Cork and its environs

Cork sucks. No, not really, but that was our mantra for the second half of the weekend. Everything we went to was gorgeous and fun and wonderful, but we just didn't mesh with Cork city. Maybe it was too big after the coziness of Galway, maybe it was the swarms of obnoxious teenagers that were EVERYWHERE, maybe it was the lack of an interesting nightlife for college-age kids... whatever it was, we found ourselves homesick... for Galway. But we still had a wonderful time, so I'll leave behind the doom section of my tale and move on to happier descriptions. We got into Cork at about 8:30 Friday night and quickly found our hostel, the Bru, which was conveniently located a block from the bus station and only a couple blocks from the city center. Shaina, Anne, and I were in one room (a 4-person), and Jaye and Julie were in another (a six-person). Ideally, of course, we would have all been together, but Jaye and Julie only decided to join us last minute, after we had booked our room. Anyway, we shared a room with a mysterious New Zealand girl who we only saw once or twice because she worked from 6pm to 3am or something crazy like that. She was pretty much moved in because she was living there for 6 months. Now, this hostel was not an awful place, but I could NOT live there for six months. Ever. Julie and Jaye shared a room with four boys, two from Italy, one from Australia, and another guy. The Australian had a tendency to walk around in his boxer briefs a lot, apparently.

We were starving by this point, so we set out to do some foraging. There were many restaurants on our street, but most were either closed or too swanky for our budgets. We ended up at Subway, which honestly hit the spot. Fortified, we set out to explore the town, which apparently becomes abandoned by 9 o'clock. Still, the very large main roads are connected by smaller routes that have pubs and clubs along them. We were just the wrong age for Cork. Where we later saw crowds of teenagers, at night there were crowds of 30- to 40-year-olds. I have no problem with this age group, of course, but it just makes for a different dynamic. Galway is full of college kids, which might make some of you run away screaming, but for us it's perfect. We eventually found a low-key pub to hang out in for a bit, then we headed back to the hostel. Of course, after wandering around, we were now lost and spent a good bit of time REwandering the streets before we eventually found our way back.

Next morning we planned to take the train to nearby Cobh and Fota Island nature preserve. Fota Island is a really cool place where you can just ramble through the woods or pay to get into the other side, where they have animals. First we rambled through the mud and nature, having a grand old time bushwhacking and exploring. Shaina and Anne wanted to go to the animal place, but Julie, Jaye, and I didn't really feel like paying, so we caught the next train and headed down to Cobh, and the other two were going to meet us there later. Cobh (pronounced "cove") is absolutely stunning. It's set right against the water and built all up this big hill. The houses are multicolored to the extreme, and there are lots of fun shops and restaurants and things. The Titanic stopped at Cobh before heading out, so they have a Titanic museum and lots of memorabilia around, and they also have a statue for the Lusitania. After exploring a bit, we went to get some lunch in a little restaurant decorated with a fascinating mix of African decor, Christmas baubles, and Titanic stuff. The tablecloths had pictures of various kinds of chocolate. Still, we got burgers, and they were delicious. Two younger girls came in after us, and they were locals. They spent some time glancing over at us and whispering about us... "Are they Polish?" Before finally figuring out we were Americans, the discovery of which drove them into uproarious laughter. They eventually broke the ice: "What brings you to Cobh?" We told them how we were students in Galway, visiting Cork, wanted to see the village, so pretty, etc. "... but why Cobh?" We said it was so pretty and such a cool town, and they rolled their eyes. They also had trouble understanding why we were in Ireland for college in the first place. Then they tried to bum fags from us.

Class time... to be continued