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.