Week 2 - Living in Cork

Monday(01/12/2009):

I can’t really remember what I did on Monday, so it can’t have been that important. My Gmail account isn’t much help for sparking my memory either, as I have very few emails from that day and none that were really ground-shaking. I’d been in school for a whole week now, so I no longer needed to constantly be looking through my notebook for my class schedule to figure out what the room number for my class was in (which isn’t necessarily enough to help you as the room set up for some of the buildings is nowhere near logical).

Tuesday(01/13/2009):

Tuesday went by without much incident as well. I went to a physics lecture that evening @ 7 that was put on by the UCC Physics Society entitled “Hey Heisenberg, why is my interent so slow!?”, given by one of the UCC physics professors who was Canadian. It was actually pretty cool. We learned how data is transmitted via different mediums (twisted fiber, coax cable, fiber optic cable, wireless, etc) and the data retention rate/km associated with it. I never really knew how crappy it really was until then. But more importantly we learned about how using aspects of Hisenberg’s Uncertainty principle (the energy vs. time side of it) you could find the optimal data transmission rate for each medium, and then discusses the available remaining options for internet providers to expand their ability to keep the internet running at acceptable speeds, and the pros and cons associated with them. It was also presented in such a way that anyone who had ever taken an introductory quantum course could easily follow, so I understood all of it. What was perhaps even better was the fact that there was milk and homemade chocolate chip cookies provided afterwards. They were the first cookies I’d had in about 2 weeks or so, and besides the fact that they were legitimately really damn good, they tasted heavenly. I also got to know a few of the other kids who were in my physics classes and my Fourier Methods class. I also finally got a chance to talk to some Irish people my own age (*yay*) and got to know Heather and Rick (two physics club members my year).

Wednesday(01/14/2009):

Wednesday Shawn and I were awoken to the entirety of South Mall Court shaking from the vibrations of the construction crew drilling in the lot catty-corner to us, at about 7am. We were none to pleased, especially Shawn, who did not have class until 4pm that day. We also had to officially register for classes on Wednesday, so I signed up for AM2071 (Fourier Methods), PY2102 (Introduction of Quantum Physics), PY2103 (Electrostatics and Magnetostatics), and CC1112 (Celtic Religion and Mythology). That’s 20 credits here at UCC, but it translates to just 12 hours back at the U of I, which sucks for me, but oh well. Giovanni was very happy for Wednesday to come, as the essay he’d been working on incredibly studiously for the last 2 weeks was due, so after class we went to An Brog for his first pint of 2009. He loves Beamish, and since the Beamish factory here in Cork is being bought out by Heineken in March he’s vowed to pretty much only drink Beamish in that time period. I kinda wanted to hit him upside the head for a second though once we got there, as Shawn and I had been buying pints for €4.10 at all the pubs in Cork, as Giovanni had forgotten to mention that all pints at An Brog ar only €2.90 everyday until 9:00 PM. Which is awesome! Shawn and I also found out that Giovanni’s birthday is next Saturday, so we’re going to be having a party with him in his honor that night. He’s turning 25. One thing that has kinda surprised me since I’ve arrived is how much younger I am then everyone else, besides Shawn (who is still about a year older than I am). Giovanni is about to turn 25, Giorgio is 23, Claudio is 23, Andrea is 22, Joe is 21, the other Andrea is 23, and Laura is 21. So it kinda seems odd to me at times that I’m hanging out with people that are Jennifer and Greg’s age, but they’re all really nice people, and nobody seems to think that it’s weird that I’m only 19. After we had a few (cheap) pints at An Brog we went back to South Mall Court to make dinner, but Margherita invited us (Apartment 1) to have dinner with (Apartment 5) her and Laura’s apartment. While we were making dinner (pasta with potatoes and pesto) Margherita got out here guitar and played while we all sang different songs ranging from Red Hot Chili Peppers to early 1900’s IRA marching songs, to Led Zeppelin. It was great! After dinner Shawn and I went back to our apartment to do homework, when Chris, another American, from apartment 9 came to borrow our table and chairs because they were having a poker party in their apartment. Around 1am, we realized that due to the volume of the yelling and laughing that was echoing down through the courtyard that they were a) very drunk, and b) not going to be brining our table back before 7am like we asked. This was not good because I find that a table and chair makes eating breakfast a much easier task. So I put on some clothes and went to try and get my breakfast eating catalyst back. It was much easier that I thought. James, another American living in apartment 9, was still up and sober, so he was kind enough to help me reclaim my table. I was able to have a table to eat on the next morning, but the ocasional roars heard from 2 floors above didn’t stop until 2am ish.

Thursday(01/15/2209):

Thursday was just filled with class and homework. We went to a local pub to play pool, but besides that, it was just a busy day of work.

Friday(01/16/2009):

After class on Friday I went down to the Garda to officially register with immigration for the time period I would be studying. I was cursing the grouchy guy who only signed my passport for 1 month in Shannon, as I had to wait in line for an hour. I finally got up there, gave them my IGBN-1 form, passport, medical insurance cards, UCC student ID, Bank of Ireland bank statement and a mini statement from that day, and €150 for processing fees. They took my picture, digitally fingerprinted me, filed all my forms and then finally stamped my passport and gave me my Irish immigration ID. I only asked them to stamp it for the 16th of June, but they were kind enough to stamp me up until the 30th of September. So in case I really need to run back to Ireland over the summer, I’m good. I met Giovanni on the UCC campus at 5 and we walked over to the Mardyke Gym (UCC’s gym) to work out. It was very nice. They had huge fields for rugby and soccer, a nice track and then the gym itself was a little bigger then CRCE but was about as nice as the ARC. So it felt very similar to the U of I. It also felt really good to work out again, so I think I’ll continue to go work out with Giovanni each week. Some of Giovanni’s good friends came over to eat dinner with him that evening, and they brought with them some Italian wine they had bought which we were all happy about since Giovanni generously shared it with us. So my chicken that I cooked (which tasted very nice by itself if I may say so) was complemented by a beautiful red wine. Giovanni’s friends were German, so Shawn and I got another opportunity to practice our German with them (if I didn’t mention it earlier, Shawn took German in high school too). Things got better in a few hours as Margherita’s mother and aunt were coming to visit her from Sicily, and her mother was bringing homemade cannolis with her! Margherita brought her mom and aunt down to our apartment were we me them and then she also shared some of the cannolis with us. I had never had a cannoli before, but it was the most delicious desert I had ever had in my life! Giovanni said that cannolis are very hard to find outside of certain towns in Italy, and that he had only had one on two other occasions in his life (and he’s going to be 25 in a week). He also said that Margherita’s mom’s was the best cannoli that he had ever had, so I guess I should feel pretty lucky. Once they got their luggage up into Margherita’s apartment her mom (who speaks no english) and aunt (who speaks a little english) wanted to go out to the bars in Cork. So we all bundled up against the rain and went out to the Old Oak. Giovanni and I weren’t planning on drinking anything that night since Giovanni likes to drink in steps (dinner, beer, wine, liquour) and we’d already had dinner, red wine and whiskey that night (I forgot to mention that Shawn had gotten a few bottles of Jameson), and I didn’t want to spend money that day after buying groceries earlier but Giovanni’s german friends walked up to us and gave us both a pint of Guinness and nobody refuses a free pint of Guinness from a German so we decided we’d make an exception. Margherita’s mom and aunt were dancing, so Giovanni and I (as two of the only completely sober people around) occasionally had to make it clear to drunken Irish “gentlemen” that they were Italian, didn’t speak English, and that they should go bother someone else. Which was kinda amusing in some sense. Margherita and her mom and aunt went home after that, but Giovanni and myself went on to An Brog, which has better music, to meet some of our other friends from South Mall Court (An Brog and Old Oak are pubs, but all the pubs have movable walls and such so that later on in the night they can expand into night clubs with dancing and music and such. We stayed there until two and then headed back to South Mall Court (in the typical Irish evening rain) and went to bed

Saturday & Sunday(01/17-18/2009):

Saturday was very rainy, windy and cold out.  I basically just stayed inside, cooked, did homework and then went to Mass at 6.  On Sunday, Shawn and I woke up around 10:00 AM, went back to bed till around 10:40, finally got up, made breakfast, looked at the directions to Blarney Castle and headed out the door around noon.  We made our way out of Cork and along Blarney Street, taking pictures as we went, and then followed it until it split off into Blarney Road.  After about 800 meters the sidewalk ended and we had to hike in the tall grass and brush to the side of the highway (and having common sense and reached 1st class in Boy Scouts I remembered that we should walk on the shoulder of the road toward oncoming traffic, so they could actually see us).  It was kinda slow going in the grass, and we kept stopping to take pictures of the countryside and climb "small" hills.  In some areas though, the strip of grass, next to the stone walls that separated the road from the fields, was so small that we were forced to walk on the road.  However, the highway was far from busy (perhaps because it was Sunday?)and we could see cars coming from well over 1000 meters away, so we could quite easily be off the road and standing on what little shoulder there was by the time they reached us.  As we walked by fields and farms, you could tell where they had livestock (besides the dead give away of the tiny white forms of the sheep on the hills across the valley), by the smell of their manure in the air.  Shawn, seemed to be a little disturbed by the odor, but I couldn't help but find myself smiling, as it seemed that I was right back near the South Farms.  It was nice, and yet amusing, that this gave me the sense of security that a memory of home brings.  After walking for a little over 2 hours, and asking for directions from locals at crossroads (the Irish don't believe in street signs apparently) we reached the entrance to Blarney Castle.  However, we were soon confronted by the gate and the admission charge of €8 for students.  Neither Shawn or myself had enough money to pay the fee, so we went to the local tiny grocery store and found a Bank of Ireland ATM and got out €20, and then went back and gained entrance to the grounds.  We then proceeded to walk around the castle taking pictures and checking out all of the chambers.  The spiral staircase was ridiculous though.  The stairs were incredibly steep.  So much so, that towards the top, my next 5 steps would equal a change in elevation equal to my height.  We finally reached the top, took some pictures off of the battlement, and then kissed the Blarney Stone.  It's pretty far down so you really have to kinda back out pretty far over the edge of the castle to get at it.  They have a machine that takes your picture that you can buy for €10, but Shawn took a much better picture of me with my camera, and a picture that's not on my memory card really doesn't do me much good.  We toured the grounds for a little bit and then left Blarney about 3:30, as we didn't want to be walking along the highway in the dark.  We finally arrived back in Cork just around 5, and promptly made dinner when we got back to South Mall Court.  We were tired after the 16+ km we'd walked that day (and it wasn't a flat 16 km like in Illinois) so our dinner was very unimaginative.  For Shawn: beans, bread, cheese and Beamish.  For me: pizza and Beamish.  We got food though, so we were happy and went to upload our pictures and study for the rest of the night.  Shawn also streamed audio and play updates of the Steeler's game as being from PA he's a rather big fan, and I for the most part just read some of my Early Irish Myths and Sagas as I wasn't in the mood to do vector calculus at the moment.  So obviously, we both slept rather well that night.

*To take a look at other pictures albums of Ireland, most noteably Irish Graffiti go to my public Picasa Web Albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/MFeickert *