We are the Mighty, Mighty Pioneers!

I finally got to see Megan and Paul! They met me last night at The Gables and I'm proud to say that we closed the place down and then went out for another round! We walked in to Old Oak and heard the very familiar sound of - WAGON WHEEL - there was an American band playing at the bar that night. It was such a small world moment... out of all the songs and all the places in the world, we just happened to walk into a bar in Cork, Ireland where a band was playing basically the quintessential Appalachian song. Megan and Paul were very entertained by my excitement and ridiculous dancing (I was the only one dancing... for real) and the band came up and talked to me afterwards because they knew that with that kind of reaction I had to be American.

Megan and Paul walked me back to the hotel, but not before we stopped and got ourselves some Hillbilly's Fried Chicken! It was a very memorable night with a great old friend, and Paul is such a great guy. He loves Megan so much and he also really loves the whole Robertson family and Boone... it was so much fun to talk to him about growing up in Boone and all the stories Megan and I have from our childhoods and all the various things our families did together over the years. I felt like I was back in my good old, beloved hometown. And we had a bunch of laughs, especially the incident that sparked the comment, "oh my god, MEGAN!"

I didn't get back to the hotel until almost 2 and I finally felt like a college student again! Luckily, I didn't have to be at UCC until 10, so I got to sleep in for an extra hour and walk to campus in the surprisingly nice weather. Oh, but don't fret - by 1 it was back to downpour status. I had my last lesson with my flute teacher and then we had a lecture on traditional Irish music and it's recording and broadcast history - very interesting. That lecture reminded me of how interested I am in preserving traditional folk art and it makes me really excited to get hands on with Dust-to-Digital this summer.

After a quick lunch at a nearby convenience store, I came back to campus and got on the computers, and that's where I am now. I have a couple pictures I'll try to upload later tonight - I should have plenty of time because we have a free night, dinner on our own and no required pub session. I'll probably try to get in touch with Megan again and see if we think Cork can handle us two nights in a row.

Tomorrow is our last day of classes at UCC and we'll be taking dance lessons from Patty McTaggart for the better part of the morning. I can't even describe my excitement for that - I love dancing, obviously, and I've always wanted an opportunity to learn some Irish dance. Then we have our little recital and it's bye bye to UCC. I guess we'll be visiting Kinsale and Killarney before we head back to Dublin on Sunday afternoon, so I'll be updating about those trips.

Hope all is well... I know some very exciting things have been happening back in the states, so if you've had a good week I'm happy for you. Or at least I'll pretend to be.

Rain, and more rain... with a side of rain.

Maggie McCarthy. Go there. Now.
This girl is about to graduate from UCC and we got to see her senior recital the other day. Did I mention she performed at the White House for President Obama on St. Patrick's Day? And I got to hang out with her.

Things have been pretty low key here in Cork for the past couple days - Monday was classes and recitals (those were awesome). Yesterday we had more lectures and lessons, but we got to play the Javanese Gamelan which was incredible. I had never seen nor heard of this instrument before, but UCC is home to the only one in Ireland and it was custom made for the school. It's a whole bunch of gongs and xylophone type keyboards, plus drums and other percussive pieces... it's really too much to sum up in a sentence. Basically, we just sat at our different little stations and Mel, the instructor, gave us each a tiny little piece to play - some people hit the gong, others had a couple notes to play on the keyboard thing - but when it all came together, all those simple little sounds made a really amazing full musical idea. Definitely a very neat experience.

After playing Gamelan we went to the English Market to have lunch at Farmgate Cafe - easily the best traditional Irish food in Cork. I had the most delicious Sheperd's Pie I have ever tasted. This restaraunt was just absolutely unbelievable. It was quite a treat to get to eat there. I had to be back at UCC at 5 for a whistle lesson, so for the rest of the afternoon I wandered around Cork with a couple people and finally got my hands on some PEANUT BUTTER!! It's not very good, but with a banana and a rice cake, I can sort of feel like I'm back in my normal eating patterns.

We went to the Corner House Pub last night for sessions... what an awesome little bar (conveniently located right next to Sin-é!). Cheap drinks, plus I was introduced to quite possibly my new favorite beverage - Hot Port. Hot water, honey, port wine, plus an orange slice and cloves. Delicious... and very good for my clogged up sinuses.

Ashley and I with our Beamish moustaches

shaky-face goes international

betcha can't beat THESE mad skills

After a quick lecture this morning, we took the bus over to Blarney. Having already kissed the Blarney stone once before, I decided not to climb a freezing cold castle in the terential downpour and instead holed up in a little pub and finished reading Revolutionary Road. Being that my personality these days is pretty much a non-stop raincloud, I really liked this book. It reinforced my recent discovery that relationships are nothing but a charade.

However, there are still some of you that I sort of like, and Blarney is where I got your presents. We spent hours and hours in the shops at the old mill... lots of traditional Irish goods, the kind of place my father would hate. After I made my purchases, I sat down on a couch and talked with an old man from New Zealand for a while. I hope I'm as nice as him if I live to be in my 70's, although the chances of me being a bitter old woman are ever-increasing. I think the constant rain is getting to me.

Tonight I get to see MEGAN at The Gables. We're going to another session that promises to be very exciting - my flute instructor, Aoife, will be playing. I'll get some pictures of her hopefully and I'm definitely excited to meet Megan's fiance, the infamous Paul Corkery! Maybe they'll be a ray of sunshine on my dismal outlook on successful relationships, but that remains to be seen. Hey, if they can survive for years with an ocean separating them, maybe there's still hope for the rest of us.

Such Great Heights

First of all, I'm using the early 90's computer at UCC right now, so this post will have to be short and sweet and picture-less. I'll try to get pictures uploaded tonight if I can charge my laptop.

Yesterday we traveled to Cobh (pronounced Cove) - formerly known as Queenstown, aka, the last stop of the TITANIC. This Titanic junkie was very excited. We visited the emigration museum which was actually really interesting - Cobh is the main port in Ireland and almost everyone who left Ireland during the potato famine and what not left through Cobh. They also had some really cool Titanic artifacts which were absolutely fascinating to me. I've been completely enthralled with the story of the Titanic since about age 10 and this was the first time I've been to a museum that had artifacts.

Cobh is also home to St. Colman's Cathedral, the cathedral of the Diocese of Cloyne. It's a shame that I can't upload pictures right now because it is STUNNING. It was built after the British occupied Ireland and turned all the Cathedrals to Church of Ireland (protestant), so in Irish terms, St. Colman's isn't that old. When we first entered, they were having a procession in honor of Mary... I guess May is the month of Mary, perhaps everywhere but definitely in Ireland (I probably should have known that, sorry Mom). Then, we got a behind the scenes tour from the music director, Adrian Gebruers, and it blew my mind.

St. Colman, so tall I couldn't even fit it in one picture

Turns out, St. Colman is also home to the largest carillon in Ireland - 49 bells, including the largest bell in Ireland, coincidentally named St. Colman (not actually a coincidence). All of the bells are housed in the church's spire and we were actually allowed to go into the spire to see them. It was unbelieveable. We climbed up over 200 steps in the narrow spiral staircases that lead up to the top of the spire and when we got to the top, we were even allowed to go out onto the tiny little balconies. We could see the entire city and the harbor - I've never been so amazed. I have lots of pictures and I'll definitely post them as soon as I get a chance. You will not believe your eyes.

some of the bells way up in the top of the spire

looking down onto Cobh from St. Colman's

only slightly nervous that I'm pretty much a mile above the ground

the harbor - aaaaaaaaamazing.

a little perspective for ye

We also got to watch Adrian play the carillon, and I, Casey Bridgeman, got to play the biggest bell in Ireland. It was definitely surreal because there are only a handful of people in this world who get the chance to do something like that.

playing the carillon - very excited!!

so this is how they play those bells...

We all had a great time in Cobh, but the weather was absolutely terrible and we were more than ready to get back on the train to Cork. It was raining and freezing cold, but as soon as we boarded the train, the most beautiful and bright rainbow showed up over the harbor. It was a pretty special scene, I must admit.

After warming up in the hotel for a little while, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant across the street, and then it was time for our nightly pub sessions. After walking around in the freezing cold, wet weather all day, I was definitely feeling far beyond subpar, so I decided to take it easy and go on to bed instead of going out again. My cold has progressed from a stuffy, runny nose to a full blown disgusting cough. Awesome.

This morning we had another lesson on the whistle and right now we're waiting to start our lecture. For the rest of the day we'll be listening to recitals put on by seniors at UCC as part of their final exams and then I don't really know what we'll do. Megan Robertson should be in town, so hopefully I can get ahold of her and we can have some good ol' Boonie fun in Cork.

Stay tuned for pictures, and I just have to say this because I'm so excited about it:
SEAN LEARY GOT A HAIRCUT.

Close Encounters with Real Pirates

May 15 was quite a day here in Cork City. We started out with a great breakfast overlooking the River at our hotel and then we started our voyage over to the Music Building at University College Cork. It was a pretty decent walk up a pretty decent hill, but the views of the city and the landscape were awesome. The Music Building at UCC is housed away from the main campus in a refurbished monastery that is attached to an alive and running church. There were signs everywhere stating that you were in the Music Building and if you were looking for the church you needed to go back outside and use a different entrance. I guess a lot of people get confused (as we were initially).

We started off with whistle lessons with Mary Martin-Ingoldsby. She is the most adorable little Irish woman - she was so excited to see us and she was an amazing whistle player. We learned three tunes all by ear with her, which was quite a stretch for me as I've never learned any music by ear in my entire life. It would have been awesome if someone would have told me that whistle fingerings were the same as flute fingerings, but since I wasn't at the pre-trip sessions at ASU this past semester, I had to find that out on my own about 30 minutes in to our lesson. Let's just say Mary probably thought I had been touched by some divine musical power during the second half of the lesson because my playing improved so much and so quickly.

After whistle lessons, we got a tour of the facilities at the music building and stopped to use the computers in the computer lab. The lab was not at all what we were used to - it was 12 desktop PC's, circa early 2000's, and an old printer. I think we were all taken aback by it and we started to realize how lucky we are to have the kinds of resources that we do in the states. I mean, UGA has top-of-the-line, brand new Macs with the latest and most cutting edge software and I just get so used to seeing it all the time I guess I don't realize the amount of funding it takes to provide that kind of technology to students. We were all very humbled by what we saw at UCC.

We then had our first lecture, on Native Irish Singing, in a freezing cold room - we were more than happy to attempt to sing some version of the Irish language if it meant we could go somewhere warmer. The whole music building was actually pretty much freezing and we were all turning into little ice cubes. I know for a fact that my skin was blue. We had lunch provided in what looked like the teacher's lounge, and then we had our first lessons with our instrument teachers. Me and the three other flute players met with our teacher for one hour and struggled with the practice native flutes that we're using over here - there are no keys and the holes that we have to cover are so far apart I couldn't even find them half the time. We also had to learn by ear again, which was a struggle for most of us and we are all classically trained.

my huge practice flute and my little-bitty tin whistle

After our lessons got out, we headed back to the hotel and prepared for our 6:30 pub session - the highlight of my... well, life.
We went to a little pub called Sin-é that was just down the street from our hotel. I think we were all a little shocked when we walked in to the place, but it quickly turned into excitement and awe. This place was absolutely covered with all kinds of posters, pictures, flyers, jerseys... probably one of everything in the whole world. All of the tables had empty liquor bottles on them that held really tall taper candles, and at the time we entered, the man who ran the place was lighting them. I can't even begin to describe this man. Literally, he defies all verbal definitions. It's my goal to get a picture with him before I leave, but suffice to say - he is a pirate. A real, live, modern day pirate walking among us. He had long, white and black striped hair pulled back in a pony tail, white eyelashes and facial hair, the most yellow teeth and nails I've ever seen on a person, and the most amazing copper colored eyes. I literally could not stop staring at him with total fascination. We sat down at the bar and I immediately noticed amazing music playing in this bar - I got to talking with the pirate man about music and he told me that Iron & Wine was his favorite band and they had played upstairs at this very bar. He also told me, in the most amazing Irish accent ever, that I had just walked into a pirate ship. No doubt.

After talking to him for a while, I ended up asking him to write down some good bands for me, stuff that I probably wouldn't hear in the states. I was expecting a piece of register tape with some names scribbled down, but I cannot even begin to express my total state of shock and amazement when he handed me this:


If you had any doubt that I was talking to a real pirate, I'm sure it's gone now. I will treasure that piece of paper for the rest of my life - that is EASILY the most flabbergasting thing any human being has ever placed in my hands.

We stayed at Sin-é for quite a while, talking with the other bartenders, who were all absolutely some of the most interesting people I have ever met in my life. By this time, the session playing had started too, and our amazing professor, Dr. Schneeloch-Bingham (Dr. S), was invited to sit and play with the other musicians. It was so cool to see how honored she was - it was clear that she was probably having one of the greatest moments of her life.

Dr. S is in the green pants

The flute player in the red t-shirt with his back to the camera is Liam - he insisted that I write his number down, so if anyone is looking to call an Irish flute player, I've got you all set up.

We eventually left the bar at around 10:00, reluctant as I was. I'll be back at that place the second I get a chance - never in my life have I been so intrigued by anything. I'm sure I'll have all kinds of stories to tell about that place when I come home.

Today was very low key. We started with a little scavenger hunt in Cork... we all had to pair up and find different businesses in the city. My partner, Ashley, and I had to find Bresnan's Victuallers which turned out to be a butcher shop located in the Old English Market.


Dr. S and Dr. Meister travelled to West Cork with our whistle teacher and her husband for the rest of the day, and we were set loose to kind of do as we pleased. I stopped in a couple stores, but mostly I just took a nap and read my book... I wanted to take it easy while I had the chance because I'm still not over my cold and it's turning into a really nasty cough. We'll be super busy for the rest of our time here, so I figured it was a good idea to take advantage of some quiet alone time while most other people were out sightseeing.

Tomorrow we travel to a little village on the coast - I believe it's called Kinsale, but I'll confirm that when we get back tomorrow evening. Supposedly we're going to get to eat some really amazing seafood. Then it's a full week of lessons and then the trip is almost over. I can't believe it - time is flying and crawling at the same time. It's very surreal. I can't wait for Megan Robertson to get over here in a few days. Obviously, I'm taking her to Sin-é.

And if I don't come back to America, I probably got kidnapped by pirates, but don't worry - I'll be more than happy about it.

Day Two: Cork City

Today started off in a less than fabulous manner. I popped right out of bed at 6:30 AM, which should tell you how screwed up my sleep schedule is because this girl doesn't "pop out of bed" EVER, least of all at 6:30 AM. Either way, my clogged up sinuses prompted me to get in the shower and try to get air flowing again, but the combo of steam, heat, lack of oxygen, exhaustion, and dehydration led to me basically feeling like I was going to pass out, so I had to kind of regroup and try again. After some good Irish breakfast, a few glasses of orange juice, some REAL Sudafed (Ireland has the good stuff, not all watered down thanks to meth heads), and a nap in the bus on the way to Cashel, I was feeling much better. Hallelujah.

So, as I said, we drove halfway to Cork and stopped to see the Rock of Cashel. Absolutely beautiful. This old monastery was just completely breathtaking, and the sun even made an appearance for a while.

entrance to the cathedral

some ancient tombstones surrounding the monastery

remaining parts of the cathedral

out of all the pigeons in the world, this one is my favorite.

After our little pit stop, we headed on to Cork City and checked into our AMAZING home for the next ten-ish days, the Gresham Metropole Hotel. It's right in the heart of the city and it's such a trendy hotel. I finally got to unpack and little and feel somewhat settled in my new double bed. We had dinner at a little Thai place down the street and then me and some of the girls spent a while in the hotel pub, flirting with the bartenders and enjoying some local brews. Later, we went to our very first Pub Session! It was so amazing - I had no idea that Session playing in Ireland was such a social art, if you will. Dr. Meister brought his bohdran, but he also explained that it's taken years of visiting the same pubs for him to get to the point where people know him well enough to invite him to play, and he will only play in the sessions if invited. He likened it to some plain old guitar-playing Joe asking to get onstage and play with a band, which makes total sense, but I've always viewed pub music as such a casual, spur of the moment thing. Not so. I guess it would be pretty frowned upon for someone random to just jump on stage with TCR unless they were invited by the band, so it's more of that situation. It's not so much a casual jam where anyone is welcome to join in and learn as they go. A certain level of virtuosity and dedication is expected.

Ashley, Ivy, Katie, and me at the hotel pub. Check out my swanky Bailey's & Coffee!

Edward Cider-Hands (and my first GUINNESS!)

me and Katie - I've met some really awesome people on this trip.

It was a really interesting night and I'm so excited for our first lessons at University College Cork tomorrow! We'll be playing whistle as a group and then me and the other flute players will have some sessions with a flute instructor. We'll do that for the next few days and the rest of the time we'll get to hang around Cork and explore. It's a really neat city - not nearly as old as Dublin, much cleaner and younger, not as many bums.

Hope all is well back home in Athens and Boone... let me know if I've missed out on any juicy gossip. You know I love a good story.

Day One: Dublin

What an exhausting day I've had. It all started on May 12 when I woke up at 8:30 in Boone, got ready for my big day, and headed onto campus to meet the bus to the Greensboro Airport. Then, a quick little flight down to Atlanta and an oh-so-entertaining 3 hour layover at the Atlanta Airport. The layover actually wasn't as bad as it may sound, it was a really good time to get to know the other people on my trip and we enjoyed some really delicious American chain restaurant food for the last time in a while. Our waiter at the airport On The Border, "Sassy Michael," was the perfect energizer before we boarded the plane bound for DUBLIN!

I didn't sleep much on the plane, maybe 4 hours (and that's a super generous estimate). However, we did have the coolest little TV's that let us watch really good movies, all kind of TV shows, and listen to some surprisingly decent music. I was very pleased to see and Americana option in the music section, and I was even more pleased when I found the newest Ryan Adams album in that section! I ended up watching "Revolutionary Road" which was really depressing, but very good. It's kind of strange - I feel like lately I've been reading books and watching movies that all seem to deal with this theme of relationships and the toll that they take on the people involved in them. This whole idea is pretty pertinent to my life at the moment, so it's been pretty interesting to gather a lot of perspectives on relationships and their importance to the human experience.

And what flight across the Atlantic would be complete without a medical emergency?! I guess about halfway through the plane ride, the stewardesses starting getting a bit panicked and called for a doctor - apparently some older man had taken a pretty generous portion of sleeping pills with his after-dinner wine. That's always a good idea, right? It made for some pretty intense entertainment for at least half an hour as they attempted to revive the guy. Good news, he made it.

We landed in Dublin (at about 4:45 AM Boone time, mind you) to typical grey skies and Irish mist, but I was so excited to be back in Ireland! I was feeling pretty dirty and tired and I definitely wasn't doing my best breathing considering yours truly caught a cold the day before leaving for Ireland. Figures. Despite all of this, we had a really exciting drive into the city where we got checked in to our hotel and I promptly passed out for about 3 hours - of course, that had to wait until after we broke the elevator by loading it with all of our bags while we humans decided to take the stairs. I guess it goes without saying, the poor old Irish elevator was a bit overloaded and got stuck somewhere between the ground and 1st floors. Half an hour later, luggage extracted, I finally got out of my dirty clothes and into bed with my precious Bear.

At around 4:00 Dublin time, my roommate and I took a little walk down to Grafton Street to find a camera charger for her. I was really impressed by how much of the layout of Dublin I remembered. It really is a very well laid out city, especially considering how old it is. We then met up with the rest of the group and we headed into the Temple Bar area where we had our first pub experiences! We stopped in Gogarty's just long enough to have a pint and listen to some great traditional musicians... thus creating the first photo op!

Andie and I with our first half-pints of real Irish brew!!

And the musicians. They were so awesome!

We then had dinner at a little place called Milano's and got Gelato at a shop down the street. Considering I'm lactose intolerant, I opted for the some treats at the pharmacy next door - a new supply of Sudafed and some more packs of Kleenex! After a quick picture in the rain in front of THE Temple Bar, we headed back to the hotel considering we were all pretty beat.

And now I am here, at the hotel. It's approximately 8:15 PM and I'm about to hit the hay. Tomorrow morning starts early with IRISH BREAKFAST!!!! and then we relocate to Cork, where we'll be staying for most of our trip. I'm really excited to see Cork - everyone says such wonderful things about it and I've never been. It should be a really great time.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a photo from my last night in Athens and a couple from Kelly's wedding in Hilton Head.

with Morgan and my boys on my last night in Ath.

the lovely Miss Kelly on her way down the aisle

and, the Bridgemans - looking hot as ever. Check out the baby bump!!

More updates soon.
You stay classy...
Thanks for stopping by...
(but mostly just stay classy)

Hello, Dublin!

I HAVE ARRIVED!!!

I've also been awake for over 24 hours which is just absolutely unacceptable, so I'm going to take a nap here in my lovely bed at Wynn's Hotel and I'll update with a rundown of the day when I get back from my adventures in Temple Bar this evening.

(been in Ireland for about 2 hours, already managed to break an elevator.)