Let's Talk About School

Maybe it isn’t apparent from what I have been writing about, but I am actually in Cork to attend school at UCC. Outside of all the amazing trips I have been taking around Ireland, I have established a nice little life in the charming city of Cork.

Coming from UCSC I was not expecting to be in awe of another college campus. For those of you who have never seen it, UC Santa Cruz is gorgeous. The campus is integrated into a forest and overlooks the Monterey Bay. After living there for two years, I still find hidden paths and new spectacular views. But enough about Santa Cruz-the point I’m getting at is that UCC surprised me; it is stunning even with my extremely high SC standard for cool campuses. There are some classrooms that look like castles, others like works of modern art, and some like office buildings. The architectural diversity is quite striking, and the more urban feel is a welcome change.

As for academics, many of you know my major is Legal Studies. Many of you also know that the law in Ireland is different from that of the US. For this reason, I am taking many cultural classes that aren’t available back home. The classes I am taking are: Aspects of Irish Folklore, Folklore and History, Modern Irish Music, Peace, Conflict, and Development, Health (from a physical education perspective), and People, Place, and Politics of Ireland (a quasi geography/history class with 2 field trips around Cork). My broad range of classes confuses Irish students because they must choose a course of study and then do not have much choice in the specific modules they take. The classes are all interesting enough, but I have nothing remarkable to report about them.

One of my favorite parts of UCC is the gym, the Mardyke Arena! It is so huge that I have actually gotten lost inside of it twice. There are a variety of exercise classes available to students for free and every piece of equipment I can think of and then some! But it gets better-- there is also a climbing gym and bouldering wall. I have passed my competent climber test and can climb whenever I want.

My weeks here are pretty busy. I have classes Monday-Thursday. On Monday nights I play soccer and then climb with the Mountaineering Club, and I climb with them again on Wednesday nights. In Ireland, the biggest nights to go out are Tuesday and Thursday because most of the Irish students go home on the weekends. Since the drinking age is 18 here, we go out to bars and clubs during the week. This leaves the weekends to lounge around and maybe do some homework, or rather consider doing it and then watch TV instead. If I am in Cork on Sundays, I join the Mountaineering club for their weekly hike up a different mountain. As you have probably gathered, I joined UCC’s soccer and Mountaineering clubs, and am taking full advantage of these wonderful programs.

Some things I am looking forward to in the upcoming months are the Cork Jazz Festival, which I have heard is one of the best and most lively weekends in Cork, and trips I have planned to London and Scotland. You’ll be reading about these soon! 

Kingdom of Kerry

Kerry is actually a county, but the locals say it is the second kingdom. They also say a day outside of Kerry is a day wasted-now I know why.  I spent three days on a tour around the county and had the privilege of seeing mountains, lakes, beaches, waterfalls, donkeys, dogs, and so much more!

We began our weekend with a bike tour through Killarney National Park, and it was surreal. The path led us through the town, into a forest, past a couple of lakes and finally to a ‘house’ (what I would refer to as a mansion) overlooking a lake. We got to the house just in time to watch the sunset over the lake-and the view was breathtaking. This place was so perfect that some people went so far as to plan their future fantasy weddings there.

After Killarney National Park I thought I had seen the most beautiful sights Kerry had to offer, but I am glad to tell you I was wrong. The next day we partook in a bus tour around the Ring of Kerry; it was complete with hilarious, informative commentary, and a lesson in Gaelic from our Irish bus driver. We stopped at countless photo stops, each more beautiful than the last!

The highlight of the Ring of Kerry tour for me was the sheep dog demonstration. We all gathered behind a small barn type thing to watch a local Shepard heard his sheep with the aid of three exceptionally well-trained dogs. Sheep are instinctually wired to be afraid of dogs because they look and carry themselves like predators. The Shepard takes advantage of this and signals his dogs to essentially scare the sheep into obedience. Each dog has a separate set of commands so the Shepard can make them to work together to move the sheep. Watching the Shepard control all three dogs, and in turn the entire group of sheep, was truly remarkable.

As we stopped at a particularly windy pass to take pictures, our tour guide Sean shared a bit of knowledge that really adds to my newfound obsession with taking windy selfies. The Irish say that as the wind blows through your ears all your bad thoughts are blown away with it. As you might imagine, my head is now clear as can be of bad thoughts!

Next stop on the tour was the Derrynane Dunes. Now, when I choose to study abroad in Ireland I accepted the fact that I would be leaving behind warm beach days and sunshine. It turns out that was not necessary after all! The water at this beach was unbelievably clear, and the beach itself was clear of any other tourists. The sand and water was even warm enough for me to take off my shoes and enjoy a stroll though the dunes, into water, and up onto some remarkable sea rocks. On top of all this, the rocks were purple! Anyone who knows me knows how unbelievably perfect that makes it in my mind. Seriously, it could not get any better! This beach is truly a hidden Irish gem, and I am so glad I was fortunate enough to be able to explore it.

After that unbelievable pit stop, we stopped at a mountaintop overlooking Lough Lake where a random guy was chilling, just playing his bagpipes. Typical Ireland.

The next day we went to the town of Dingle, and as was our luck this weekend, there was a food festival taking place. We went to almost every stall and sampled SO MUCH delectable local food. I was so content-but I had to buy some Baileys and Caramel Honeycomb fudge.

After enjoying the food festival we went to another Irish beach, Inch Beach, which is famous for its movie appearances. Unfortunately, we used up all the good Irish weather and it was foggy and cold. After another gloomy beach we went on a drizzly walk along the cliffs of the Dingle Peninsula.

This weekend was jammed packed, but I loved every second of it. The beauty of Ireland never ceases to amaze me. This country continues to exceed my expectations and I cannot wait for that to happen again and again in the months to come!

Arthur’s Day, Hurling, and Mountaineering

This weekend was full of fun and games! Thursday was Arthur’s Day, an Irish holiday created in honor of Arthur Guinness, the inventor of Guinness Beer. In the true Irish spirit, the point of this holiday is to consume beer. At 18:00 (6 PM) sharp, hundreds of students meet on the stairs of city hall to cheers to Arthur! My Irish friend showed me videos of past Arthur’s Day toasts and I was excited to take part in this illegal and exciting tradition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iCKTdqB1Y8

Unfortunately, the Garda (Irish Police) must have also seen these videos, as they were on the steps of City Hall to greet us. There were swarms of teenagers and students standing on the sidewalk with pints of Guinness to toast to Arthur, and the Garda were having a field day issuing fines. We had already opened our cans of Guinness and wanted to continue celebrating, so we snuck past the Garda and on into town. However, two of my American friends were stopped. After they explained that they were foreign, the Gaurdi did not issue them a fine. Apparently the Garda don’t know it’s also illegal to drink on the streets in America. We did not get to cheers to Arthur on the steps of City Hall, but we did avoid a fine! To Arthur!

Two days after that lovely, and somewhat anticlimactic, Irish holiday, there was the replay (rematch because the last game ended in a tie) of the national Hurling Championship Game. Hurling is one of the national sports of Ireland, and I wish I could explain the rules to you. Despite watching the game, looking up the rules, and even practicing it myself once, I have no idea how the game of Hurling works. It’s kind of like an unnecessarily violent blend of field hockey, football, and rugby. Anyway, we went to a local pub to watch the game and got along fine by cheering with the locals. I must have seen and heard “Up the Rebels!” at least 100 times that day. After a hard fought game, the Cork Rebels lost to Clare. Everyone was surprisingly civil despite the devastating loss. I was expecting some kind of riot, but it turns out Rebel fans are better behaved than fans of the Dodgers or the Kings, Americans should take a hint from the Irish-drink more, fight less!

The next day I woke up early to hike Boughil Mountain with the UCC Mountaineering Club. Boughil is in county Kerry and the summit is about 650 meters high. And yes, we hiked all the way to the top! When I joined the Mountaineering Club I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but it turns out my definition of hiking was way off. After this 5.5 hour trek up to the summit and back down the other side, I can finally say I have been on a real hike. I now know that Victory Trail, Malibu Creek, and Escondido Falls, some of my favorite ‘hikes’ at home are actually light strolls. The climb to the top of Mt. Boughil was brutal. During the hike I found myself questioning why I signed up for this, and even wanted to quit a couple times, not that quitting was an option because I was in a group of 20 people halfway up a mountain. For the first time in my life I was freezing cold and dripping sweat at the same time-I had to choose whether to remove a layer and cool down or keep it to prevent freezing my ears and arms off. Halfway up the mountain we entered a blanket of fog and were trapped in a layer of mist for the next couple hours. When we reached the summit, we could see about 20 feet in front of us, and the rest was a white haze. Despite the unexpected difficulty and awful weather, I am glad I went on the hike and will be doing more in the future. Now that I know what a real hike is, I will be prepared and hopefully the next mountain will be less foggy so I can get good pictures of the view from summit.