Wednesday and Thursday I stayed home from class. Wednesday I went down the street to a pharmacy and the woman there helped me get some cold/flu medicine (not too sure if it is really working...) and then picked up a few food items. I still was hungry in the evening though, so I spend over an hour trying to figure out if and how I should order pizza, which I eventually did after my mom said via Skype chat to "Just call them!!!" I got a medium pizza (ham and pineapple), some french fries, and some chicken thingers, for 25 euro. I realized after the fact that that is a lot of money, but I needed food. I'm sure I could have found a better deal (they have these "Meal Deals"...) but I was just worried about how the actual food was going to get here. And then I finally got the food and couldn't even eat that much of it. Good leftovers though.
Thursday....Vegged and then felt okay enough to hang out with Erin for a little bit. Then mentally prepared myself for the 9am class on Friday.
Friday: Couldn't get to sleep due to uncontrollable coughing, so I went to Gaelic class on about 6.5 hours of sleep. Literally half the class was gone and I felt bad for the professor. I made a vow to always go to Friday class, as he actually knows our names and can tell when we're gone. The rest of Friday I spent barricaded in the library reading "Faerie Queene" by Edmund Spencer. We have to read about 200 pages I think, and I got nearly half-way through, but I still have to finish it by Tuesday AND prepare a presentation on it with another girl from my class. That shouldn't be bad though. OH NO! I just realized I also have an essay-test in that class this week too!!!!! AGH MORE STUDYING! And it doesn't help that not only I am I still a little sick, but that today (Sunday) starts off Rag Week (Raise and Give) at UCC. It's supposed to be a charity thing with events and stuff, but basically its an excuse for students to drink all day. I mean I guess they DO raise money, but I hear that "When you're not in class, you go to the pubs." Seems to me that some students don't even do the whole class thing, but I figure I missed enough last week...I need to look at the events schedule and see what stuff I can go to. Friday night I hung out with Erin until after midnight, and we made plans to again go to town the next day!
Saturday: I went down to Erin's apartment around noon (mine is uber-messy, I was gonna clean it this weekend, but with the homework and all it looks like it might have to wait until the week...), and we made had some frozen pizza and ice cream for lunch. Then we walked into town, which is about a half-hour walk. Not bad at all though because it was so SUNNY! It was still rather chilly so I had to wear my hat and scarf, but I much prefer sunny/chilly over rainy/chilly any day. We walked through campus and picked up two Kit-Kat's an a Aero bar (a type of chocolate here) for 2 euro, as we both are turning into candy bar fiends here. We stopped at a store called Sula, right around the corner from the blue McDonalds that I use as my point of reference for downtown, as Erin got a pretty purple dress there the day before. I had been in the store before too. It's a little boutique-y place, REALLY cute clothes. BUT they also had woolen blankets that I hadn't seen the first time I was in there! And they were only 25 euro! AND I GOT ONE AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL!!! Not only is it functional, but also a great item to take back home to remind me of my trip! Then we wandered more, over the river and visited some lovely churches (saw the prettiest stained-glass EVER!!! see picture), took some more pictures, got groceries, and then headed home. We got back around 5 I think, and decided we'd tackle some homework before meeting up to make some pancakes for dinner. And boy, were those pancakes GOOD! I guess the Irish/UK version of pancakes is a little different- more like what we call crepes, but put some butter and "syrup" (they don't have maple syrup here, so the kind I got is basically honey/carmel/sugar sauce) and those bad boys and they are tasty! I couldn't even finish my last one. I was over-sugared. Erin enjoyed hers too, which I was really glad to hear!
Groceries I got for the week: Apples, kiwis, grapes, chunky peanut butter, "Spaghetti O's", frozen fish fillets, cookies, popcorn, and frozen pizzas.
Erin and I parted ways for the evening to return to homework. I read some more "Faerie Queene" which seems never-ending, but then I started getting really lonely again and missing people and thinking about things way too much. Things I was thinking about: How it would be nice to have someone from home to share experiences with here; the Greens House next year and if I really want to live there; the application for the Greens House; if I want to come back to UCC next semester/year/senior year and what that would mean for Greens/friends/GAC; my Mom and Dad coming here in two months; my desire to explore more of Cork and how/when/with whom to do that; my desire to explore more of Ireland and how/when/with whom to do that; Peter leaving at the end of the month and the pressure to find new/more people to do stuff with; friends back at GAC starting spring semester; how much money I am spending despite the fact that I told myself this is the one time in my life that I am allowing myself to spend such money; etc, etc, etc....I think I had been cooped-up inside for too long.
So I texted Peter and we met up in town. I didn't/couldn't drink due to my meds and the pubs were really busy as it was a Saturday night, so we just kinda walked around, which was nice, and I told him about all the stuff I was thinking about after I warned him I might sound like a crazy-person, and he listened which was even nicer. Stopped at the blue McDonalds so I could get a double cheeseburger and fries, then at a doughnut shop (I finally found one in Cork! I have been craving doughnuts!!!), then headed over to Peter's friends' place to chill and enjoy the bounteous feast of unhealthiness before us. (Remember, this was still the same evening as all those pancakes...I like to tell myself that I am just getting the needed calories that I have been depriving my body of over the last few weeks...!)
Peter walked me home even though it was really cold and I told him not to. Then I nagged him for about 5 minutes at the gate to my apartment over how he needed to take the money I was giving him and get a taxi home. When I got up to the room I crashed into bed with my new wool blanket and slept pretty well until about 1pm this afternoon. I am looking forward to eating some more good food today. Here I come cookies!!!
Susan! You are going to have so many great pictures!
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