Feb. 21-23, My Birthday and the Weekend Before

The weekend before my birthday our friend John from Iowa State came to visit us. He is currently studying abroad in Limerick, Ireland. He came on Saturday Feb. 21 and stayed until Monday Feb. 23. On Saturday we had lunch with John at Tony's Bistro. If that name doesn't sound familiar to you go back a few posts and you should see some information about it. After that we met some of our friends at the bus station and went to the Jameson whiskey distillery in Midleton. I didn't take any pictures, but it was pretty cool to learn more about how they make their whiskey. We picked up food from Lennox's for dinner which is an awesome fish and chips place right by our house. That night we all went out to An Brog to show John our favorite pub. On Sunday we slept in late and then I showed John the school we go to and we walked around town for a little bit. Mike met up with us and we ate lunch at Abrakebabra, the Irish fast food place. We stopped at An Spailpin Fanach because John wanted to check it out and try a pint of Beamish. The Spailpin is right across from the Beamish factory, so naturally it was the place to go for John to try some. When we got back to the house we all took naps and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. John and I went to the store and picked up some ice cream and toppings for sundaes which we had later. We had my pre-birthday dinner at McDonald's because ... well I'm not actually sure why, but I picked McDonald's. After that we tried to go out to some different pubs but it was Sunday so the pubs were pretty lifeless. We came back to the house just in time and ate the sundaes as the clock hit midnight.

My glorious sundae Mike, enjoying his sundaeJohn, thinking about how perfect his sundae is

The next morning I went to Sam and Dan's which is a coffee and donuts place, but also has hot dogs for lunch and dinner. John and I each had a donut and a coffee and then we walked to the bus station and John was on his way back to Limerick. After that I went to class and then had some Subway for lunch. I also got my haircut which you will notice in some of the pictures later. I hung out in the house for the afternoon and talked to Amber on skype and opened up her present and also cards from my parents, my grandparents, and Amber's family. For dinner Mike and I went to Captain America's and I had a very large portion of buffalo wings which was awesome. Here are before and after pictures of the buffalo wings that I absolutely destroyed.

After that Mike and I met up with our friends Kaylee, Ali, and Alex. We went to a pub we'd never been before called the Old Oak. It was really big, but it was very empty. Here is a picture of all five of us.

After that we headed to the one and only An Brog. It was a lot less packed on a Monday night, but I enjoyed having space to move around. While we were there my friends decided to give me a nice little gift, a Twix bar and some Cadbury Mini Rolls.

I'll leave you with this picture of Mike and I rockin' out at An Brog

Kinsale

I know it's been a long time since my last post but I will use this post to update you about my trip to Kinsale and then I will talk about my birthday and last weekend with the next post. I also will try and get up some pictures of my house and the room that I'm living in by request from my Aunt Debbie.

Mike and I went to Kinsale on Valentine's day and spent the day there. We checked out the harbor there and also went to Charles Fort. There were many other things we could have done in Kinsale, but we were just happy to get out of the house and go somewhere new. Here are some pictures from our journey.

Me in front of some boats in the harbor

A view of part of the town of Kinsale

The entrance to Charles Fort
A great view from the top of part of Charles Fort
More from Charles FortAwesome picture of Mike that I took from the top of Charles Fort

That's it for now. I will update you soon on my birthday and last weekend. Mike and I are going to go to both Dublin and the Ring of Kerry in the near future. We are just trying to figure out which weekends we are going and where we are going to stay and what not.

Blarney Castle

Yesterday Mike and I ventured to Blarney to check out the Blarney Castle. We went into the city centre to catch a bus, but we were a little late and missed the bus we were trying to get. We went and ate Quizno's and then came back to catch the next bus which was supposed to leave at 11:20, but when we came back at 11:17 it was leaving already (the time on the buses is 3 minutes ahead which we didn't know at the time). So we went back into the Merchant's Quay which was a small mall and explored for awhile and then caught the next bus. When we arrived in Blarney we headed to the Blarney Castle where we spent the afternoon. I took a ton of pictures but here are some highlights of our trip.

Blarney Castle
Here are some views from the top of the tower

Me, after kissing the Blarney Stone

The stone is at the top of the Blarney Castle and to get there you have to go up some really tight stairwells to get there. They spiral up and are pretty steep. Once you get to the top as you can see in the picture above you can lay down, bend back and kiss the Blarney Stone. There are bars for support and the guy helps you out as well. You can't see the Stone in the picture but it's somewhere below my head. According to legend, kissing the Blarney Stone endows the kisser with the gift of gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery). If you want to know more about the stone or the castle I advise using google and you will find plenty of information.

After checking out the castle we walked through the Rock Close which was right next to the castle. It is a path with different landscapes that have names such as the Wishing Steps, the Witch's Kitchen, and the Head Druid's Cave. Some of the stuff wasn't marked, but just looked cool.

A cool looking waterfall Me trying to hold up the DolmenThe Wishing Steps Me, on top of some sweet rock Mike, keeping warm inside the Witch's Kitchen Druid's Circle

That's all for now. Mike and I are planning on heading to Kinsale next weekend. So you can look forward to that. I hope you enjoyed all of the pictures. We had a great time getting out and going somewhere, and I would definitely recommend going to the Blarney Castle if you ever travel to Ireland.

Football and Food

This week was pretty uneventful until we had training with the American Football Club. This is flag football by the way, not tackle with pads or anything. It was a two hour practice consisting of 1 hour of working on offense and defense and then 1 hour actually scrimmaging. Mike and I had a solid day on the field. Mike had two huge interceptions and I had two touchdown receptions. After such a spectacular afternoon on the gridiron, Mike and I ate dinner at Tony's Bistro. We both had Tony's Famous Grill and this time I made sure to take a picture of it.

I've mentioned it before, but for those who just started following the blog. The meal consists of toast, bacon, sausage, beans, mushrooms, a tomato slice, an egg, a hash brown triangle, onion rings, and fries on the side. It was very filling and it felt good to eat a lot of food after the two hours of football practice.

Speaking of football, here is a picture of the setup Mike and I had for the Super Bowl.


Mike and I watched the game on the computer using my brother Tyler's slingbox. We put my computer on my desk chair as you can see and watched the game from our beds. It was a late night but definitely a great game to watch.

Today we went to Blarney Castle, but I will have a full entry on that tomorrow complete with several pictures. I took so many pictures that it's going to take a little while to narrow it down to which ones I want to put up in the blog entry. Right now we are just hanging out and we might do something else for the night.

It's Been Awhile

Sorry for the lengthy delay since my last post. I haven't been up to a whole lot, but this will probably be a pretty long post due to the fact that it will be covering over a week's work of events. I apologize in advance for not having any cool pictures. There aren't any mostly due to the fact that I didn't have much to take pictures of and that I forgot my camera on multiple occasions. I am going to split up the highlights of the past several days into these categories: food, sports, entertainment, and well sports again but as a fan not a participant.

As a result of a very overcrowded fridge Mike and I have been eating out for pretty much every meal. We have a fridge that is most likely smaller than anyone's fridge who is reading this blog, and consider the fact that there are 8 people sharing it. It's brutal! Anyway, we have made stops at Burger King and McDonald's, both are very similar to the American versions, but there are a couple differences. They use 100% Irish beef on their burgers and there are a few slightly different menu variations that are really that special. We had dinner at Tony's Bistro one of the nights and both had Tony's famous grill. It was a breakfast entree that consisted of bacon, sausage, one egg, hash brown, mushrooms, beans, onion rings, and then fries on the side. I didn't have my camera, but Mike took a picture and I'll post that later. Apparently it was very similar to a traditional Irish breakfast. It was pretty good, but the beans didn't really mix well with everything else for me. Another noteworthy stop was the Zanzibar Bistro. It had a mixtures of food ranging from pizza to fajitas to burgers. Mike had the chicken fajitas and I had the Godfather pizza which had pepperoni and bacon on it. There were some girls having a birthday dinner there and Mike and I were the only other people in the restaurant. It was kind of awkward because we felt like we were in the way of their birthday celebration. The last restaurant that I will mention is Gino's. It was a pizza place, but not at all similar to Gino's East of Chicago. The pizza was still good though and it came with some Italian ice cream which was very creamy.

We played basketball on Thursday at the Mardyke Arena in the gym. Mike and I just shot around for awhile, but eventually some Irish kids showed up and asked if we wanted to play with them. We agreed and played a five on five game. The guys that we played with were pretty awful at basketball. It was the sloppiest game I have ever been a part of. They really liked throwing full court passes. Mike and I had to split up and play on different teams because they thought we were too good. Mike pretty much carried his team, but he had a couple ball hogs on his team so he could have scored even more points if they passed. I had a lot of chances to score, but I missed a bunch of shots right by the hoop. On multiple occasions I would get a rebound and then fail to put it back in the hoop. I did make a couple though and even drained a three. It was a lot of fun and hopefully we will make it over there and play some bball again.

This week we are planning on going to some practices for the American Football Club. We aren't really sure if they play real games or just scrimmage yet, but they are looking for more players and we are going to give it a shot. They play flag football and they have practice times twice a week. So we are going to go and check that out on Monday and Friday this week. I will let you know how that goes later.

On Friday night Mike and I went to the movie theater and saw the movie Frost/Nixon. The theater was packed and we were a little worried at first, but our theater wasn't crowded at all. I think that they were all going to Slumdog Millionaire. Everything was pretty similar to a movie theater in the United States, but it was a pretty small screen. The movie Frost/Nixon was a great movie. I personally was not very familiar with the whole ordeal, but the acting and directing were great. The movie has parts where it shows the characters in the future documentary style explaining how they felt about things during the Frost/Nixon interviews. It was really cool.

On Saturday night we went to the one and only, An Brog. This time something really cool happened. When we walked to the door the people we came with had their id's checked and then the bouncer got to me and Mike and said, "Oh, I remember you guys, go on in." It was pretty sweet to be able to just walk in. The thing I enjoy most about the Brog is the music that the DJ's play. Tonight he was on fire again. This probably means nothing to most of you, but he played songs by A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, The Prodigy, and M.I.A. The best moment of the night though was when he played "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys. I don't know how familiar all of you are with the song, but those who have played Rock Band might know it. We were just rocking out to it and it was pretty exciting.

I know you are all probably wondering, How does he keep up with all of his sports without a TV? Well let me tell you, the internet is a beautiful thing. ESPN.com has become my new best friend as well as the slingbox when it works. When the slingbox works I can watch the TV programs from my house on my computer. I spend most of my free time looking at sports things and I have been following the T-Wolves, the Gophers, the Cyclones, and thanks to Amber who is studying in South Carolina this semester, the Gamecocks too. I actually think that I have a better grasp of my sports knowledge without a TV. I don't have to listen to all of the typical arguing that happens on ESPN and I just read all of the good articles on the website. The Timberwolves have been hot lately, and the Gophers are having a really special season. For the T-Wolves they definitely needed to get on this hot streak a little earlier in the season to make a run at the playoffs, but the Gophers are looking like an NCAA tournament team this year. Hopefully I will be able to find somewhere to watch the Super Bowl tonight. It'll be on a bit later here, but I think it's alright to sacrifice sleep for the big game. Mike and I plan to venture away from Cork soon to some other areas of Ireland so hopefully I will get some cool pictures up soon.

Farmgate Cafe and An Spailpin Fanac

On Monday, Mike and I ventured over to the English Market for lunch. The Market sells all kinds of things from meats to vegetables to spices and almost anything else you could want. They have a small cafe on the second floor called the Farmgate Cafe. They use food and ingredients from the Market to make their menu items. Mike and I both had the Shepherd's Pie which had some meat and potatoes and I'm not sure what else inside. It had some carrots and potatoes on the side as well. Here's a picture of it:

A view of part of the English Market from above

On Monday night we decided to go check out a pub called An Spailpin Fanac. The Traditional Music Society from our school plays there on Mondays so we thought we'd check it out. Below is a picture of some of the musicians.

We ran into some people from Iowa State there as well as a couple Irish guys that we knew. As it turns out even the Irish guys had never really been to this place. The music was alright, but I think it would have been better with some sense of order. It was just kind of a jam session for the whole time. While a jam session could be cool in a sense, a jam session with fiddles and flutes and stuff is pretty weak. We stayed and listened for a bit, but eventually the Irish guys left and went to An Brog. We waited for a few minutes and then decided to leave as well. We got a table at An Brog and then just hung out there for the rest of the night. I was hoping that we'd get a chance to see some other live music this week, but we will have to wait til another day. We are planning on going somewhere tonight, but we haven't made any decisions yet. Also, I hope that the Gophers can win tonight. I probably won't be able to watch, but I will definitely check the score and stuff.

Trevor Reloaded

After a week of being quarantined in my room. I think I am finally not feeling sick anymore. I could give you a detailed itinerary of everything I have done in the last week, but I'll save you the trouble. I went to my classes, took a nap, ate, and went to bed pretty much everyday. I'm feeling a lot better now though and we will be doing some more stuff this week. Just so you know what kind of stuff I'm going to be studying over here, below is a list of my classes:

PE4002: Process Automation and Optimisation

CE2008: Thermodynamics

MG1005: Introduction to Management & Organisation

PH2022: Great Books in Philosophy I

Mostly we've just gone through some pretty typical stuff in each class. In the philosophy class we are reading Plato's Apology and another book called Daodejing I believe. That will definitely be interesting.

Tonight we went and got Chinese food at a place called Jade Palace. It was a sit down type place. I got some Orange Chicken, and Mike got some kind of Peking Chicken. When they brought out the first plate, we assumed it was mine because it was orange in color. That was a mistake though because the next plate of yellowish chicken was actually mine. The orange pieces on it were a dead giveaway. Overall the meal was pretty mediocre. I'd take Egg Roll King or Golden Wok over that any day. I did enjoy part of the menu. Here is a picture of it below. Hopefully you can get the joke (Hint: Look at the time of the Early Bird Special).

We took some pictures on the way back home. Here are some of the good ones.

Me in the City Centre on St. Patrick's Street

abrakebabra, the Irish fast food restaurant

Some sweet lights in an alley

We're planning on catching some traditional Irish music at a pub this week as well as some more modern music at a different pub. Also, if the weather is nicer we'll eventually make it to the Blarney Castle.

Weekend

On Friday night we went over to an apartment where some of our friends live. It's right down the road from us and it was pretty nice. They have their own rooms and then a shared living room/kitchen area. There was a mixture of Irish and American people there. The Americans were from Iowa, Boston, and Buffalo. We hung out there for a little while and then went to the Liquid Lounge. It was kind of a pub/club hybrid. They had the bar and the lounge areas that may resemble a pub, but with a dancefloor with flashing lights and a dj like a club. We left the Liquid Lounge and headed over to An Brog again. Unfortunately it was extremely packed so we just left right away and went home.

Yesterday we were planning on going on some kind of tour of a distillery or something like that with our friends we had met, but the plans fell through. So we ended up just going into town and wandering around for awhile. The girls we were hanging out with were planning on making a big dinner so we helped buy some of the ingredients and then we got to eat with them. We had some pasta type dish with shrimp in it, salad, and some bread. It was pretty good. After that we watched their tv for a little bit (It was very exciting since we don't have a tv). The rest of the night we just hung out at our place.

Today was a pretty uneventful day. We slept in late and spent the whole afternoon indoors. It is very windy and rainy here so we didn't feel like doing a whole lot, and we are both feeling a little sick so we thought we would just relax today.

Sorry for the lack of pictures up on here. I will try and get some more this week. Thanks for the comments everyone, I really appreciate it.

Second and Third Days of Class

My second day started a lot like the first. I showed up to my Process Automation and Optimization class and the teacher never showed up. I waited for about 35 minutes just to make absolutely sure, but he never showed. Luckily in the afternoon the teacher showed up to my marketing class. It was nice to finally do something. The class was similar to most of the classes I have taken before. The teacher used powerpoint slides and then asked questions of the class. It was a lot like Ferris Bueller if you know what I mean (Anyone?, Anyone?). No one would answer anything. Eventually people started talking, but it was kind of funny because the only people who talked were from the United States.

Later that night they had a special event set up for all of the international students. First they took us to a brewery and then when went to a night club. The brewery was ok, but it was super packed and we had to sit outside in this tent-like structure where it was a bit chilly. We met some other study abroad students though and I think we are going to hang out with them sometime soon. The night club place was super packed as well and wasn't really the environment we were looking for. Mike and I left and went next store to An Brog, the pub we went to the other night, and we ran into one of our Irish friends that we met the other night. The DJ at An Brog was playing some awesome songs as well. He played some Public Enemy, Nirvana, M.I.A., MGMT, and The Ramones. Pretty solid set of tunes if you ask me.

My third day of classes went the best so far. I had Thermodynamics and Great Books in Philosophy 1. I don't have a whole lot to say about those classes except for the fact that both of the teachers showed up and I didn't get too bored in either class. Tomorrow I have more Thermodynamics and that's it. We are planning on hanging out with the other study abroad students we met tonight, and I'll go to sleep tonight wishing I could watch the BCS National Championship game.

First Day of Classes, Sort of

Today I was supposed to have a few classes to go to. I ended up having zero though. I couldn't find the building my first class was supposed to be in. It was in a building that was off the main campus and they didn't have it on any of the handy maps that you could carry around. I finally found it, but it was too late. I will just have to explain that to the professor on Thursday. The other class I was supposed to have was cancelled. Hopefully the rest of the week goes a little better.

After my class got cancelled I waited for Mike's class to get over and we walked into town and got cell phones. It's still pretty expensive to call home, but Mike and I can call and text each other and anyone on our network for free now. I can use skype to keep in touch with home. I am going to work on my essays for the MBA program tonight and then get some sleep.

Saturday Night

We decided to go out to a pub called An Brog on Saturday night. I believe An Brog means "the shoe" in Gaelic. It was pretty crowded and there were a lot of college kids there which was nice. There was a DJ playing music and a bunch of different seating areas and a little dance floor. We went there with the two Canadian girls that live with us. While we were there we also made some Irish friends and apparently they go to that pub a lot, so we will probably go back there again. Here is a picture of Mike and I at the pub:

Mike, I apologize for putting a picture up where you look kinda goofy. It was a pretty good one of me though.

Today was pretty boring. We had orientation for most of the day and then we went into town to get some groceries. We got back, made some dinner, and then tried to figure out what classes we are going to take. It is a little different here in that you don't officially register until the 14th, but you get to go to the classes and try them out first. I am going to give Great Books in Philosophy 1 a chance tomorrow as well as Introduction to Management and Organization. I am also going to get my ID card tomorrow and try and buy a cell phone.

Arrival in Cork

It was quite a journey to get to Cork. I left on December 31 and arrived on January 1st. I flew from Minneapolis to Chicago, Chicago to London, and London to Cork. I met up with Mike in Chicago and we flew the rest of the way together. The flight from Chicago to London took a lot out of us. It was hard to sleep because there were a bunch of babies back in our section of the plane and the seats were just uncomfortable. The guy sitting next to me was pretty difficult to deal with. He had to go to the bathroom like four times and he was in the window seat. The plane was pretty sweet though because we each had a tv built into the headrest in front of us. You could choose movies or tv shows to watch and you could even listen to music on there. Big ups to British Airways for supplying us with that entertainment.

When we arrived in Cork we got a taxi and got dropped off at our house. I forgot to take a picture of it, but I will definitely put some pictures up of it later. We unpacked a bit and then explored the city for awhile. We saw the Beamish Factory on our way into the city. I don't know a whole lot about it except for the fact that they make beer.

Beamish Factory

After that we crossed the river, headed into the city and looked for something to eat. We were a little intimidated and of course went with the safe option of McDonald's (with 100% Irish Beef of course). A lot of the places were closed because it was New Years Day. After exploring the city we came back to the house and crashed in our room for awhile.

Following some much needed rest we decided to use our second day to make our way over to University College Cork. It was a lot smaller than Iowa State, but the campus had a great feel to it. Here are some pictures that I took of the campus.

Honan Chapel

Student Centre

O'Rahilly Building

I will try and update this as frequently as I can. I will save the action from today and yesterday for another post.