Hostels

One of the things that I was most nervous about was the hostel experience here in Europe.  I feel like I have heard horror stories, and for so cheap how could they be a good experience.

Turns out I have stayed in two hostels, and they have both been pretty great experiences.  The hostel we stayed in in Dublin, Jacob's Inn, was a whopping 15 Euro.  We lived with 10 people and had our own bathroom and tons of space.  They gave us a free breakfast of toast, cereal, porridge, tea, and coffee.  But the amenities have not been the best part.  In Dublin we stayed with 4 french students and two older spanish women. All were very nice and spoke very little English, which was kind of fun.  I got to perfect my already WONDERFUL Spanish speaking skills (as most of you know this is 100% joke).  We were also in the hostel with TONS of people that were in Dublin for the All-Ireland final for Gaelic football (they call it Irish football).  The people from the farthest north part of Ireland, Donegal were very loud and very funny.  Their chants and songs rang throughout the city all night.  Even though we could not understand a word they were saying (like they were speaking a different language).  They were clad in green and yellow for two days straight. 

In cork the hostel set me back 16 euro.  Stayed in a room with 6 people total.  Only two of us were from our group.  This room was no bigger than a college dorm room for two, but it was so fun.  We were roomed with 4 girls from California that were studying in Dublin.  They were so very cool, and we spent the end of the night (way to late may I add) hanging out in the hostel bar.  We played snooker (close to pool), sang songs, and learned from the Irish.  It was an absolute blast!

I do not want to jinx my hostel experience, but so far I have loved it and I have met some really really cool people.  Everyone might have to say a prayer and hope that this blog post does not change my fortunes.

Cork

Sorry it has been so long.  For the first time since we have been here we have been hit with a significant work load.  As much as I would love to only travel and blog, I was politely reminded that I am actually here for schooling :)  I am sure I have lost a few followers because it has been so long...oh well!

This past weekend we made a trip to Cork.  A city in the southwestern part of Ireland.  It is the third largest city on the island, but FAR less crowded and touristy than Dublin.  I loved the city.  I went with three people that I met here rather than the normal crew from ISU.  It was a nice change.  The guy is from Milwaukee and goes to University of Minnesota, and the two girls are actually from DePauw.  It was nice to hang out with some people from my old stomping grounds. 

We arrived at 11 or so Saturday morning, and it was an ABSOLUTELY PERFECT day.  65 or so degrees and sunny.  We could not get over how perfect the weather was. 

Thats ryan from minnesota and I

The city was small enough that we could spend a long day walking and scale most of the city.  Cork is in the hills though so it was quite the workout.  I will post some pictures later, but we went to an old shut down prison, saw two beautiful cathedrals, walked through a beautiful little park.  The city was just perfectly quaint.   This is the view essentially outside of our hostel.

Like dublin the city is split right down the middle by a river; in this case it is the River Lee.