Put a Cork in it

The first leg of the journey was spent in Limerick, Cork, and the countryside leading to Cork. Mom had a wonderful time driving, as the roads here can be more narrow than Poplar Ave at times. There were more than a couple swear words involved. Driving on the left side of the road in the right side of the car is apparently very difficult and disorienting.

Once we got to Limerick safely, the objective was to stay awake as long as possible before crashing for the night. Seeing as we got there in the morning, this was going to be interesting... So we did what we know best: food. 

First Irish drink had to be Guinness. Couldn't have it any other way. Anything else would have been blasphemy. That being said, mom got a pint bottle of Bulmer's Irish cider. That will do, I guess...

Im skipping most of Limerick. It was dull. Sorry!

Before leaving Limerick, we needed breakfast. By staying at a bed n breakfast, we were, of course, with the expectation that there would be breakfast. We were not let down. Full Irish breakfasts all around, consisting of "bacon," sausages, an egg, toast, and two puddings. No, not the sweet kind. Black and white puddings. They are wonderful, delightful little tastes of pork products. 

Upon leaving Limerick, mom was again subjected to horrific driving conditions. So a short journey turned into an excursion. On the plus side, mom will never again complain about the narrowness of roads back in the states... Pretty countryside, though.

En route to Cork, we stopped at a place called Cashel. I know what you're thinking: "Hey, there must be a castle there!" Well you're wrong. There's a cashel. It's not a castle. It is, as a matter of fact, a stone fortress, not Sean Connery's excellently linguistical interpretation of the word. 

Eeehhhhh hehehehe

It started off as a fortress and was eventually given to the Church to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Clever girl...

While at the Cashel, we also visited the local abbey, named Hore Abbey. I've already made jokes about my friends' mothers, so don't start. It was beautiful and uncommercialized. Loved it.

After a quick lunch (haha kidding, it was around 2 hours) and the prettiest sticky toffee pudding I'd ever seen, we left for Cork. At this point, we had accidentally ordered 2 pint bottles of cider each in this pub. I drank my two. Mom needed to drive, so I drank half of her second bottle. I was... Happy at this point. I took a nap in the car on the way to Cork. 

The first night in Cork consisted of us bashing down the front door of the BnB trying to get in. Nobody answered, so we hoofed it across the river to a hotel, where they were more than fine with us calling their competition. They answered, and opened the door. Not the best introduction. The room was nice enough, though. More modern than the BnB in Limerick. The rest of the night passed without incident. We got our grub on at a pizza and nacho joint, went back to the BnB, and slept away the night. And as always, America, stay classy. I'm Cody Murrell.

Let's start again, shall we?

It's a brand new day. A new year. I am no longer a chemical engineering student. I am... A graduate. Bound for greatness. For glory. For student debt.

The powers that be (mom and dad) have seen fit to bequeath upon me for graduation a trip. To Ireland. As I type this I'm actually sitting in a plane seat, having just finished a most quality meal of uhm... "Chicken" and vegetables. And "gourmet" Swiss cheese and crackers. 

At least the caramel brownie was palatable after the complimentary glass of wine. 

Unlike my plane to England last year, there are no individual TVs on the backs of the seats in front of us. So we're stuck watching the illustrious "Into the Woods." Yippee?

The next two weeks consist of Ireland. Mom and dad will be hauling me around to various places around the country. After those two weeks, they're heading back to the states and leaving me to my devices for two more weeks. At this point, I'm heading over to the UK to do a tour there. I'll be hitting Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, and, of course, England. Oxford will be making a return appearance, so you may get to see some of the sites you loved so much last time.

... They just turned the engines up louder. Jerks. 

Once we landed, we hopped off the plane and got the car. Mom has taken up the job as the driver. It's been very stressful for everyone. Sweet ride though.

There and Back Again: A UK Tale by Cody Murrell

I'm back. I'm settled back in America again. I missed a lot: carbonated beer, salty food, and knowing where things are.

That being said, I still have some things to rattle off about my last few days.

After getting back from Scotland, I spent the day relaxing and not doing any work whatsoever. I had finished my tutorial, so I didn't have to do any of that. I did, however, have an annotated bibliography due Friday and The Winter's Tale to read for Tuesday. So I did read some of that.

The next day, a friend I met over there and I went to the King's Arms for lunch after class. I didn't know if I would ever get it again, so I got black pudding. Mostly for myself, but I wanted to gross out my mom as well. It's blood. And pretty good (it gets a bad rep for what's in it!).

 That same day, Sally and Jaime invited me to go punting with them. Punting is the activity of being on a boat and using a long metal pole to push the boat along the body of water. This particular body of water was the Thames River. It's a nice, calm river to punt on. We just had to watch out for other boats and such. It was a nice, sunny day, but the sun disappeared right when I was starting to feel kind of toasty. Perfect.

It was wonderful. A welcome respite from the work I hadn't done at all since getting back from Scotland. 

That night, Dr. Anderson treated us to a last supper of sorts at The Head of the River Pub. There, he delivered a speech modeled after Henry V's St. Crispin's Day speech in Henry V. We, the band of brothers, were all given names by Dr. Anderson. I was the Scottish liberator. I was pleased.

The rest of the week passed by without incident. Nothing crazy happened. I began to wrap things up in Oxford, visiting stores and collecting souvenirs and buying sweets and other things to taste and bring home. It was a nice, calm end to a fantastic 6 weeks. I miss Oxford. I miss Scotland. I miss the food, the beer (even though it's flat!), the sights, and the fact that everything is so old. It hails from another age, an age where we didn't have fancy interwebz or phones or anything. 

Goodbye, Oxford. I will see you again. 

Haggis Part 2

Did I say haggis? I meant Scotland.

The second day in the land of the leprechaun

The second day in the land of the dingo

The second day in the land of the uh... Highland cow?

How very majestic. We'll get to that in a couple pictures. 

And on the second day, Cody woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30 in the morning to make sure he was at the bus stop at 7:20, when the Highland Tour was picking him up. As we drove out of the city, I waved at my previously conquered dirt mount.

 Once we left Edinburgh, we passed by these weird statues. I can't remember what they're called, but it had something to do with seahorses and sculptures. Just 'cuz I can't remember the name of them doesn't mean they lose coolness!

 Stirling Castle. Pretty uneventful so far. Except for the fact that I'm DRIVING THROUGH SCOTLAND

 Doune Castle. This castle is where Monty Python and the Holy Grail's castle scenes were filmed. I wish we could have stopped here, but that stop is on another tour.

 COWS AGAIN! Highland cattle are very fuzzy. I wouldn't mind having one. I thought they were kinda cute.

 Ok folks... Prepare for a barrage of beautiful Scottish Highlands pictures. It was really hard choosing the best ones, but I did my best.

 These next two are the Rannoch Moors. This is apparently where the ending sequences of James Bond's Skyfall was filmed.

 Back to Highlands.

 This'll be my house one day.

 There are glens (valleys) and there are bens (mountains). I got shots of both.

 Glen Coe. "The Valley of Weeping." Some call it that, at least. It's actually the Valley of the River Coe.

 The River Coe.

We arrived at a little pit stop area shortly after Glen Coe, at which point I bought a haggis and brie panini for lunch. I didn't get a picture of the haggis this time...

 Aaaaand we've arrived at Loch Ness. Taking a cruise out on the Loch was so cool.

 This guy is a 3D sonar type deal. We were able to see what was below us. There was another sensor that showed a weird graph based on the size of fish below us. We never saw anything bigger than an arctic char, a breed of fish that is cannibalistic. That's not a great example of evolution, but hey.

 Oh mah gawd! It's the Loch Ness Monster!

 This is the only island in the Loch. Apparently it used to be a lot bigger, before the Loch filled up a bit more.

 3rd bagpiper of the trip! This guy really went to town.

 Blair Castle.

 And this is the end :( this is on my train back to Oxford. It was a straight shot, no getting on other trains. I snapped a picture of the waterside hills as a goodbye shot.