Only in Ireland...

Will you...

1. Get confused because ham is called bacon, and bacon is called rashers, but only sometimes. 

2. Not be able to find normal flavored potato chips, ANYWHERE.  The only three flavors of chips, or should I say, crisps, are sour cream and onion, cheese and onion, or bacon. 

3. find these (note the flavor):

(they don't taste very good)

3. hear amazing and talented musicians play live at pubs any day of the week. 

4. Walk down a street and run into this: 

5. Notice a lot of people wearing track suits with the bottoms of their pants tucked into their socks.  Be told these are the thugs of Cork and that they are to be avoided. 

6. Wake up to this every morning: 

Dia duit!

Conas atá tú?

Confused?  I would be too.  The language I'm speaking in in Irish, a Celtic dialect.  I'm taking classes over here to learn the basics of the language, it's very difficult but enjoyable.  The title of this blog "dia duit" means 'hello', and translates literally into 'May God bless you'.  "Conas atá tú?" means 'how are you?'.  I thought that whenever I blog I could include a little bit of what I've been learning.  I'm getting tons of information on the Irish culture, identity, history and language every day, and as a representative of our big Irish clan, I figure it's my job to keep you all educated too.  I'll conclude this small lesson by teaching you the responses to both of the phrases I used earlier.  A typical greeting would look like this:

Hello!
Dia Duit!  (May god bless you)
dee-ah dwit 


Hello.
Dia is Muire duit. (May God and [The Virgin] Mary bless you)
dee-ah is Mwir-ah dwit 

How are you?
Conas atá tú?
kunas ah-taaw two 


I'm well.
Tá mé go maith.
taaw may guh mah 
-or-
I'm not so well.
Nil mé go maith.
kneel may guh mah 


The pronunciations are weird, aren't they?  Whenever he has us speak out loud I always catch myself speaking with a French accent, which isn't entirely inappropriate since the language is so guttural.  Anyways!  Go forth and speak Irish.  Here are some more pictures of town and campus.

 O'Coneills has the best hot chocolate in town!  (Seriously, it's liquid Hershey's) 

Ireland!

I'm back after a very long hiatus!  Ironic that my last post was about Halloween, a holiday we got from the Irish.  I'm going to talk about what I've done so far through the pictures I've taken.

 I was lucky enough to see a rainbow on my first day in Cork! 

This is the walk into downtown Cork from the university and where I'm living. 

Downtown Cork.  I've heard that when the drunken Irish are feeling particularly boisterous they like to jump in the fountain on the right. 

As you can see from all of these pictures, it has been rainy most days in Cork.  The natives call it "The Wet" and it really is wet ALL THE TIME.  I feel like I live in a puddle.  I love it here but the constant dampness is definitely something I'm going to have to get used to.  

We were treated to a very nice dinner at this place (I already forget the name) and the weather was beautiful for about 3 hours!!  Which was lucky because this place was full of photo-ops. 

This one's for Mom.  Yes, all the flowers were real. 

This is the only picture of campus that I've taken so far, but there will be more to come!  Half of the buildings look like Hogwarts and the other half look super modern, it's a very cool place.  

I love and miss everyone!! I am however having a great time here and hope to have lots more stories to tell! 

Boo Boo says the Ghost!

My mother requested that I blog, so, here we are.    I've been really busy lately between classes, working out and general fabulousness (I kid, I kid).  Next week I have tests in all 3 of my psych classes in two days.  Fun times.  I'll include some pictures of me in my Halloween costumes after this weekend, I wish all of you a fun weekend and a safe Halloween.

Happy Halloween, all. 

 

Climbing Mountains

       It is Monday, I am tired.  I think I echo the thoughts of everyone on campus when I say that school is really starting to kick in and the back to school fun is fading away.  I had a test this morning on international relations theory/philosophy, and then at 12:30 I have a social psych test and then a quiz on research design right after that.  Tonight I have practice.  Tomorrow I have a softball recruit spending the night with me and then she's following me around all day Wednesday.  I have practice Friday, Saturday and Sunday and Allie is coming to visit this weekend as well.  Big week!
       Although it will be tiring, I enter this week with the knowledge that I can climb mountains.  I mean this literally, as last Saturday the softball team did a team building activity which involved hiking a 3.5 mile trail up and down a mountain (in comparison to most mountains, however, this was a hill) while tied to each other by the wrist.  We were in teams of four and were given one gallon of water and one 5 lb medicine ball per team.  We were also given a map of the path we were supposed to follow and were allowed to bring one cellphone just in case.  It took us about an hour to finish, we ran whenever it was possible and I think I almost sprained my ankle about a hundred times on rocks and roots.  The best part of the whole trip was that it was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining and I got to have a really cool adventure with three of my teammates.  I was completely exhausted afterwards but it was very worth it.

That's my story for today!  I'll check back sometime next week probably.

I'm Back!

I guess since I'm at college, I should start these "Corinne at College" blog posts again!  I've officially been here for one week now and I'm loving it.  It has been wonderful seeing all my friends and even acquaintances again as well as starting class (shocking, I know) and softball.  This past week really has been a whirlwind, it feels like I've been here a month already.  Let me break some things down for you all list-style so I can touch on all the things I've been up to.  I'll include some pictures so you don't get too bored!

1.  My room
I live in a "quad" this year with three other girls.  This consists of two doubles connected by a common room.  The girl that lives with me is named Carly and the girls across the common room are named Kayla and Catherine.  We all met last year because we lived in the same building and have been good friends since early on.

This is the best picture I could find of all of my suite mates and I, along with a few other characters.  Carly is on the bottom left, Kayla in the middle and Catherine is above Carly on the left. 

Carly, my roommate, and I

The common room 

Carly and my bedroom 

2. Classes 
This semester is all about psychology for me.  I'm taking Social Psych three times a week, Psychopathology twice a week and Psych 201 which is basically research design and statistics twice a week with a 3 hour lab on Wednesdays.  Psych 201 is supposedly the "make it or break it" course for psych majors, I have to pass it in order to be allowed to declare psychology as a major.  It's a bit daunting but I plan on working hard.  The fourth class I'm taking is introduction to International Relations (IR) which I have three times a week.  My classes have been mostly introductions and syllabus review so far, so I'll have to check back later in the month to let you all know more about what they all entail.  From what I can tell right now I'll be doing a lot of reading!!!

3. Softball 

I had my first fall season practice this morning and it went really well!  We started off with the notorious 2 mile run, which I did better on than my first time last year.  It was a really slow practice because we have (deep breath) 10 freshmen on the team this year.  Yeah, you heard me, 10.  Soooo we spent the day teaching them the typical practice routine, making sure they knew where to get equipment and teaching them what they can expect for the next month.  I had a bit of a culture shock myself when Coach put me at 2nd today, a position I haven't played for about a year.  I spent all last season in the outfield, this was the first time my feet had touched dirt in many months.  It was fun, I fell right back into the infield groove.  What's really bizarre for me and the rest of the 7 returners on campus this year (3 girls are currently abroad in England) is how different the team feels without the 7 seniors who graduated last year.  Having such a different team will take some getting used to but I'm very optimistic for our future!

I think that's plenty for now.  I will try to update this at least as much as I did last year, keep checking back for more stories!  I love and miss you all so much!

- Corinne

Championships!

Well, this is it!  The Red Devils softball team is going to champs, and with the top seed!  We also get to host the tournament since we finished in first place for the season. I'm out of my mind excited, I'm so thankful to be a part of such an amazing team.  We finished with a 12-4 record and were undefeated at home, already a huge accomplishment in itself.  The teams joining us in the finals are #2 ranked Muhlenberg, #3 ranked Washington College and #4 ranked Ursinus.  We play Ursinus at noon tomorrow, and then play one more game later that day.  If all goes according to plan we'll play at least 2 more games on Sunday as well.  Please cheer for us from Maryland!!! Go Devils!

CLICK HERE to see the article on our website and to get a better explanation of how the tournament works