True Events

I'm sitting across from Caitlin Cobau, on this lovely Wednesday morning, and I pointed out the rainbow behind her. She turned around in her seat, looked out the window and called me a liar. 

Exhibit A on how I'm not a liar:

I then called her blind. As you can see, she most definitely is blind. (Not really, but I mean, that's a pretty obvious rainbow).

 Now, don't let these event's structure your opinion on this wonderful human, being semi-blind isn't something you should hold against Caitlin. She is one of the only people here in Cork who I've found I enjoy spending large portions of time with. However, that might be because I met Caitlin about a year ago. We took a writing class together last spring, and we also found out we would be going to Cork together! It was nice to know someone who would also be traveling across the country with me.

Now we've grown used to coming together every Wednesday afternoon to do travel writing. We sit across from each other and talk about what we're struggling to write about and Caitlin plays country music. Which is shocking, because I don't know a lot of people who enjoy country music so that's typically the music we jam too.

Caitlin has dark dark blond hair, and even then she will tell you you're wrong. She insists it's brown. And since I'm tired of proving her wrong with pictures, you'll just have to take my word for it. She has beautiful light blue eyes, and a happy smile that makes you smile right back. Even when half the time she's just calling me weird.

Caitlin loves taking photographs. I turn around. She's taking a picture for Snapchat. I look up, she's trying to capture the rainbow she can't 'see' for Instagram. Which is her social media platform of choice. Caitlin has a large love for Instagram. I am constantly trying to avoid being in any of these photo's, but it's hard to do with a friend like Caitlin. I take heart in knowing this trip will be properly documented though.

Caitlin is also obsessed with doing laundry. In fact, she just came back from doing laundry as I write this. Her reason for doing so much laundry though is "She didn't pack enough stuff, so she needs to clean it often." Which makes some sense, but laundry costs so much here that in reality it makes more sense to buy clothes. So Caitlin, just get another pair of jeans.

I'm actually losing money.

Hello everyone, this is Steph! I'm from Naples, Florida. I love mashed potatoes, books, and orange juice. I have moved from the sunshine state, to studying abroad in very rainy Cork, Ireland. However, it doesn't rain all the time here, only about 75% of the time. Which is still pretty awful, but I have gotten used to it, and it's only made me more clearly understand how Ireland is so green, all the time.

I can't sleep on planes, buses, or any kind of vehicle that moves, or that's at least what I thought when I started the journey to Cork. I did sleep on the plane. I also slept on the bus. So I've changed the conditions too: Unable to sleep on moving vehicles, unless extremely exhausted. And I was extremely exhausted. I had to travel from Naples to Newark during that afternoon, and then from Newark to Dublin. So I was very much done with planes by the time I was on the flight to Dublin. Once we arrived into Dublin, we had to get onto a bus to make it to Cork, and I would have given my left pinky for a bed, or a horizontal surface. Safe to say my left pinky is still in fact attached to my hand. (Not that that's a bad thing).

We didn't even have time to sleep though when we arrived in Cork. We got off the bus to move our stuff into our room, and then it was back onto the bus to go shopping and pick up essentials. I found some decent orange juice. By the time we got all of the things we needed to survive, I was pretty awake, and decided to stay awake till 9:30 that night. I wanted to try to adjust to the time, and that also gave me time to unpack all of my things and let my parents know I was only half zombie at that point.

The next day I woke up around 10. I definitely got enough sleep, but I was still very jet lagged. Every one was, but we were going to the Blarney Castle, and a lot of people wanted to kiss a stone that young boys snuck up to at night and peed on. I obviously didn't want to kiss the stone. The legend is that if you kiss it you will get the gift of gab, which is more luck. My mom told me I had enough gab. She just didn't want me to kiss the stone of pee. After we toured the castle, we just went running around the grounds of the garden and took a bunch of pictures. It was a massive place, and we could have spent at least another 2 hours there, but we already had plans to get food.

Thursday and Friday was Orientation. Which basically made me just feel like a freshman again, and we were told where to go and clubs and classes we could take. After those long, slightly uneventful days, Saturday came around and we went to the Jameson Distillery. My Grandfather is a Jack Daniels fan, so I made sure to apologize for fraternizing with the enemy. It was the first real, sunny, glorious day in Ireland and at that point I was in desperate need of a day without rain. There is only so long a girl from Florida can go without the sun.

We got drinks after our tour of the distillery, yes, they were free! We left the distillery feeling a bit better, and arrived at the Cork city center to a beautiful restaurant. Because the tab was covered by Loyola, I don't think we held back on the amount of food we ordered. Our table alone ordered 3 appetizers, we all got our own meal, and deserts. It was a good night, and I was happy about going back on a full stomach. That week was full of fun adventures, and after that we were preparing for the week of class to come.

 You have all probably read my blog title thinking, "She's clearly unaware of how abroad works. You spend money, not gain it." However, I am very aware of that small detail, I've just decided to view this experience more as a positive one. Although I am losing money, I am also gaining knowledge on culture and seeing the world, and in my opinion, that means I'm gaining more than I'm losing.