Have to start off by saying I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW! Baby Nolan was born the evening January 10 in
California, so technically it was January 11th here! So I get to celebrate two birthdays with him
;) I am so sad I couldn’t be there to meet him for the first time with everyone
else, but it will still be special to meet him when he is a few weeks old. I just may have to be a baby hog for a day or
so!
Well, a lot
has happened in the last few days since Nolan has been born.
Saturday we took a journey to Cobh (pronounced “cove”). Cobh is the second largest natural harbor in
the world, following Sydney. This is the
port that much of Ireland’s emigrants left from during Ireland’s
hardships. It also happens to be the
last port of call that the Titanic stopped at before going on its last voyage
(which is left out of the movie). We
walked up to this huge beautiful cathedral (turned out to be St. Colmans
Cathedral, the largest cathedral in all the British Isles. [Side note: I’ve
learned that many Irish people do not like this term “British Isles”, but this
was what the American woman that led our tour said, so I’m just using her
verbage!]). We noticed a few people
standing out in front of the cathedral and it turned out that they were there
to unveil a commemorative stone that was placed on the cathedral grounds in
honor of the Bridewell Prison which apparently used to be located where the
street in front of the cathedral is now.
This stone monument would be the first external piece added to the
cathedral since the 1860’s. There were
newspaper columnists and photographers there to catch the action, and it was
funny because if we hadn’t been there, there would not have been much of a turn
out. After the stone was revealed, we
took a tour of the cathedral and the crypts under the church where the bishops
were put after they passed away (there were 6 in the crypts and 2 buried in the
ground next to the cathedral). Very
interesting! After the tour, we walked
over to the Cobh Heritage Center. This
museum was dedicated to displaying the emigration that has occurred in its
town, including a pretty neat section for the Titanic. It also had a pretty great gift shop and
little café where Hazel and I shared a toasty (grilled ham and cheese). We then drove to Blarney and did a little
shopping. Only one person actually ran
to the castle and kissed the Blarney stone.
We then arrived at our new hotel Saturday night.
We arrived
at the Devon Inn in Templeglatine. This
hotel was older, but the rooms were a bit larger than our usual, which was
nice. After we got settled in, we walked
next door to a ceili, which is an Irish music and dance party! Definitely the best night we have had! SO
much fun!!! There were all these kids
(maybe 20 of them) playing these Irish instruments and music all together and
then dancers took turns coming out to do traditional Irish dances for us, it
was amazing! So much talent! Then they
encouraged us to come out and try out some of their group party dances. Some of them were so hard but we had fun
looking stupid while trying to keep up!
We danced and talked and listened to music until pretty late. I ended up talking with two 13-year-old girls
for some time. They were fascinated by
where we were from, but also equally enjoyed hearing what we thought was
different here. They talked about One
Direction a lot, and how “dear” Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister were to
them out here. They said it costs about
85 euros for a zip up hoodie here, so anyone who wears those brands is pretty
awesome! Anyway, an entertaining conversation nonetheless…
The next
morning (Sunday) we had breakfast in the hotel and then headed off to mass! We went to Saint Brigid’s where Father Pat
who we had previously met was giving the mass.
We had heard that he had a full crowd for every mass, and they were
right! The small church was filled, with
people standing in the back and along the sides. The program that was handed out had a welcome
note to us, very nice! Before mass
started, the church bells (I believe it was a recording) played Danny Boy…
which I just thought was amazingly cool.
When mass started, Fr. Pat actually announced our presence and had
everyone applaud for us, “Students from Saint Mary’s College of California in Morago!” Haha, Morago… too funny, but very sweet and
we felt very welcomed. Here’s the crazy
part, mass was only about THIRTY MINUTES long!!! Wow. There was some confusion during communion
when I went up to be blessed (since I’m not Catholic) that made for some
entertainment… apparently they don’t do that here? After mass, as we were
walking into Father Pat’s house, they played our country’s national anthem over
the bell speakers! So nice! We all sang along. We walked into the house and sat down and had
homemade lunch! Sandwiches, scones, salmon,
muffins, apple tart, tea… so much goodness!
We also got to hear a talk from Professor Mary McAuliffe. She is an Irish historian and gave us a great
talk and touched on some of the current and past political issues in Ireland. She told us stories of her ancestors, such as
her grandmother who when she was 17 years old had actually hidden guns in that
very church during the war in 1918. So
fascinating! She also told us about how
back in 1840 there were over 8 million people in Ireland, whereas now there is
about half of that. All of the country’s
young people are emigrating! Very
interesting stuff. When we left the
church, we went to a pub where the publicans (means pub owners! One of my
favorite new terms…) were waiting for us at the door. We spent a few hours there, everyone had
drinks and played snooker (similar to pool).
It was fun!
The next
morning we drove into Galway! This hotel is very nice and right in the city’s
center. There is a college here in
Galway, so we have been seeing people our age! Our papers were supposed to be
due this day, but the teachers decided to extend it to the next morning and
have us go on a quick walking tour of the city instead. We walked around (in the rain!) and went into
the Galway Cathedral. So beautiful! I
had a quick lunch from a place called Centra, similar to a 7 Eleven but they
had a deli. Great sandwich! I got
chicken and cheese and cranberry sauce.
After the walking tour we stopped at a fish & chips place for dinner
where we ran into Fr. Tom. I didn’t
order anything, and instead had some delicious gelato afterwards! I also got picked on for being foreign and it
made me feel very weird! A guy tried to
overcharge me for bottled water… not cool. We procrastinated a great deal back at the hotel, but eventually we all got our papers done. Thanks to JJ I got some good info and material!
Today, we
had very good breakfast in the hotel, then took a drive to the Irish Famine
Museum in Strokestown. We got to learn
quite a bit about the famine and got to walk through a very old Irish
home. We had a small break when we got
back, then went for a group dinner at a place called The Quays. It was a prearranged menu, so we got to
choose from turkey, fish & chips, boiled bacon (I believe?), and a veggie
quiche. I got the turkey and it was very
good! Came with mashed potatoes and chips (French fries), and cabbage and
veggies. Afterwards, some of us went out
for gelato again and then to the King’s Head pub for a bit. Now we’re back and getting ready for bed and
another big day tomorrow! More soon!
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