Becoming a Native to Ireland

It is our tenth day in Ireland. We are starting to get used to things even after just a week and a half. We are starting to look the correct way before crossing the street, the advertisements are looking familiar, and we hardly even see the street signs written in Gaelic anymore. Euros feel like normal currency and the accents aren't as jarring. It is amazing how fast a person can adapt.

We left Dingle Wednesday morning to make the drive to Cork. Before leaving we roamed the small town since the sun was shining. Again. Seriously, we leave Socal to get away from the sun and in a country that is known for its rain has sun nearly every day we are here. Regardless of the sunshine, I bought my big souvenir: a raincoat. It was my mission to find a raincoat while here. I was hoping to get some use out of it, but it looks like we brought the sun with us for the entirety of the trip.

The drive from Dingle to Cork

may have been the longest, but it had real highways. Not the little rinky-dink roads made for a horse and wagon. Entering the city centre of Cork was a blast. (Raise sarcasm sign now). It must have been when everyone was getting off work. There were plenty of impatient drivers and impatient bus drivers. It was stressful, but I parked the car without any accidents.

Our current B&B is on a little busy road that is lined with nothing but B&B's. We were greeted at the red front door by Ellen who gave us a rundown of breakfast, the room, parking, and things to do in the city. She is a very friendly and helpful woman who will keep conversation with you as you are walking out the door and halfway down the street.

This B&B is definitely older. It is three stories high and very narrow. Wifi is spotty. It works fine when I am lying in bed, but if I roll over onto my side it disappears. Writing has been difficult and I have to go down to the sitting room near the entrance to get anything accomplished.

In our room, putting pants on in the morning takes some balance as the floor slopes down. But the shower has great pressure and the bed is comfortable. If only we had more than one outlet in the room. It could be better, but it could also be much, much worse.

This morning we requested a Traditional Irish Breakfast from Ellen. It would have been delicious if we hadn't been rushed to eat it. We still had our rental car parked in the street and the meter man could be strolling the street at any minute writing up tickets. Ellen had offered to give us a day ticket for €2, but she was all out this morning. Instead she popped outside to check for the meter man herself. No show yet, but still risky.

We chugged out pot of tea and downed out final bit of egg and white pudding and trotted out the door.

Just as we got to our car we saw the meter man writing up tickets and taking pictures of license plates just a few cars away from ours. Literally, just minutes away from getting a parking ticket! Crisis averted!

Today's main activity was Blarney Castle. We used our student discount to get in (which we keep forgetting to use!) and walked directly to the castle since there was a bus full of

French teenagers on a field trip coming up right behind us.

Our day at the castle was slow and pleasant. We climbed the castle up to the top to kiss the Blarney Stone. Preston did it without hesitation, but I was not so eager. Sure, I would love to kiss the Blarney Stone, but the fact that you have to bend over backwards to do it while hanging over an opening? Not so easy when heights make your hands and feet sweat just when you see them on television.

Even so, I kissed the Blarney Stone and got my picture out of it. Though I think Preston had an easier time reaching the stone since his body is longer. The ground that was supporting the lower half of my body was down past my bum!

I was much happier to get back down on solid ground. We toured the Poison Garden, which is full of poisonous plants, including nightshade and hemlock. There was a walk by a lake that we decided to take to get away from all of the French teenagers taking selfies and yelling at each other. (Teenagers are just as annoying here as they are back home). It was calm and peaceful. We made friends with a swan and tried to make friends with some horses and donkeys, but they were far too busy selecting the finest grass in their meadow. There were daffodil lanes, waterfalls, and moss covered rock formations.

It was just the relaxation we needed before our next daunting task: dropping the manual rental car off at Cork Airport.

Surprisingly, it ended up not being as daunting as expected. More of a pain since we ended up down some MORE narrow roads in search of diesel to fill up before our drop off. In the end, I was able to park a car in a giant lot of rental cars. None of the rental people ever saw me driving. And none of the them need to know that the extent of Preston's driving was stalling in the Galway car park.

Thank god I don't have to drive anymore. Though I am glad we decided to do it because I can say that I drove a

frickin' stick on the left side of the road in Ireland. I guess when Preston and I eventually buy our Jeep together I can teach him how to drive it. All five gears!

From here on out it is just walking and public transportation, which has wifi.

Pretty much all of our souvenirs have been bought after tonight. We bought a couple of books from Waterford bookstore: “Surviving Ireland” to add to the travel section in our bookshelf, and “Harry Potter agus an Órchloch” (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Gaelic) to add to my collection of Harry Potter books.

Tomorrow we will be getting around via foot and Coke Zero bikes We've been building some intense core muscles from all the walking anyways. Good riddance rental car!