Family Friends and Some Random Observations

Finbarr, Me, and Jenny

Yesterday I went to visit family friends, Jenny and Finbarr, for lunch.  They are actually two of the nicest people that I've ever met.  I thought we'd either have lunch at their house or walk somewhere, but instead they took me to Blarney where we had a lovely lunch.  Then Jenny and I went shopping at Blarney Woollen Mills where I managed to get a few more gifts crossed off my list.  Finally we ended the day with driving through my cousin's old neighborhood and seeing her old house.  The woman inside seemed to think I was a bit strange for taking photos, but oh well.  Jenny kept commenting on how the area had changed since she lived there and it just makes me wonder how much will have changed by the time I get back to Chicago.

Chrissie's Old House

Okay now it's time for some more random observations, because I forgot a bunch the first time around.

1.      Fast food is significantly more expensive and the English Market significantly cheaper than you would expect.  Seems like a good plan for having healthy people.

2.      On the street that I usually walk to school on, there is a lot of dog poop.

3.      It naturally mists here and it makes you wetter than you would think.

4.      My Viking Age professor can go on tangents about other archaeologists like no other.

5.      There is a National Leprechaun Museum that I totally intend to visit.

6.      Papers are always listed in terms of word count.

7.      The college bookstore actually seems reasonably priced.

8.      Scones here are quite biscuit-like.

9.      Black currant (jam, juice, flavor, etc.) is really popular.

10.  Fire alarms sound different here, but are still just as effective.  Also, way too many people are dressed for 8:30am.

11.  There are only four Four Star Pizzas in the US, but seven in Cork City.

12.  Eggs aren’t in the refrigerated section.

13.  Bobbing for apples is called ducking for apples.

14.  There appear to be fewer preservatives in the food as things like bread mold very quickly.

15.  No cars (except for a few) have air conditioning, and I think all are stick shifts.

16.  The Irish that I have met have a very strong connection to the country itself whereas I feel like many Americans have more of a connection to their hometown or state.  Although, it also seems far more common for people to stay in the same city or county that they grew up in than in the U.S.

17.  Many Irish students go home for the weekend and I wonder if this is why the library is open less than three hours on Saturday and Sunday.

18.  Big bags of chips are actually big bags of smaller bags of chips.

19.  The Irish I’ve met love to talk about the weather in Ireland.