasta, pasta sauce, Nutella, peanut butter and granulated sugar for tea) and then go to the store about twice a week for bread, tomatoes, apples etc. Bread gets moldy quicker here (probably because there are less additives in it), so I have to buy that at least twice a week. Luckily, there's a convenience store right on the corner of Gaol Cross, so I don't have to go far to buy bread. Physically cooking isn't much of a problem, I think coming up with some variety to what I make has been the hard part. I'm much more inclined to make pasta all the time because it's easy, but I do want to try and make different dishes more often.

 

Overall, I think that I have been adjusting to life in Cork fairly well. I'm going to try and write another post about some of the activities that I've been doing here in Cork soon, because I have had a lot of fun cultural experiences so far, such as watching two hurling matches, listening to traditional Irish music and Cork Cultural Night



“If I could have one thing from home it would be ___________ because…”

So (as the title of the post indicates)  the suggested topic for this week is "If I could have one thing from home it would be_______because..." Honestly, I could really do two things with this post. I could discuss the one (or two) things that I wish I had brought with me to Ireland OR I could just talk about what I wish I had here that is from home. I think I'm going to go with the second option, because I might make the first option its own post later on.

Truthfully, anything that I REALLY want or need, they have here in Cork. As a result, what I wish I could have from home isn't necessarily a physical item like a coat or anything. I think emotionally, I really wish that my family and best friends could be here. However, I do realize that I should probably pick something tangible (although I'm not sure exactly how tangible what I'm about to pick really is). I think the one thing I really wish they had here (and this is going to sound ridiculous and make me seem like an entitled American to some extent) is hulu.com. Hulu is basically a website that lets viewers watch TV shows from the most popular networks (ABC, NBC, the CW, etc.) pretty much right after they air in the United States. Unfortunately for me, hulu.com does not work in Europe and Europe gets the American TV show episodes a few months later than we do in the United States. This means that whenever the fall TV season arrives, I am probably not going to be able to watch some of my favorite TV shows. Now, let me clarify one thing. I know how completely ridiculous it is that I am upset that I cannot watch my American TV shows while I am STUDYING ABROAD in IRELAND. I mean, I didn't come to Ireland to watch TV shows, right? But here is the thing about not being able to have that, especially right now during the Early Start Semester program. I only have one class that takes place Monday-Thursday for about three hours (if that). So the result is that I have a lot of free time and that means I'm often alone in my room with very little work to do. If I had hulu, I probably would have had something to fill in that gap of time. I get lonely sometimes and, as everyone knows, TV is designed to be an escape and succeeds tremendously in its goal of distracting viewers from real life. I have friends here and I could go out and do things, but going out and doing things often involves spending money. That isn't really a problem, but I would like to save some money for bigger trips that I would like to go on while I'm here in Ireland. I have also explored Cork City quite a few times, so spending time in my room isn't keeping me from really seeing the city.

I think a second point about not having hulu work here is that when the fall TV season does roll around (in a couple of weeks--I know, it's a bit sad that I am fairly certain about that) I am not going to be able to sit down for an hour or so each week (like I would back at W&J) and catch up on my favorite shows. Back home, that has always been my way of stepping back from all of the studying for a few hours. I don't have that here, so I have been a bit bored and lonely at times.

To sum up, (as ridiculous as it may sound) I guess the thing that I wish that I could have from home is hulu, or at least access to American TV. It would have been a way to pass the time and it would have been nice to have a way to feel like I was back home in the U.S, at least for a few hours. I think American TV, especially when you're abroad, is kind of a familiar, relaxing, comfort thing. And really, I think the familiar feeling of being back home, or at least with my family and friends, is something I really wish I could have at times, although exploring Cork City and Ireland has been great so far.

First Impressions

My first impression of Europe as whole came when the plane was touching down in Glasgow, Scotland. The first thing that I noticed were fields and lots of them. When you are on a plane in the U.S, you don't really notice fields unless you are high up enough in the clouds. But in Scotland, even in the descent to touch down, you can definitively see fields and land, as opposed to buildings. I'm probably going to mention my trip to Scotland in a different post, so I'll skip over some of that to get to my first impressions of Ireland. Many of the impressions that I got early on in Ireland also apply to Scotland as well, so I'm not totally leaving out Scotland. Anyway, I'm going to list a few of the general first impressions that I got of Ireland:

1) The side that the Europeans, including the Irish, drive on is the left side. I have always been fully aware that the Europeans drive on a different side of the road than we do in the U.S. However, that awareness did not prevent me from freaking out every time we turned on a road in a taxi or on a bus. To an American, it really feels like the cars are going to collide.
2) Tipping-In both Scotland and Ireland tipping seems to be a less common occurrence. I am guessing that the hourly wage or something similar may be the reason why, but it seemed very strange to me because in the U.S tipping is expected when you encounter someone working in the service industry. This isn't necessarily the case in Ireland. Tipping seems to be more of a choice here for the customers, not really a necessity.
3) Even the big cities, such as Glasgow/Edinburgh in Scotland or Dublin/Belfast in the country of Ireland feel a lot smaller than the ones in the United States.
4) Ireland, particularly in the rural areas, is more of a cash-based society than credit/debit card, unlike the United States. One of the things that I thought was a bit strange when I first got here were the 1 and 2 euro coins. I hadn't expected there to be coins with such a high currency value, but I have actually grown to appreciate the fact that there are more than one ways to pay (paper money or coins).
5) The Irish people are very blunt, and not in a bad way. I appreciate the bluntness, the strong opinions on politics and the honesty.
6) Public transportation is widely used and is a major way that people get around. They have a great train and bus system. In the U.S, everyone generally just drives to wherever they need to go, but in Ireland, the public transportation system seems to be used much more than I anticipated. Walking is also an option, especially walking into the city center of Cork City.
7) There aren't really skyscrapers that make up the cityscape, which is completely different than in the United States. There are taller buildings in Ireland, but the don't make for a distinctive cityscape like they would in  New York, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles etc.
8) Stores close by 6 p.m. Initially, I did NOT understand this AT ALL. I thought it was one of the strangest things about Europe. I could not fathom why a restaurant, grocery store etc. would close by 6 p.m. because I am so used to going to Walmart or Giant Eagle at 7 p.m. to buy things. However, I think it is just one of those aspects of European life that just happen and you have to get used to.
9) In a similar vein as the stores closing at 6 p.m. thing, nothing really opens on Sunday until noon.
10) There are not a lot of highways. There are major roads, but I would not really call them highways like we have in the United States.

So that concludes my list of first impressions that I had of Ireland. None of them are negative impressions, I will admit that some of the things were a bit of a shock (such as the driving thing or the stores closing at 6) but overall, my first impressions of Ireland have been extremely positive.

What I'm doing in Ireland

I have always loved the idea of Europe, especially Ireland and the United Kingdom. My fascination with the latter is probably the product of my love affair with the Harry Potter books that began so long ago that I can barely remember how old I was the first time I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I was really young, I know that. But Ireland has always held a sort of mystique for me because I have Irish heritage. So, for the fall semester of my senior year, I chose to study abroad in Ireland at University College Cork. I enrolled as part of the Early Start Semester program for international students. Within the Early Start program, I decided to do the history program.  Essentially, the Early Start program is like intersession at Washington and Jefferson. It's one class for 3 hours Monday-Thursday for about 3 and a half weeks. Each program (I chose history but there were other options like literature of Ireland, folklore of Ireland, music of Ireland etc.) has a few field trips, which are a way for the international students to see a bit more of Ireland in an organized, somewhat educational, setting. My program actually already had one trip (I'll probably talk about it more in a different post) and we are going to Dublin this week. So to sum up this first post, I'm mostly going to be studying Irish history here at UCC. I'm a political science and history double major back home at W&J, so it should be very interesting to learn more about Irish history and Ireland politically is also very intriguing. I'm going to try to post again soon to explain more about how I got here (flying, obviously, but the details of that) and maybe give my first impressions of Ireland.

                          The Main Quadrangle of the University College Campus (my picture)