Second of all, Cork was lovely! The city of Cork was much more urban than I expected, but the the land around it was very much Irish countryside. Very lovely, and I took excessive pictures from the bus, and annoyed the people trying to sleep. Oops!
We got up right after 4 AM to jump in our clothes to walk to our other friends' apartments, pick them up, and catch the 6 AM bus to Cork, so we could have as full a day as possible. The process was hindered by one of our housemates (who was scheduled to go on the trip) coming home at around 4 AM rather inebriated but still determined that she would not be left behind. But I won't spend time on that, as the important thing is we all made the bus and got to Cork fine, and the 4 hour bus ride (and the nap she took) was enough to bring her back to her senses. And she was very embarassed, so therefore, all is forgiven and that part of the story is done. ;-)
I have to say that I took no pictures of the countryside on the way there because I was asleep within minutes. But once we got to Cork, it was lovely! More urban than I expected, but much smaller than Dublin.
We wandered around the city for awhile trying to find our hostel and check in (and turns out we passed it several times as we trapeezed around the city asking for directions) and it was nice and cozy for a hostel. New experience for all of us. After this we found a cute cafe (it literally looked like a husband and wife cooking in a kitchen with a few extra tables) and ate, as we were starving!
Blarney was next on our list--the only official outing we had planned. For the rest of the trip we were going to just go with the flow. The first time we went to wait at the Blarney bus stop, the driver whizzed past us with nothing but a shrug--apparently the bus was full, but he didn't even stop to tell us that. So we wandered around the city for an hour or so, at an open market, while we waited for the next bus. We caught the bus to Blarney, explored the grounds, and then, in two groups, set out for our main objective--to kiss the Blarney stone and get the "gift of gab!"
The castle was so cool. They have literally left it as it was, save for a rope to help you climb the very narrow, very steep, very tightly spiraled stairs, and the iron bars around the edges to keep you from falling. In fact, they posted a liability release at the entrance! The castle is old and possibly dangerous. Nice. We went right in, of course, explored, but as cool as the castle was, we wanted to kiss that rock! You get to the very top, tip the guy who's going to hold your legs, hold on to the railing and lean back, upside down as far as you can, and kiss the bottom stone. 
There were definitely lipstick marks on it! And I hit my head coming back up. I have a battle wound, haha! But it was so cool. And when you get back to the bottom of the castle, you can stand underneath and watch other people lean over and kiss the stone! We got to see a few of our friends do it from the bottom view. That was cool. It is rather high!
There were definitely lipstick marks on it! And I hit my head coming back up. I have a battle wound, haha! But it was so cool. And when you get back to the bottom of the castle, you can stand underneath and watch other people lean over and kiss the stone! We got to see a few of our friends do it from the bottom view. That was cool. It is rather high!
Also on the grounds of the Blarney castle were some old stairs, carved from stone, called the Wishing Stairs. I briefly mentioned this last night--the story goes that a woman accused of being a witch, miraculously survived from drowning, and revealed the stairs ability to grant wishes. The trick is, if you walk up and down them with your eyes closed, thinking only of your wish, it should come true in a year. I will let you know how mine works out, I'm sure. ;-) We all did it, and no one fell. Some were more daring and did it backwards!
After this, we explored the caves under the castle, wandered around taking pictures of ourselves and the landscape, then hopped the bus back to Cork. At this point, our 8 person party decided to split into groups of 3 and 5. Three of us, including myself, elected to explore Cork City, grab some food, and head back to the hostel to relax. The others (and I wish now that I had gone with them) set out to find a bar and bistro that had the same name as one girl's last name, as she wanted a picture in front of it. Turns out, this pub was in a tiny seaside town on the outskirts of Cork where people had never seen Americans! I wish I had gone, but I was fun to explore Cork City and relax at the hostel and talk with the two other girls.
When the others got back, we went to an Internet Cafe (as I posted last night) to connect with the rest of th world. Then it was back to the hostel and goodnight! I headed back to Dublin (which we called "home") with some of the other girls in the morning, and some of the group stayed longer to shop and do more sightseeing. (I am starting to be aware of how much more expensive everything is, so I am attempting to be thrifty.)
We got back to Dublin, ate at the house, and enjoyed some time to rest from the weekend. I don't have class in the morning--our class is going to a play in the evening instead, to experience some contemporary Irish theatre. So ends my first week in Ireland; here's to 3 even better ones to come!
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