Cork

So this weekend me and a group of international students took a trip to Cork City. There were 13 of us in total- 7 Americans, 2 Australians, 2 Canadians, 1 from New Zealand, and 1 from Newfoundland. We took the 8AM bus Saturday morning and arrived in Cork around noon after a bus ride of just under 4 hours. We walked the quick and convenient walk to our hostel so we could check-in.

 Cork's city center: St. Patrick's Street, lots of shopping (don't worry- I didn't partake)!

 Our hostel: Bru Bar and Hostel

 Our cozy room for me and my three other friends: Carly, Jess, and Laura.

 Our bathroom.

 The common kitchen.

 The common lounge area.

After settling in at the hostel and satisfying our hunger, we took a bus to go check out Blarney Castle. This place was the one thing I remember my Grandma Oliver telling me about when she took a trip to Ireland when I was little. Kissing the Blarney Stone has been on my to-do list every since.

 Walking up to the castle.

 One of the many little caves and crevices along the base of the castle.

 We decided to explore one of the caves a bit further. It was all grand until we realized it was a dead-end and someone jokingly threw a rock and said the castle was falling down. That's when I had a panic attack and made everyone behind me turn around so I could get out. Good times.

 On the top! This is after I kissed the Blarney Stone. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a good picture of me kissing the stone because of my camera's delay. But I did it and I should now be graced with the gift of eloquence. That and I can also check it off of Travel Channel's list of 99 things to do before you die. Guess I'll just have to go back another time to get a better picture!

 One of the windows in the castle, looking out over the grounds.

Well after we made our way out of the castle, the sun was setting so the grounds were closing and we weren't able to see any of the gardens and the Blarney House was closed for renovation (another reason to go back), we headed back to Cork City for some dinner. We wandered around Cork for what seemed to be forever looking for a place to eat. We soon realized that Cork's options for food were quite limited. They were either very expensive (or over-priced) places or just pubs that didn't serve food. Finally, after venturing quite far from our hostel, we found a pub with a grub menu. I ordered the traditional Irish cottage pie and was not disappointed. It was delicious.

 Yummmm.

After dinner, we headed back to the hostel to relax for a little bit before heading down to the bar where they had live music. The band was great and it was a good end to a long, rainy day. Afterward, we settled into our cozy quarters only to be awakened numerous times throughout the night by our lovely neighbors coming in from their wild night out. Oh well, I guess that's to be expected in a hostel. In the morning, there was breakfast served in the kitchen- nothing fancy (toast, cereal, coffee, tea) but it was definitely nice to not have to spend any extra money for that. We walked around a little bit more and then decided to take the bus back home since we had seen pretty much everything in town and the rain was not letting up. 

Bye Cork!

Overall, it was a great trip! Definitely worth it! And it acted as baby steps into the other trips we have planned. In many of the other hostels we have booked we don't have a private bathroom, much less a private room. We'll be sharing it with strangers and we'll have to be a lot more flexible. But it'll be an experience and I cannot wait! Well I'm off to do a lot of reading before calling it an early night!

Cheers!!