So the Wednesday morning my parents left to go home, I also left. I packed a bag really fast, grabbed my iPod and a cab to Heuston Station, and hopped on a train to Cork to visit the famous Danielle!
I have been meaning to visit Danielle since I got to Ireland- she's been out to Dublin so many times but I hadn't made it there yet, and I felt awful about it! She's one of my absolute best friends, and I was so excited to see different parts of her life in Cork that I'd heard so much about. It certainly didn't disappoint. I absolutely loved Cork, and wish I had gone earlier so I could have gone more than once!
Danielle met me at the train station, and we walked into town. We stopped at O'Connail's, an amazing chocolatier that I had heard so much about from Danielle, and I was really happy to get to try it out for myself! I had hot dark chocolate with cayenne pepper... it was DELICIOUS. I hadn't ever had anything like it, but I really like spicy foods, and the cayenne brought out a different flavor in the chocolate. It certainly had a kick to it, but I really liked it. It was awesome to just have time to catch up with Danielle too, since I hadn't seen her in a few weeks.
We then went to her friends' house, where a tea party was happening! We had some delicious tea and cake and scones, and it was fun for me to talk about theatre with other students, and it was interesting to hear the UCC students' reactions to my stories about Trinity. It was a grand night, and we realized that it was 10:00, so we left the girls to their papers and went to Lennox's, a famous chipper in Cork. A chipper, for those of you who aren't acquainted with Irish terminology, is a place where you can essentially get anything deep fried with salt and vinegar, usually specializing in fish and chips. The food was of course delicious, and we were happy to get home and devour it!
I loved meeting Danielle's Irish roommates Maeve and Clionha, and we stayed up late that night talking with Maeve. She's spending the summer in Ocean City Maryland, and I hope I get to see her!
The next day we wandered around Cork, did some shopping, and encountered the Crawford Art Gallery, where a lot of the art I learned about in my art history class came from. It was a beautiful museum, and then Danielle and I ran home so we could make it to the theatre in time- we went to see Julius Caesar at the Granary Theatre, which was very well done, but unfortunately for the performers, the fire alarm went off right after Caesar's death. It was overall a great night though, and I loved seeing UCC's campus that day too- Danielle is so lucky to go to school in such a beautiful place! It really looks like Hogwarts- in a different way from Trinity- but has modern buildings too. It's absolutely gorgeous, and reminded me a lot of an American college campus.
Danielle and I also went to get pizza and gelato from a place in Cork with three of her theatre friends, who were all hilarious and so much fun to hang out with. The pizza/gelato was also delicious might I add, and it was a giggly fun girly day, which was exactly what I needed. We wandered around the English Market, which really reminded me of the Reading Terminal, and had so much beautiful food. If I lived in Cork, I would go shopping there all the time!
Overall, I loved Cork. I had a great time being in a smaller city, and while I didn't realize it, I think being in a giant city for so long was starting to overwhelm me. Every time I traveled it was to another giant city, and I needed something that reminded me of Providence- and Cork was exactly that. I wish I had time to make it back there before I go home... I guess I'll just have to make another trip to Ireland.
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