Back to Oliver Plunkett

So, I jinxed it.  Friday was such a rainy day!!!  Luckily, I had a lot of work to do, so it made it much easier to stay inside.

I really did not do much on Friday at all.  I did not have any class, so caught up on sleep a little bit and organized my room.  After (slowly) waking up, I figured it was time to get crackin' on one of my papers.  I was writing my final paper for Social Geography, so once I finished that, I would be almost done with the class!  I cannot believe how fast time is flying by...

My paper was actually a really interesting topic.  I was writing about gender and how space in the world is gendered.  It definitely made it a lot easier writing about something I was interested in, unlike my Early Start class papers.  Knowing that this was all I had to do today made it a little harder to work efficiently, but hey, at least I was getting some work done, right (unlike the usual)?

At around 7 PM, Jane, Julia, and I went to the Oliver Plunkett to meet up with Nicole and her parents who were visiting until the 26th.  I haven't been to the Oliver Plunkett since my parents were here, so I was super excited to go!  Nicole's family ended up buying us dinner and drinks, which was so nice of them!  We stayed for a few hours because there was a great Irish band we wanted to listen to.  I was having such a fun time, and it was definitely a taste of home seeing someone else's parents.  Only a few more weeks until I see mine :)

It was back to work once I got home!

Be back soon!

XO,

Caitlin

More Christmas decorations going up in the City Centre!

A delicious dinner at the Oliver Plunkett.

Nicole and myself at the Oliver Plunkett!

Cheese is Life

Thursday was a quiet day for me.  It was one of the first weekends in forever that I would be in Cork, so it felt a little weird not scrambling to get ready to travel.  I was really looking forward to a quiet weekend!  I have loved traveling so much, but sometimes it is nice to just do nothing.

I took Thursday as a recuperating day.  I wrote one of my six final paper (woohoo!) on Wednesday, so I just wanted to kick back and relax!  I went to class, and then the gym with Jane, and then came home and did absolutely nothing, but watch Gossip Girl (it is majorly one of my guilty pleasures!).  The weather has been so good here, which has been a great treat.  There has not been much rain at all.  I thought Ireland was a rainy country?!  However, I am not complaining...the rain can stay away as long as it wants!  The temperatures have also been pretty high, about high forties to low fifties.  I am really liking this whole "mild winter" thing.  The East Coast is going to be a HUGE shock to me!!!

When I came home from the gym, I was really excited to make dinner.  I bought this great new goat cheese from the English Market that I was dying to try (be jealous, Carolyn, it was so great).  I decided to make a pear and goat cheese pizza.  It was soooo delicious and a perfect dinner for staying in!

Once I finished dinner, I figured I would give the kitchen/common room area a good clean.  It was just me in the apartment for the weekend, so I cleared everything out and did a major scrub down.  When I am stressed I tend to clean, so clearly finals are coming.....

To me, this was a perfect night!

Be back soon!

XO,

Caitlin

My new goat cheese!

Such a great dinner.

Sunny, Sunny Day!

So, I know I am going to make all of you east-coasters jealous, but, Wednesday was GORGEOUS out.  It had to be about 55 degrees and sunny.  I am liking this November weather!

Jane and I went into to the City Centre to meet up with Grace at O'Conaill's to catch up with one another.  We needed to exchange stories about Amsterdam and hear about Grace's trip to Prague and her upcoming trip to Budapest!  I hadn't been to O'Conaill's in so long and I forgot how good it was. Definitely a great study pick-me-up.  After catching up for a while, I walked around before heading to class.  The city was buzzing with people taking in the beautiful day.  I am going to miss this city when I am gone for a month (as well as the above freezing temperatures).

I skipped my evening class that night (oops) to work on a paper.  I am cracking down so I can finish and have some free time before heading home!  I want to have a few days to enjoy Cork and relax here for a little bit.  It is so hard to get work done here, though!  I really want to enjoy the Christmas decorations and stay in the City Centre as much as I can, but, I need to be disciplined at some point :)

It is weird not getting ready for another trip over the weekend!  But, I am enjoying the absence of craziness and packing.  I still cannot believe I only have a few more weekends left in Cork for the semester.  I know I have said this a million times, but I do not know what I would do if I did not have a year here.  The year is allowing me to really get to know Cork, as well and do some incredible traveling.  My time has been so awesome so far, and I cannot wait to see what other great things are coming my way!

Be back soon!

XO,

Caitlin

Milk and white hot chocolate :)

City Centre! 

A nice walk home from the gym. 

A gorgeous sunset. 

Cooking and More Cooking

Tuesday was a day of getting back into my groove here in Cork.  I had to get a lot of errands done to settle back into the apartment.  Now that my travels were done, I was going to have to com up with meals to cook for every night again!  I have to say, I do not love cooking.  I didn't inherit that gene Carolyn and my dad have of seeing cooking as fun...

In between my two classes, I went to the English Market.  I was going to do a big grocery run so I hopefully will not have to buy a lot of food over the next few weeks.  As I was walking into town, even more Christmas decorations were going up!  I seriously cannot imagine how the city could even find a place to put more up, but they managed.  There was a great big tree being decorated on Grand Parade, not as nice as Rockefeller, but a close second :)

After my classes, I came home, had dinner, and did some cooking.  Jane came over and hung out with me for a while while I cook, to keep me company!  I made Dad's chickpea soup recipe, which is definitely a staple meal for me here.  It is super easy to cook, freezes well, and always delicious, what else could I ask for?

I told myself I would get work done, but, surprise, surprise, I did not.  This seems like a trend here in Ireland for me...

Be back soon, hopefully having got some work done!

XO,

Caitlin

Christmas tree!!

Cookin' time

A Little Pampering

Monday was a very dreary and grey day in Cork City.  The rain from Amsterdam followed us to Ireland!  However, this made it a little easier to stay in my apartment and begin thinking about the work I had to do!

I went to my two classes on Monday, Social Geography and Cultures of Cities.  When I got to Social Geography, I learned that this would be my last class...crazy!  Hard to believe that everyone at home is getting our for Thanksgiving break and I am finishing up the semester.  As a little celebration to getting through Social Geography (well almost through it, I still have a final paper), I decided to get my nails done in town.  I can absolutely admit that I am a diva when it comes to getting my nails done, it is one of my favorite things to do to relax.  I wasn't feeling 100%, so I thought it would be the perfect cure.  It definitely helped :)

Once I was done with classes for the day, I was seriously dragging.  I think the grey weather added to my exhaustion was wiping me out.  I had no plans, other than staying in and FaceTiming Anne to catch up with her.  We put this date on the calendar early last week, our schedules were so crazy!  It was awesome catching up with her, I miss her so much and cannot wait to see her in a few weeks!!

I told myself I would start work...but shocker, I didn't.  Monday was a "chill out" day before the grind of school work really got going later in the week!

Be back soon!

XO,

Caitlin

An ugly day on Oliver Plunkett Street

Cloudy River Lee

It's a Wrap!

Sunday was our last day in Amsterdam.  It was such an awesome weekend seeing everyone from HC.  It definitely made me miss Holy Cross a lot, but I will be home so soon!  I also cannot imagine not being in Cork this year.  The semester is flying by!  I can truly say studying abroad has been the most incredible experience of my life, thank goodness I have a year :)

Most of the HC kids were out of the hostel by 6 AM.  Luckily, we had a later flight, so we still had a full day of touring.  It was Chelsea's birthday on Sunday, so we began the day by having a celebratory breakfast.  I had another Dutch pancake, this time it was an apple and honey one.  I am trying to bring the tastes of New England fall to Europe!  Breakfast was super delicious, and a perfect start to the day.

The weather was pretty gross out--rainy and cold.  This was a great opportunity to visit more museums.  Jane and I went to the Ruks Museum, which is sort of like the MET of The Netherlands.  We were there for two hours, but it felt like no time at all!  I was so lost in the art, there were millions of beautiful pieces.  My favorite exhibit was the photography one.  I have grown such a liking for photography since being abroad, so it was really interesting to me!

After the museum and walking around for a little while, we headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags and head to the airport.  The incredible weekend was coming to a close, unfortunately.  However, a major perk of going home, we were flying into Cork!  We were avoiding the three and a half bus ride, thank goodness!

We did not get home late at all, I think I walked into my apartment at 9:30.  This was such a nice change!

My travels for the semester were officially done.  I cannot believe it!  I am so fortunate to have done all that I did.  Including Ireland, I visited seven countries!  It is a little mind boggling, I know.  It'll be nice to have a weekend in Cork for the first time in forever.

Next trip, AMERICA!

Be back soon!

XO,

Caitlin

A photography piece from the Ruks Museum.

Lots and Lots of Touring

Saturday was a little bit of a rainy day, AKA a perfect day for museums.  Amsterdam is known for having a museum for just about everything you could imagine.  There were two that a majority of us were set on seeing before the weekend was over:  the Anne Frank House, and the Van Gogh Museum.

We (Me, Jane, Betsy, Nicole, and Will, another HC abroad student) woke up early Saturday morning in order to avoid the long line at the Anne Frank House.  We did not have to wait very long, maybe about 45 minutes.  I learned a lot about Anne Frank when I was in middle school, so I was very interested to see the real setting of where everything I have heard about truly happened.  This was an incredible experience, seeing the house, but so emotional as well.  It was heartbreaking to hear Anne Frank's father speak about his family on old video recordings, and so eye-opening seeing where the families hid, learning about what their daily lives were during the horrible time.  I really enjoyed seeing this house, and it definitely puts life into perspective.  I think that it was important for me to see this while I was in Amsterdam, because while my travels were all fun and games with the Holy Cross crew, it was good to have a little bit of a reality check as to what Amsterdam used to actually be like.

After the Anne Frank House, we were on a mission to find this cafe, Cafe Papeneiland, which is famous for their Dutch apple pie. It was very close to the House, and a perfect morning snack.  When you walked in, there was pie everywhere!  Clearly this cafe is famous for the pie, because they were very prepared for the crowds of people they would soon see.  This pie came just in time for a little Thanksgiving prep!

Once we had our fill on pie, we headed towards the famous Amsterdam sign and the Van Gogh museum.  When we got to the sign there were so many people there that we recognized, it was crazy!  I ran into one of my friends, TJ, from West Hartford!  I had no idea he was going to be in Amsterdam for the weekend.  It was such an awesome surprise.

We stayed at the sign for a little while, probably longer than we should have.  It was like an adult playground, we were having so much fun! We then headed over to the Van Gogh Museum, which was so amazing.  I could have stayed there forever.  The art was absolutely gorgeous, definitely a highlight of my trip!

We were pretty tired, and hungry, so the five of us headed over towards our hostel area to find some dinner.  We went to a cute little Italian restaurant and had some delicious comfort food.  After we ate, we went back to the hostel to clean up and get ready for the night.  We were meeting up with the HC kids again for a quick drink later in the evening!  It was so fun having everyone back together!

It was an early night for everyone, but a very fun night!  Most people had early flights on Sunday, so we were saying our goodbyes.  Hopefully I will be able to see everyone in December!

Be back soon!

XO,

Caitlin    

Pie Time!

Nicole, Besty, me, and Jane! 

Nicole, Jane, me, Will and Betsy at the "I Amsterdam" sign.

Me and Jane at the sign!

 Me and TJ!

Amsterdam canals!

Jane, Will, myself, Nicole, Betsy