North South East West

So by now I have lived in the East of Ireland, traveled to the West for a weekend, visited the North for a day, and so of course it was time to go South. I have relatives in Rosscarbery so I was trying to arrange with friends a weekend down in Cork, one day in Blarney and one day In Rosscarbery. The trouble with Rosscarbery is getting there. There is no public transportation from Cork to Rosscarbery (an hour away) and their are no cheap hostels, b&b's or hotels. It was agreed that we should scrap the idea of going to Rosscarbery this weekend-we would roadtrip their another day (with an Irish person driving obviously).  So instead we made plans to go just to Blarney for the day.

We boarded our bus to Cork at 8:30am from Busaras which is down behind the Customs House on the North side, although it was early it was nice seeing the city just waking up. After buying the wrong ticket, we then got reimbursed and got the correct ticket within three minutes (A+ for only getting about five hours of sleep). Now growing up we used to take long car rides, in grade school we used to take somewhat long bus rides, and when I travel home from Burlington I take those 5 hour bus rides, this bus to Cork was a three hour ride but let me tell you it was the longest three hours in the world.

Nicole on the stairs

Finally we got there, got our tickets for another bus ride to Blarney, and sat down to wait. We snacked on the food we had brought with us, and looked out the windows of the bus station. I have to say I was not impressed with the city center of Cork. I felt as if I was in a very dirty Dublin. We then boarded the public bus to Blarney for another half hour but soon we had made it. We entered the grounds, and went straight towards the castle deciding to suffer the long line now and walk the trails later. Honestly the line was too long, it moved frequently and before long I found myself on the spiral stairs up the turret freaking out, but happy that the line was moving. (The stairs were bad because they kept getting thinner and the walls got more narrower).  

After a much awaited adventure the four of us girls kissed the Blarney Stone. I know they say the locals pee on it, and I know they say that it is one of the biggest tourist traps in the world but I don't really care, I came all the way to Ireland I was going to kiss the stone. I did not however buy the expensive photo of me kissing the stone-so there!

After leaving the castle we decided to walk around on the trails. We saw the fern garden with the waterfall, some caves to explore, the lake, another castle, a farm, so many bulls, and some gorgeous landscapes. It was such a fun time.

Olivia, Nicole and Laura in the cave

Just walking down the trail

The Lake

Castle or house?

We then made our way back to town, got some snacks at the store, and waited for the bus. 

Now we had gotten picked up at the bus station to get to Blarney so I guess we just assumed that we would be getting dropped off there. The bus went back to the city center but went to the shopping center and we of course being nervous naive girls didn't get off, we just waited to get to the station. Then the bus started to head away from town again, before we got so far away we didn't know where we were, we got off the bus. Now I know this was probably not the best idea but we did it, and got back to the station with no problems at all.

We then only had to wait a short time to board our bus yet again back to Dublin. The first hour the four of us looked at all our pictures, and chatted, the next two I watched a movie while the other studied and did a little bit of napping.

It was such a long day, but it was so much fun. When you are in a different country with good friends I don't see how you cannot have a good time!

-----------------------------

P.S. If you ever want to hear other stories about other students study abroad pages check out the Champlain College Study Abroad Program's Blog or my friend Tori's blog, both are sure to have some good stories, and better written ones than mine!