Today was the last day of classes and holy moly, what a semester it has been!
International Cork Jazz Festival
Cork Jazz Festival was a crazy and wild weekend. There were shows all weekend of Jazz artists from around the world and the city was packed for the event. On top of shows, every pub had live music all night all weekend. A few of my roommates had friends come to visit so the house was packed and ready for a good time. We ended up going out Saturday and Sunday and were able to listen to three different bands play and I had the time of my life dancing the night away with friends.
Run in the Dark 10k
I ran my first ever 10k! The run was to raise money in order to support research and projects for finding a cure for paralysis. My official time was 56:30 and I was 128th out of 312 females!
Christmas Lighting Ceremony
The city center got decked out in Christmas lights. I think Christmas decorations are my favorite part of European cities, they seem to go all out. The lights lining the streets and shops makes the holidays feel so much closer. I wandered around the streets with a few friends looking at the lights and taking pictures with my new polaroid camera after a pint. I’m pretty sure that there are at least four Christmas trees put up around the city center.
UCC Christmas Day
An unofficial Christmas day was designated by the students where people skipped classes and went drinking early dressed in Christmas jumpers. There were lines down the street for pubs before 11am. I’m not exactly sure why this is but I had to participate! I donned my Christmas jumper, skipped my last class to spend the day with friends. The night consisted of lots of Christmas songs and plenty of friends and dancing. The next morning the streets were trashed though, and there were several news reports about house parties getting out of hand with hundreds of people in a single house. The drinking culture here is still surprises me sometimes but it’s fun to get to participate in new things.
Choral Society Christmas Concert
One of my friends is in the Choral Society and so another friend and I got tickets to see their concert. It was a nice evening of Christmas carols and talented singers. There was a smaller group of singers that made up the competitive choir for UCC (which my friend was a part of) and they sang a few songs that were just absolutely breath taking.
Thanksgiving!
I treated my roommates to their first ever traditional Thanksgiving meal. I made stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. My roommates roasted a chicken and for starters we had cheese and crackers with mulled wine. For dessert I made a pecan pie from scratch. Despite the skepticism of green bean casseroles and pecan pies, my roommates enjoyed everything and it was really nice night. The cranberry sauce was probably the best cranberry sauce I have ever made!
Christmas Market and Festival
Cork has a Christmas festival and market set up in the middle of the city center, with a full ferris wheel set up! Pretty crazy having a giant ferris wheel just plopped down on the side walk but after a trip to a sustainable Christmas market with friends, I had to take a ride. Wonderful views of the city from the top.
Pretty jam packed semester full of friends, mountains, pints, and of course classes. I can’t believe I have now been living here for 3 whole months! That’s one quarter of my time here passed. Plenty more to come but it seems like just yesterday I was starting classes for my masters degree. School isn’t over with yet though, because I still have 4 exams to get through before I can take off for the Christmas holidays.