Today we start our classes, so the past few days we’ve been taking advantage of our free time by sightseeing, exploring, and trying to get settled in.  Here are some of our adventures so far:

Thursday morning we woke up early to walk the two miles to campus for orientation at 9:45. We learned a lot about Cork and UCC as well as more information about classes and student-life here. The university has over a thousand foreign students and we met a lot of people while we were there.

Last semester we spent a lot of time at the library studying and we often met there in between classes, so we made sure to find the library and some good study spots.  We also ate lunch at a café on campus, looked around at the campus shop, and got our student IDs.

That afternoon, I led us from campus to Aldi’s and we did not get lost! I didn’t realize how different grocery stores would be here.  I was very overwhelmed, even though there are only a fraction of the options we have in the US.  So far, we haven’t had too many issues making meals and we can find almost everything.

Of course, we went out again Thursday night, and we met someone who knew of Iowa State and made sure we knew it when he saw Evan’s sweatshirt! It turns out he follows collegiate football and the NFL.  We talked to him and a few of his friends.  It seems to me that the Irish like asking Americans about two things: Trump and Las Vegas.

Friday we let ourselves sleep in a bit before making our way to campus again.  This time, we focused on finding our way to all our classes.  Walking around and to/from campus there are so many beautiful sights, nobody minds the walk too much.

Even though Gustavo wanted to go out again Friday night, he was out voted when the rest of us fell asleep before eight.  There will be plenty of time for going to pubs this semester though!

Saturday I wanted to explore the city centre a little bit more, and Gustavo wrote a little more about our day:

Saturday morning we decided to go visit Fort Elizabeth which is only a two-mile walk from our apartment (and yes, I just said ONLY two miles). When we were on our way there we noticed that Cork has a lot of cathedrals. Unfortunately, St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral was closed, but there was a labyrinth, so we ended up doing that. Fort Elizabeth was right around the corner. We had pretty amazing views of the city once we were on top of the fort. For some reason, my friends thought I was “grumpy” (Alyssa compared it to Day 3 of RAGBRAI) so they contemplated leaving me there.

Now my favorite part of the day: THE PUBS. I would say Cork has a lot of nightlife having a lot of pubs, clubs, cinemas, and arcades. Old Oak would be our favorite pub so far. This pub has an amazing staff, the environment is astounding, AND THERE IS A DANCE FLOOR. We met with other Iowa State student there and Quinn’s friend’s friend and other gals ended up with us also. Later in the night we actually met a girl who was from Florida but has been studying in Cork for the past 7 years. Half of the group ended up on the dance floor and the other half ended up talking to some locals. It’s interesting seeing Irish people being so curious about our politics.

The people here are SO  NICE. They are very friends and more than happy to answer any questions. They will have a whole conversation with you and genuinely want to get to know you.

Sunday was a very laid-back day.  I went to mass at St. Patrick’s church, which is just a ten-minute walk from our apartment! We also all had dinner together and talked more about our classes and what we were expecting.

If you’ve read this long post, thank you!! For now we’re going to stop posting the link on Facebook, so make sure you’re subscribed to receive email updates! If you are unsure how, personal message me with your email.

As Gustavo said, It is kinda crazy and funny how easily you can forget about the “study” part of study abroad and only focus on the fun we’ll have while we’re abroad! Wish us luck on our first day of classes!