Tales from Abroad
Discover Cork!I know, and I apologize. I have
already broken the cardinal rule of writing.
The title is not my own, but the title of a book (that I will read soon)!
I think it is a good title and have used it to title this essay about my
semester in Cork, which in the words of one 4th year UCC student is
the “biggest and best county in Ireland!”
I would have to agree (even if I did not make it to all the counties,
especially County Mayo, which I heard was the best). I really enjoyed my time in Ireland. I had no idea what to expect and quite honestly I don’t
think I could have even located Ireland on a map, let alone Cork (city of
county)! But, I am glad I went.
I just wanted to travel somewhere out of the States, preferably English
speaking and I am a biology/anthropology person.
If there was a program that could cater to my likes, well, perfection
could not be far off from my Regents Semester in Ireland at UCC (don’t worry
there are plenty of other academic programs available; UCC was voted University
of the year in Ireland)! Lucky me, in fact when I stepped off the plane I stepped into what must be as
close to perfection as possible. Now,
I don’t mean to perpetuate the idea of green fields, sheep, and leprechauns,
but there were green fields, a few sheep, and my roommate suspected our lecturer
was at least part leprechaun. For
me this was my first time out of the good USA, and my first time out of Iowa for
any extended period of time. May be
that was it I was finally out of jail (a.k.a. Iowa).
I think no matter where you go the same euphoria may occur, but I am glad
that I choose Cork, Ireland for my first “out of Iowa” experience.
I’m sure I “learned and grew as a person.”
I don’t think this comes from school, but that is why they let you in
the country. It’s the day-to-day
things that are impossible to find anywhere else: watching the hurling finals on
television (of course Cork lost to Kilkenny but whatever, Up Cork!), at a pub on
a Sunday morning, traveling to Dublin and having my bags take a side trip (this
only happened to me, no one else I knew), Saturday morning walks around the
city, traditional music concerts any night of the week, trying to figure out how
six people are going to share two dorm sized fridges, spending two weeks trying
to find street signs and trying to decipher the Cork accent ( I was ecstatic
when I found the Cork radio station, just like home!), trying to figure out how
the buses work, and I could go on forever! So no matter where you are thinking
of studying I hope you consider Cork. It
is grand and you should have a brilliant time!!! Renee Pasker
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