Up the Rebels!

Cork is home to many, many proud locals who love their beer, music, and of course gaelic football team, The Cork Rebels. Lucky for me, the gaelic football final (the superbowl of Ireland) was the first Sunday I arrived in Cork... and it was a blast! Cork was in the final and ended up winning by one point. I couldn't have asked for a better day here. To prepare, I wore my red and white shirt I had just purchased at Penny's (Ireland's mixture of Target, Marshalls, and Kmart), that says "Irish by Birth. Cork by Grace of God." .... yeah, everyone wears them here, and everyone believes what it says. My friends and I headed down to a local pub near our flat, and watched the game there. My friend John and I were lucky enough to meet a lovely Irishmen at the local pub, who not only explained the rules to us, but also told us a thousand reasons why Cork was better than Dublin (he was from Dublin, too...) and why we were so lucky to be here.

This guy was right. Cork is fantastic! While it took me awhile to adjust to living on my own, walking to Tesco's (local supermarket) a couple blocks away, walking EVERYWHERE for that matter, including a 20 minute walk to campus, I couldn't be happier that I'm living here for the next two months.
Here's some things that I love about Cork:
1. Stores don't give you bags, you have to bring your own. Yay! Finally some environmentalism at a large scale. What a great thing to see, and I'm happy to bring my own bags wherever I go.
2. Guinness. and Bulmers Irish Cider. It's fantastic. If you're here, try Bulmers Pear. Mmmmm.
3. The Cork People! They're proud, wonderful, and friendly. When you first enter Cork, there's a billboard for a radio show that says "Cork Talks. Ireland Listens." This is true, and absolutely fantastic.
4. County Cork. For those who don't know, County Cork is in the southern part of Ireland, on the coast. It's one of the most beautiful counties in Ireland, and the bus station nearby offers cheap fares to any quintessential town/castle/beach/hilly, beautiful area nearby.

More to come soon!