~March 3oth – April 2nd~

The event we have all been waiting for…BARCELONA!! Since I am a Spanish minor, the one place that I wanted to go during my study abroad experience was Spain. I contemplated studying abroad there, but due to class selection, I opted for Ireland.

Regardless, making a trip there was a non-negotiable. We arrived on Thursday, and the weather was fabulous! It was a little over 70 degrees and very sunny, so naturally we decide to hit the beach! We spent the afternoon lounging in the sun (which was accompanied by an uncomfortable sunburn, but hey you really have to appreciate the sun when you live in Ireland). After that, we broke our sunbathing for some afternoon sangria and gelato! Sangria was definitely the theme of the trip. We walked around the city and a few little parks until it was dinner time. We decided to adhere to the Spanish schedule of lunch at 3:00PM and dinner at 9:00PM, so we went out to dinner a little after nine.

The next day we woke up early for breakfast at Milk Cafe and then spent our morning exploring the Gothic Quarter, a historical area of Barcelona! We even walked along the coast to see the abundance of monuments and statues. Naturally, we stopped for more sangria and then went to this famous cafe called Brunch & Cake for lunch. We had just that, brunch and cake! We continued exploring and then ventured to Park Güell, the famous park with the mosaic benches, overlooking the city. It was beautiful and a great day spent! After that, we went to dinner at a local tapas restaurant that was TO DIE FOR! I love tapas style eating because you get to try a little of everything, but still get a full meal. Tapas of course also goes well with sangria, so we were happy campers. Then that night, we went to a famous night club in Barcelona, which was a very different experience then our pub scene in Cork, but a fun night none the less.

Our last day full day in Barcelona, we experienced a bit of rain, but we went to brunch, saw the Sagrada Família (which one friend managed to accidentally call the Sangría Família haha), and walked around a few markets. In the afternoon, we stopped for, you guessed it, sangria and tried to let the rain pass. Then for dinner we tried the traditional Spanish seafood dish, Paella, which was a great end to a great trip to Spain. All of us absolutely adored Spain. It was a wonderful trip and definitely someplace I plan to return in the future 🙂 ¡Gracias por el viaje perfecto, España!

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~March 24th/25th/26th, 2017~

Alright, one day is a bit of an exaggeration, but it was still the quickest of quick trips. We arrived late Friday night, and our flight home was Sunday morning. So, we really only had Saturday to explore København (aka Copenhagen in Danish). The reason Lily and I wanted to go to Copenhagen, was because when we moved into our apartment, the only glasses that were in the cabinet were Carlsberg pint glasses. Carlsberg is a light beer, that we discovered was brewed in Copenhagen. We have used these glasses for everything, and we may be a touch sentimental…So we decided to visit the place of its founding: Denmark.

We arrived on Friday and of course had a celebratory Carlsberg beer, while we planned our Saturday. We started the day with authentic Danish pastries from a little cafe close to our hostel, and then started our trek through the city. We saw the palace and climbed to the top of the Round Tower for a view of the entire city of Copenhagen! Then from there we continued seeing the city on our way to the famous brightly colored houses of Nyhavn. This was along the canal, and it was beautiful! It was perfect weather, so it looked especially pretty. After snapping a few pictures, we headed along to coast to the statue of the Little Mermaid! Hans Christian Anderson was inspired to write this story of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, and so they had built a mermaid statue to commemorate it. It is funny though, because it is ranked as one of the top ten most underwhelming sites in Europe, however Lily and I still wanted to see it none the less.

After all that walking, we needed some lunch, so we stopped at a food cart for hotdogs. Copenhagen is known for them, and the traditional Danish hotdog has spicy horseradish ketchup, dijon mustard, remoulade sauce, yellow onions, fried onions, and pickles on it. IT WAS HEAVENLY. That is my kind of hotdog right there! After our yummy hotdogs, we made our way to the main event…the Carlsberg Brewery! It was not the best tour we have ever had, but we didn’t care, because the whole point of our visit was visiting Carlsberg. From there we walked through Christiania, which was a weird experience. This is a “hippie town” so to speak and is technically considered outside of the European Union. There are no laws, and it is a fenced in community. It was an odd place, that Lily and I weren’t the biggest fans of. I definitely wouldn’t want to be there after dark, if you get what I am saying… From there our final stop was a food market on the water called Papirøen, meaning Paper Towns. This was so fun! It was a popping atmosphere with probably 50+ food and drink stands. Lily and I split a flat bread, falafel wrap, and cheesecake for dessert. We sat outside and watched the sunset while drinking local craft beers. It was a great day in Copenhagen 🙂

The next morning we went to brunch at the cutest place before our flight home to Ireland. Even though it was a short trip, København was definitely worth it.

~March 17th, 2017~

It has always been on my bucket list to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day in Ireland, and this year I checked it off! We had a great day! After decking ourselves out in green, we began the morning with Bailey’s and coffee to be festive. Lily’s family was in town, so they let me tag along with them throughout the day! From there, we went to the Cork City parade, which was a family affair. There were kids every, trying to get a good view of the parade. After that we walked around downtown, just to witness the madness (it was a zoo). Then, we made our way across the river (to avoid the crowds) to a small little Irish pub, where we had a pint of Guinness in honor of St. Paddy’s Day. Such a fun day to celebrate Ireland.

~March 4th-10th, 2017~

BEST WEEK EVER! Over Butler spring break, Kyle came to Cork! Although I still had class, it felt like a mini vacation. I made sure to hit all the sights and attractions that Cork has to offer. We spent the week eating at the best restaurants and exploring the city. We visited the Jameson Whisky Distillery, Blarney Castle, University College Cork, English Market, Cliffs of Moher, The Burren, and the coast in Kinsale, Co. Cork. It was fun to be able to go to bars and pubs with him, since before coming to Ireland, I wasn’t 21. We visited the local breweries in Cork (which Kyle loved), listened to live Irish music in a local pub, and even got to go out to the bars with my friends here in Cork!  It was a jam packed week, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! When break was coming to an end, I was unbelievably sad to see him go, but am already excited for when I get to see him in May. It was a blast getting to show Kyle around Ireland and spending the entire week adventuring with him. 🙂

~February 24th/25th/26th, 2017~

This weekend we fell in love with Brussels, Belgium! We booked the trip on a whim due to an inexpensive flight and a fun destination. The main theme of this trip was FOOD. What is not to love about a country that is known for its waffles, french fries, chocolate, mussels, and beer (FYI we did not stop eating the entire three days).

We arrived on Friday and spent the day acquainting ourselves with the beautiful city. We visited the Grand Place square (it looked like it was out of a movie) and sampled our first authentic Belgian waffle (YUM). For dinner, Lily and I split a pot of mussels, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Then that night we went to the famous bar, the Delirium Cafe, known for its selection of 2,000 different beers. Definitely a great first day!

The second day may have been our favorite. Brussels is known for having the best chocolate in the world, so naturally we wanted to sample. So, before our arrival, we booked a chocolate walking tour of the city. Through this tour, Lily, I and three others sampled chocolates from the top seven chocolate shops in Belgium, not to mention the chocolate workshop where we got to make our own chocolate creations! IT WAS AWESOME! I think we probably ate a pound of chocolate all before 11:00AM…. Regardless, it was fantastic. After all that sweet, we needed some savory, so we stopped on a street corner to sample Brussels famous double-fried french fries (also YUM). From there we visited the Museum of Musical Instruments, or the MIM, which was very cool. The museum was quiet, but each visitor received a headset that you entered in the instrument’s corresponding number, and you would hear a musical sample of that particular instrument.  That night we finally sampled the famous Trappist beer, which is beer brewed by monks in Belgium. So fun!

For our final day, we took the train to the Atomium, just outside of Brussels, which was built for the World Fair back in 1957. The architecture was astounding, and we could see cityscape from the top. Our flight home was that evening, so we stopped and got one last waffle for our journey to the airport. Brussels was AMAZING. Lily and I both decided that we left a piece of our hearts in that city. Definitely someplace I want to return in the future.

~February 23rd, 2017~

Huh? What do you mean there is a “study” part of study abroad? Interesting…

Just kidding! I promise I am still going to school in between all of the fun adventuring. So I figured I would give you a quick update on how classes have been at UCC! Everything is going well, and I just turned in my first official assignment this morning (ah!). I just finished with week 6 of lectures, which means that I am halfway done with classes!! Time is flying! I am really enjoying all of my classes and am learning to adjust to the different teaching style here. In Ireland, courses are mostly all lecture based, so you come to class, listen to the professor, take notes, and that is it. Then there is a single essay or exam at the end of the semester and that is your only grade for the course. This style is very different from Butler, where the classes are interactive and more discussion based, not to mention the fact that I would have a test or paper due every week. At UCC, it is nice, because I don’t have much work right now, but it is really scary to think that your entire grade for the class is based on one massive essay or exam at the very end. So we will see how that plays out.

But I am learning a lot and gaining a different perspective toward the various subjects. My favorite classes are my Spanish Linguistics class (Spanish in Ireland? Yes, I know it’s odd) and my personality psychology class. They are both very interesting and enjoyable. Overall, school is different, but going well! It’s not too bad only having class three days a week 😉

~February 17th/18th/19th, 2017~

WOO! We finally were able to get our immigration cards to be able to travel outside of Ireland. Our first international stop was none other than the U.K.! Just a one hour, inexpensive flight away, London made for the perfect weekend getaway, especially since there is no language barrier. We took a 1:00am bus to Dublin, to catch a 6:00am flight to London. We got to the U.K. early Friday morning and saw the big tourist spots like Big Ben, the London Eye, and Parliament. Then, took the tube to meet one of my friends from Butler who is studying abroad in London. He took us to a cute, hole in the wall, type of brunch place called Farm Girl. It was a great lunch, and it was so good to see him! Then, Lily and I walked to Buckingham Palace and strolled through St. James Park. We had perfect weather, it was 60 degrees and sunny, which the locals said was the best weather they have had this year! So we lucked out. We also were able to successfully navigate the tube. After our first few trips, we felt like pros navigating the map and finding stops closest to where we needed to be. After Buckingham Palace, we took the tube to Camden, a fun and hip part of London filled with food and craft markets. Such a fun atmosphere. There, we had an afternoon snack at Cereal Killers. This place had every single type of cereal from around the world, so we each had a “cereal milkshake.” You sat in beds, and they had 90’s memorabilia everywhere. It was quite an experience. After more sightseeing, we went to dinner at the most exciting place in the world, CHIPOTLE. There are no Chipotle’s in Ireland, and we have been craving the Mexican chain since we got here. However, they have a few in London!! So we knew that was 100% going to be a stop on our trip. Magical. To say there weren’t tears shed would be a lie. After fulfilling our Chipotle craving, we met up with another friend of mine from high school, who is also studying in London. We walked around the city at night and across the tower bridge, which was stunning. So fun to see her and this beautiful city at night!

The next morning we went to breakfast at a local cafe where I had red berry pancakes with caramelized honey crisps and mint syrup. Devine to say the least. Then, we began day two of sightseeing. We started at Coven Gardens, a cool shopping district and then moved to the west side of the city to visit Harrod’s department store. I definitely felt out of place there, but it was so cool to walk around and see the grossly expensive merchandise. Needless to say, I did not touch anything. From there, we took the tube to Abbey Road to pay homage to The Beatles. A nice stranger offered to take our picture walking across the iconic crosswalk. Then we decided to head back to Camden to try out the food markets and have street food for dinner. We split fresh homemade chips (a.k.a. fries) and a chicken quesadilla with peppers and chipotle mayo. YUM. Then, for the best part, we went to Chin Chin Lab. This is an ice cream shop that has gone viral for its decadent hot chocolate. Grade A dark chocolate from Venezuela is paired with homemade torched marshmallow fluff (MARSHMALLOWS ARE ONE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS). We waited in line for 20 minutes, and then we were served the most delicious hot chocolate I have ever had. THIS HOT CHOCOLATE WAS HEAVENLY. I could cry just thinking about it. Make sure to check out the picture below, because I have no words. Unbelievable. After practically perishing from the deliciousness of this hot chocolate, we headed back into the city to go to the National Gallery of Art. Which was very beautiful and a nice, educational stop.

After than, we called it a night, because we had to get up at 4:15AM for our flight back to Dublin. We had to walk to the train station, take a train to the airport, board our flight, then take a bus back to Cork. It was a long travel day, but so worth the adventure. London was amazing. We both were sad to leave.

~February 10th/11th/12th, 2017~

I’m not going to lie to you, when I realized that I was going to be abroad for my 21st birthday, I was a little sad. In Ireland the drinking age is 18, so turning 21 in Ireland literally means nothing in Europe. However, by some sort of sheer luck, Lily, my roommate turned 21 on the 11th and my birthday was on the 12th. So of course we decided to turn the weekend into a full on birthday bash. We started out on Friday, the 10th, with a afternoon tea. It makes sense to have a tea party for your 21st birthday right??  We went to Tara’s Tea room, one of our favorite places in Cork and feasted on an assortment of finger sandwiches, scones, pastries, cake, and of course tea! It was fantastic fun.

Then that night, we went out for Lily’s birthday, because she turned 21 at midnight. So fun! Even though we have been legal to drink here since we arrived, we still decided to treat it as if we were in the states and celebrate once the clock struck twelve.

Then Saturday morning, we went to brunch at the #1 brunch place in Cork, Liberty Grill (delicious of course). Then from there we ran errands for our PARTY that night. Earlier that week we decided to have a joint celebration at our apartment for our birthdays and have people over before going out to the pubs. That way, we could celebrate the end of Lily’s birthday and the beginning of mine. We got a homemade cake from the English Market and made a “photo wall” with balloons, just as we would have done in the states (we even found 21 birthday sashes!). The party was a success! We had many friends come and then had a big group to go out with at midnight. We stayed at our apartment until it became the 12th, cut the cake, and then went to Rearden’s, a bar near our apartment. We danced the night away and had an absolute blast. Then, of course, Sunday morning, we went to brunch, because brunch is what we do best. There, I ordered my first drink as a 21 year old, a breakfast martini!

I had the best birthday weekend. It was so fun to celebrate with Lily and be here in Cork. Now, looking back, I wouldn’t have had it any other way 🙂

~February 3rd/4th/5th, 2017~

With an open weekend coming up, a few friends and I planned a weekend trip to Ireland’s capital, Dublin! Dublin is only a three hour bus ride from Cork, so we boarded a bus Friday morning and arrived to Dublin in the afternoon. Of course our first stop on our trip was the famous Guinness Storehouse. It was POURING on our walk across town, but the it was well worth the walk. We took a self guided tour of the treasured Irish storehouse, learned how they make the beer and how to correctly taste the stout, and finally were able to pour the perfect Guinness beer. I felt pretty accomplished after pouring my own pint without too much foam. We then took our freshly poured beers to the Gravity Bar at the top of the storehouse, where we got to enjoy our pints and look out onto the city of Dublin. Definitely a fun experience. From there, we grabbed lunch at the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin (est. in the 1100’s), and I had my first fish ‘n’ chips since hoping across the pond. Delicious! We spent the rest of the evening walking around the city and popped into a few local pubs to listen to some live music.

We started Saturday off with a trip to Trinity College (the Harvard of Ireland) and saw the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is one of oldest, original bibles in the world. It was made by monks centuries ago and somehow was preserved to present day. It was stunning. From there we also popped into the Long Room Library, which houses a collection of 20,000 books that are centuries old. This was also beautiful. It was crazy to think about how much history and information was in those four walls. After leaving Trinity College, we walked through one of Dublin’s many parks and popped into St. Patricks Cathedral, a Church of Ireland cathedral. Then, we walked though the Temple Bar district, which was a poppin’ part of town that is full of bars and restaurants, which where we ended up going back to that night for a pint.

For Sunday, we took a train outside of the city to Houth. This was a coastal part of Dublin that had a hiking path on the cliffs along the sea. It was beautiful, and we had perfect weather for a walk. It was gorgeous to say the least. That afternoon, we had a bus home. Once arriving back at Cork, we promptly went to a pub for Super Bowl Sunday! My roommate, is a huge Patriots fan, so she was going crazy, and we ended up staying up until 4 in the morning to see the end of the game (oh what the time change will do to you). However, after the game it turned out to be, it was well worth it. A great weekend for sure.

~January 29th, 2017~

Although I had already visited the small costal town of Cobh with my Dad, Lily and I decided to return. We went to the Titanic Experience museum, Titanic Memorial Garden, and saw the docks. It was a perfect day trip. Although it rained all day, we still had a nice time. We returned to Cork in the afternoon and stumbled upon Tara’s Tea Room on our walk home. It is this cute little tea shop, with a wide variety of teas, as well as pastries, baked goods, and sandwiches. Let’s just say, YUM! We stopped in for a little afternoon tea. I had a peppermint tea with a coconut, blackberry sponge cake, and Lily had a berry tea with a rocky ripple chocolate cake. It was to die for, and we decided that this little place was going to be “our spot.”