I apologize again for not updating this after awhile, but I have been quite busy with Midterms coming up and other school related projects to deal with in the mean time. There aren’t too many stories that happened since the last time I posted (at least stories that are blog appropriate), so most of this blog entry will be covering mostly observations of some places and events that I encountered/had occurred within the past two or three weeks.
First, the English Market in Cork is a wonderful closed canopy-style market right in the City Center. It has a wide array of local meat stands, produce, cheese, fish confectionaries, etc. at some surprisingly affordable prices. The best deal that stands out in my memory was the 5 regular (though still good size in comparison to other “regular” sized portions) chicken breasts for €6.50. Even my roommates thought that it was a good deal. But even then so, if you don’t mind making the 40-minute walk from University Hall to the English Market, you can find good deals there, especially on any produce (also consider produce from the Market doesn’t expire as quickly as produce from places like Tesco). In addition, they a have a very cozy (or cramped depending on your outlook) restaurant upstairs in the English Market called the Farmgate Café. It was a little pricey for a student on a budget, but the Irish lamb stew I ordered from them was simply unbeatable. They get all of their ingredients fresh right from all the vendors downstairs in the Market (the menu board will even tell you which vendor sold which products you were ordering). The restaurant is worth it if you’re visiting Cork, and the English Market is worth shopping at if you’re living in Cork for an extended period of time.
Next, The Presidential Election just took place about a week ago. Ireland’s next president is… a leprechaun? Yes, if you read my last post, you’d know I’m of course referring to Michael D. Higgins, who ended up winning the election when just two weeks prior he was easily second or third choice unanimously. The reason for the last minute change was due to a huge controversy over the previous front-runner, Sean Gallagher, who was discovered to have essentially taken a bribe from shady sources during a fundraiser for his former party, Fianna Fáil. So there you have it, a 70-year-old leprechaun is Ireland’s new President. Hey, at least I can say I met the President of Ireland when I come back to the States.
Finally, The Guinness Jazz Festival and Halloween were savage craic (lots of fun) here in Cork. The Jazz Festival is held every year usually in the last or second to last weekend of October. Most of the big-name Jazz performers were pay only venues, most of them at least €20 and some as much as €35. Luckily for me, there were plenty of other free venues. However, a fair amount of the free venues are not part of the Jazz genre. The one band I actually got to see, twice, was actually a 60s/70s rock tribute band. They were quite talented, quite simply because some of their songs they sang sounded almost exactly like he originals (vocals and all). Halloween on Monday was a crazy good time. I was half expecting town to be empty since the whole weekend had the city center completely packed with people in costumes, but actual Halloween had much of the same. I only dressed up on Halloween (well, unless you count my half assed attempt on Friday as “balding hipster”) and I went as an American douchebag (Phillies hat tilted to the side, American Eagle shirt with a collar popped). It was a pretty good idea, until it became even better when an Irish chick holding a tube of fake blood asked me “Do ye want some fake blood?” Being full of stout at that point, of course I said yes. For the rest of the night, I was zombie bro. And all was spooky and there was craic all around.
Lesson of the week: Unrelated to anything I’ve mentioned in this post, but it turns out if you get kicked out of a pub one night (as long as what you did wasn’t too serious) then you’re still allowed back in that same pub the next night. (Just don’t be surprised when the security guards inside give you funny looks the next time you’re in there.)
That’s all for now, stay tuned.
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