It’s been a little over a week since I’ve arrived in Cork, and to all of your disappointment, I didn’t write down everything that happened the moment it happened. So allow my some time to recall and summarize everything that’s happened in this neat little city so far.
The IFSA-Butler crew and I arrived some point in the early afternoon on the 14th, and on the bus ride here I took a shade under 100 pictures of the Irish countryside (I promise I will post those pictures here on the blog as soon as I figure out how to do it, it’s proving a little more complex than I originally thought). So, we arrived at UCC and had to check in to our respective accommodations. Most of the IFSA-Butler people (including myself) were placed in the UCC University Hall, which is a very nice, flat style accommodation: between 3 and 5 single bedrooms (mine has 4), one bathroom per flat, kitchen and common room with all the furnishings. My only qualm with the place so far is that the hot water seems to magically turn on and off, but otherwise it is a very nice accommodation.
Later that day, the IFSA-Butler crew and I explored the city center a little bit. Since I am only one of two males in the group, shopping seemed to be the first thing on the list. While normally I would protest since shopping (even for myself) is one of the most boring activities ever, I did desperately need bedding and food. So, obliging the wishes of the crew. We went first to a common Irish shopping store called Dunnes. For those of you unfamiliar with the chain, it is a fairly popular here, and to me resembled a bit like Macy’s/JC Pennys/Sears (insert whatever store, they all look the same to me) in the states, except with groceries in the basement. Frank (the other male in the IFSA-Butler group) and I seemed content when we found our bedding, but the girls were not pleased with the lack of feminine choices in their bedding. So, we then opted to go to the Penneys store across the way, which is essentially the same store to me, minus the groceries. I will admit that I’m glad I ended up not getting the Dunnes bedding because the Penneys bedding ended up being twice as many sheets, for less of the cost. Basically, instead of paying €12 for a single set of sheets, I got two sheets for €9.
**I will take one for the team here: As a straight, single male, and for all men like me everywhere, I will admit that when it comes to shopping, we don’t have a clue what we’re doing. So women everywhere of all kinds (well, except rich spoiled bitches that think money grows on trees) you win this round**
When it came to the groceries, we ended up going to Tesco instead. This was provoked when some of the girls tried to buy all their groceries at Dunnes (who promise free deliver when you by €40 or more in gorcieres) ended up being refused the free delivery service because they were “too late.” Again, it turned out to be a better deal because just about everything at Tesco ended up being significantly cheaper than at Dunnes. To summarize today’s lesson in living in Cork: Fuck Dunnes. Tesco for your food and other groceries, and Penneys for your clothing and other housing materials is a better combination than Dunnes. (Luckily, the Wilton Shopping Center in the opposite direction of the city, but still about 10-20 minute walk from University Hall has both Tesco and Penneys together.)
Now that the boring shopping part of my story is over, it’s time for the fun part: the drinking. The next night after orientation, we all went out drinking. We went to this pub on Washington Street called the “The Star.” (I hope to have a comprehensive post providing reviews of all the pubs I frequent while I’m here by the end of my semester, so stay tuned for that). Apparently, our American accents must have been loud, because not too long after we sat down and started drinking in the Pub, this one lad from Limerick introduces himself and tries to figure out where we’re all from. He, Natalie (one of the girls in the IFSA-Butler crew), and I ended up talking a bit about rugby since we all played at some point. Let’s just say the position I (poorly) play at home, I don’t come close to being adequate here in Ireland. Then the Irish lad introduces one of his friends to us. He ended up being a history major and wound up talking to me a lot about politics, media, etc. It was a great time. The Guinness there was good, but pricey, so I switched to Beamish, the Cork brand stout. It was probably the smartest decision I have made so far. Not only is Beamish somewhere between €.70 and €1.50 cheaper than Guinness in most places, I find it has a thicker, fuller flavor than Guinness (Like the pub review idea, a comparison between all the stouts available in Ireland will also be made in full in a later post forthcoming).
After that, half of the crew followed our newly acquainted Irish friends to a nightclub, and the other half stayed in “The Star” until closing time. Frank and I stayed until closing time, but then decided to go out and find one of the few remaining pubs open until 2 am. Let’s see, two guys that just arrived in a brand new city, a little bit inebriated, trying to go further into town looking for specific bars. Sounds like we wouldn’t get lost, right? Ha ha. Wrong! Like Dublin, Cork’s city streets aren’t well labeled (though still better labeled than Dublin once we knew where to look). It seriously must be a European thing to not have well marked street signs. Luckily, we found a group of locals who kindly told us how to get back to UCC.
Then there was Saturday night, where we all bought tickets to a UCC sponsored party held in “The New Bar” on campus. It was a lot of fun. It was like a high school dance, except with alcohol. We all now those kind of things are better with alcohol. It was markedly different though. Unlike in the States where “grinding” seems to be the popular dance with everyone, I do not believe I saw it happen at all here (the same goes for later in the week when Frank and I went to a popular college bar in town, and I don’t believe I saw it at all there either). People in Ireland seem to just get in large circles of people and dance.
The rest of the week pretty much was uneventful. Classes started but it is different here in Ireland (yes, this too will also have a more elaborate post on the topic of Irish academics forthcoming). So I believe I will stop here. Stay tuned for more updates.
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