Happy New Year's!

Happy New Year's to all! It is officially 2014 in Ireland!

I spent New Year's Eve exploring Cork and UCC with my mom. We purposefully wandered through the UCC campus, found my apartment complex, found St. Finbarr's Cathedral, and accidentally stumbled upon a convent, a fort, and a few other smaller cathedrals all within the span of a few miles. Literally, we saw a tall stone wall, walked along it, and came to a heavy stone arch in the wall with a sign telling us that this is Ireland's most important fort. So we walked into the courtyard and what do we find but what looks like several charming Irish residences? I mean, what would your address be like? 18 Elizabeth Fort, Most Important Fort in Ireland, Cork, Ireland? Later, we found out that it is actually Ireland's Garda (the Irish police) headquarters. A very charming headquarters, I think. But honestly, today most everywhere was closed because of the holiday. The English market, fortunately, was open.

Today, I had my first experience with pig's head. No, I did not eat it. But I saw more types of meat than I have ever seen in my life. I saw for sale pig's trotters (crubeens), drisheen (Irish black pudding consisting of beef and sheep's blood), and tripe (which comes from the stomach of various animals). I saw an entire pig's head, still with eyes and a few spots of hair. I saw liver and pig hearts and chicken hearts and just about every type of organ you can imagine. Never have I seen so many different varieties of sausage and meat. On first encounter, the exotic cuts of meat were enough to set my stomach churning. But really cool. The English market is an indoor market with narrow lanes between stands selling meat or vegetables or chocolate or various local products. And it looks like somewhere I might be able to do a lot of my grocery shopping during the school year.

On the way out, we headed down Cork's main shopping street. Cork has many, many shopping venues along this street, which always seems packed with people. Larger than anything I am used to. My mom and I ended up stopping in one of the main department stores, Dennehy's, along the way. It is very much like a Nordstrom, but the clothes were actually cheaper than what you can get at a typical US department store. This was very surprising, and may have something to do with the time of year. Food, however, is more expensive.

Additionally, today I was able to go out for a drink with my mom on New Year's. After dinner, we went to a little pub near our B & B (most pubs here don't actually serve food). She ordered the obligatory Guinness; I had a shandy (half lemonade, half ale). And we talked to the bartender for nigh on 2 hours. People here seem very friendly. The pace of life appears more relaxed--or at least, people seem genuinely happy to help you out. Also there is no dearth of pubs: you can find them on every corner, at all times of day.

Happy 2014, everyone!