Six and a half years ago, I stepped off a plane with no suitcase from the Emerald City and into the Emerald Isle. My suitcase would arrive a few days later but at that point in time I felt a bit like it: lost. Over the next four months that I would spend in Cork, I would write a blog, make great new friends, get to know the city, travel Europe and find myself feeling a little more confident and independent. Sound familiar? : )
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| One of my first pictures in downtown Cork - Fall 2007 |
My dad, Aaron and I arrived in Cork on Saturday morning. We were greeted by my dad's friend, John Dooley, who had been incredibly kind to me during my study abroad experience.
We first headed to the Jameson Factory where we toured the old distillery and tasted true Irish whiskey. My dad and Aaron volunteered to do a whiskey taste test between Jack Daniels, Jameson and Johnnie Walker (Jameson won!).
Next, we went back to Cork city to watch the Ireland vs England rugby match. I still don't quite understand Rugby, but it was entertaining with a pint of Guinness. We finished the night with dinner at the same restaurant I went to for my 21st birthday, which was a trip down memory lane!
On Sunday, Aaron and I went for a run through my old college, University of Cork College, and down to the building that I used to live in, Victoria Lodge. Nothing had changed since I'd last been there. The college still looked like an old Irish castle, and as we ran I pointed out, the buildings I had classes in, where I got my groceries, telling him stories of all my memories and usual places.
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| Titanic Memorial |
Afterwards, we piled in the car and did a walking tour of the city, Cobh (pronounced Cove), which was the last port that the Titanic left out of. That is, perhaps, what most people know the city for, but there is a lot more history than just that. Annie Moore, who was the first immigrant in the US to pass through Ellis Island in 1892, was from Cork County and has a statue commemorating her in Cobh. During WWI, the RMS Lusitania was hit with a torpedo by a German U-boat while enroute from the US to Liverpool in 1915. The ship sank in 20 minutes and 1,195 people lost their lives. It is mostly due to Irish rescuers and the city of Cobh that 764 people did survive. Fishermen jumped in their boats and paddled out to the wreckage to bring the wounded and drowning to shore. There is a huge memorial in the city of Cobh for the ship, lives lost and Irish fisherman that risked their lives.
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| The dock where passengers stood waiting to board the Titanic |
There is also a Titanic memorial and museum on the dock where the people who were boarding the ship stood. 113 people came aboard the Titanic from Cobh that day, and seven lucky passengers got off, among them a man from Cork who was an avid photographer and took the last known photographs of the crew and people aboard the ship. It was a very neat, small Irish town; full of history.
Next we headed to Kinsale, a small fishing port, where we had an amazing seafood lunch and then walked around Charles Fort. We capped off the night with live music and Guinness at my favorite Irish pub, Reardons. Sunday morning we walked around the Cork Market (similar to Pike Place but more meat and less Seafood) and then we said goodbye.
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| Fort Charles |
I recently re-read some of the posts from the blog I wrote during my study abroad time. My blog was named "Go n'éirí an t-ádh leat" which is Irish for "may luck be and go with you." I'm so glad that I have an account of all the things that I experienced and saw. Reading it is a little bizarre; it's definitely still my writing but different, and I can't really explain how.
On February 21, Aaron and I had officially been in London for four months. It only seems fitting that the next day, I arrived back in Cork the place where I had spent four months of my life a long time ago.
A lot has changed since those six and a half years, but really nothing has changed about Cork. It is me who has changed, and it was nice to come back to the city and feel that same, familiar feeling after all.
It also makes me think that maybe with a little Irish luck we will have that same, familiar feeling when we return back to Seattle after our adventures as Newlyweds Abroad... just a little older, more confident and well-traveled : )
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