Cark!

Hello everyone!
I'm sure most of you are disappointed that it I'm writing instead of the ever-poetic Katie, but you'll have to deal with it until next time she writes :)

We had another great weekend, this time in Cork! We have been wanting to go to Scotland but the tickets are pretty expensive, so we decided to take a bus to the south of Ireland and go to the 2nd largest city in the Republic of Ireland (Belfast is 2nd largest on the whole island), Cork! We knew the accents were going to be pretty crazy down there, so I was nervous about understanding people because I still have trouble here in Galway! Last minute we found out that our friend, Mick, was going to Cork that weekend to visit his brother, Pat, who we had met last weekend in Ballinrobe. Mick offered to drive us so we were pretty excited about not having to take a bus! We got to Cork and checked into our hostel where we met this girl from Spain! She was from Madrid and didn't speak lots of English, so we got to use our Spanish which we always love. She is here in Ireland with her boyfriend looking for work and to improve their Spanish; they are even planning on living in separate apartments to force them to speak English! She was really sweet and it was nice to speak Spanish again.

We got ready pretty quickly and met Mick and Pat on Patrick's street in the city centre, which was conveniently located 5 minutes from our hostel. Pat took us to a bar called Scott's for dinner and drinks. I had a chicken fajita and it was DELICIOUS! I love real food from real restaurants... After that we went to a bar I can't remember the name of, but there was a band playing and they were really good! We had lots of pints (I just got paid on Friday for a whole month of work, so we were feeling pretty rich for the first time haha) and danced as much as we could because it was pretty crowded. As usual Kate requested a song after a couple pints, and as usual, they said they didn't know how to play it! She has the worst luck with that..

After that bar we went to another bar, which I also can't remember the name of, and had some more pints, followed by some fabulous french fries at the chipper. I was getting really annoyed because we had just bought all these fries and the guys were trying to tell us they were closing! Anyhow Mick and Pat walked us home and then in the morning we tried to decide if we should stay in Cork or drive back with them that day. It was rainy so we were leaning toward going home, but decided that we really wanted to see more of Cork than just the pubs (impressed??) so we decided to stay. We walked all around the shopping area of Cork and also got some great weather in the afternoon! We loved all the cafes and buildings: Cork is a strange but adorable mix of Dublin and Galway, and seems to cater less to the tourists. We both agreed that had we seen Cork in the beginning of our trip we would have chosen to live there instead of Galway, but we still love our cute little home-city!!

After losing Mick's car in the car park (don't get me started) we went to the hostel to book another night, but then decided we didn't want to pay so we'd leave that night. After NOT going to Shandon and climbing up a steeple to play the church bells, which would have been awesome, we began our drive home. All was going smoothly until the windshield wipers stopped working, which is about as dire a circumstance as if the entire car just wouldn't start because we absolutely could not drive. We would pull over and wait out the rain while Mick attempted to fix the wipers and almost became road kill a few times, and then drive as much as we could during the breaks. Took a little longer to get home but luckily there was wine waiting.

A bunch of people came over that night for some wine and David broke out the guitar as usual so we had a good time singing and chatting. I even discovered my secret musical talent: the tambourine!! I was very good at it, Dad would be proud :) Sunday everyone woke up massively hungry and of course we had a terrible time finding somewhere to eat: one place just simply had no bread that day! Finally we went to the old reliable Quays and had a fabulously filling and satisfying meal. We ended up staying for like 5 hours for coffee and beer even though I looked like crap! It was a really nice lazy Sunday filled with good friends and grocery shopping and lots of lounging :) A plan was hatched to convince our friend Lizzie to move to Chicago for a little while! Crossing our fingers for that...Sheila finally came back from her week-long trip so we caught up a bit last night and finally headed for bed. Today we'll hopefully get our EuroTrip 09 plans nailed down, though I'm completely terrified to travel ANYWHERE with this pig flu and will insist on wearing surgical masks while on planes, buses, or trains.

Katie sent her Georgetown deposit in so I'm also trying to come to terms with having my best friend (and current Siamese twin) living across the country, but I'm not liking this idea very much. We miss you all and can't wait for an amazing summer!!
-Erin

PS: updates on your life are encouraged!!