ForeverDIM: Settled in Cork

Hello everyone, I finally made it to Cork, and I'm all settled in now. My room is pretty small, but I have my own bathroom, which is great. The hot water and heater are a little frustrating, but apparently that's the norm in Ireland. Anyway, Cork seems like a very nice city. We are right next to the river, and a couple of very impressive churches are within sight from the apartment building. So I just found out yesterday that my girlfriend, Laura, is living in the same apartment suite as me. She just arrived yesterday afternoon, and she is in room 7 of our apartment. I was really surprised because I thought that since she was doing it through a different program that she would probably be in other housing. And to be in the same suite is pretty lucky. So the seven rooms here share a kitchen and common room, but each of us has our own bathroom. Anyway, I haven't been able to experience Cork much yet, but we all went out last night and had a good time. We went to a pub called Preacher's and watched a Munster vs. Ulster rugby game. So my last days in Dublin were also pretty exciting. New Years was especially crazy. Everybody was out and about, and the whole city was having a good time. We went to Temple Bar, which was fun but very expensive. The whole Temple Bar area was pretty wild. After standing around in the jam-packed Temple Bar for a while, we moved on to Fitzgerald's Pub, which was right across from our hostel. We had a great time, and my mom and dad called right after midnight to wish me a happy new years, which was nice. Other than that, I had good experiences in Dublin. I got to see St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Christ Church, City Hall, the gate at Dublin Castle (it wasn't open on the day we went), Trinity College (the Book of Kells was closed, which was disappointing), the Guinness brewery, the Jameson distillery, and St. Stephen's Park. St. Stephen's park was probably the most impressive sight for me. I loved how it was quiet and dark and green everywhere. I'm going to try uploading some pictures from there. When we weren't touring around, we visited a number of pubs, ate, and slept. Our five or six days in Dublin were pretty hectic because we tried to see everything that we could and also have a good time at night. I never had any repeat incidents with the Irish women, so maybe it was only a one time thing. Last night, though, an older Irish guy approached me and just started talking. He was pretty drunk, and I had a few pints in me, and we ended up talking for an hour or an hour and a half. I couldn't understand some of what he was saying because he had a strong Cork accent, but we talked about all kinds of things: rugby mostly, american football, America, Ireland, politics, beer, Cork, Dublin, Ohio, California. He definitely had the gift of gab, and he was tiring me out, but I enjoyed talking to him a lot. It was my first long conversation so far with a native Irishman. Well, today looks to be our first clear day since the first day in Dublin, so I'm going to try to get outside and see a little bit of the city. I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's, and I will do my best to keep up the posting. Love, Jamie