Cork City

So we were not able to make it up to Scandinavia because Matt had a lab for one of his classes that he couldn’t miss, although we are planning on going to Oslo and Stockholm during the last week of November. So for the past couple of weeks we have been hanging out in Ireland. This upcoming Thursday I am heading up to Derry in Northern Ireland to attend a conference that I was accepted into. Its sponsored by the University of Ulster and USD is going to pay for me to attend the conference, a place to stay, and my transportation. The conference is on divided societies and I thought it would be neat to go so that I could learn a bit about the conflicts between Northern Ireland, which is apart of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland as well as the conflict between the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. But one of the main reasons I am going is for the free food, and the opportunity to see another part of Ireland for FREE! Then we have planned a trip for the third weekend to Krakow Poland. Ryan, Victoria, and Caitlin all have Polish roots so that is the basis for or travels to Eastern Europe. One sight I intend to see while in Krakow is Auschwitz Concentration Camp, which is infamous for being the largest concentration and extermination camp used by the Nazis during World War II.

Back in Ireland it has been getting much colder and much rainier. Today we had intended on going to Kinsale, a small Irish beach town in West Cork County, but didn’t because of the rain. We are going to try and go tomorrow since there is no rain in the forecast. Lately I have had a lot of down time since the only studying I have to do is for my final exams at the end of term in December. Although this upcoming week I am going to try and start a paper for my European Framework class, I have put a lot of effort into this paper, as it’s the only form of assessment for this class. This past week I started my four-week plant diversity class, and my professor looks just like Bill Nye the science guy and you can tell that he really really likes plants because he constantly talks about the huge plant collection that he keeps in his extra bedroom that has been converted into a green house.

I have started to take some pictures of Cork City and I will upload them as I take more but here are a few.

This shot is taken from Shandon Bridge of the River Lee and downtown Cork. All of the main shops and store are typically located on the different quays off of the river. The quay concept confused me for the longest time but basically the streets that run on either side of the river do not have a single name, rather each block is a different quay. I live off of Bachelors Quay, and quay is pronounced key.

This is another shot of the River Lee taken from Lavitt's Quay.

This is St. Patricks Street and is the main street for shops, department stores, resteraunts etc. This is also the area where many of the festivals are held. The most recent was the Cork Jazz Festival. We were in Italy while it was happening but supposedly people come from all over and it is a lot of good craic.

This is inside the English Market, which is like an outdoor market where vendors sale fresh fruits and vegetable, irish meats, and baked goods.