Saturday, January 24, 2009

Gold mosaics and ugly dresses

I slept late this morning, and woke to more blue (ish) skies. Even though there were clouds, they didn't seem imminently threatening, and the ground, for once, was dry. I walked all the way to the bus station in City Center, this time without getting lost once. Now, I'm not sure how I ever got lost in the first place. It's a straight shot to the school, down Washington Street, across the big walking area, then down a busy street until you hit a bridge, hang a left and you're there. I guess I'm learning my way around. It seems much less complicated now than it used to.

It says something about Ireland that most of my major landmarks in Cork are churches. St. Mary's, St. Augustine, St. Francis, Church of the Holy Spirit, Honan Chapel, two big ones I've never been inside... then you've got the two Tesco's (Wal-Marts, essentially), St. Patrick's Quay (a great big shopping area), the police station, the bus station, and that one little indoor mall with the Quizno's and coffee shop upstairs... Sorry, now I'm rambling. Suffice it to say that I can generally find my way home, at the very least.

Anyway, after meeting Kristina today, we were stopped by an Amnesty International guy who wanted us to sign petitions relating to the breaking of the Geneva Convention in Gaza, which we did. We got cheap food at Burger King, using a couple of coupons (provided by Kristina's host mom, for which I am grateful.) Then we spent like 2 hours in TK Maxx (not a misspelling. The logo looks exactly like TJ Maxx's, except with a K) trying on ugly dresses for the fun of it, which was very entertaining. There was one that we dubbed the Rose Horror, which was nigh impossible to put on for some reason, and had the amazing ability to reduce any existing cleavage to nothing. The price had been reduced about 130 euros from its original... and I can see why no one has yet bought the thing. It was pretty awful. But very amusing. :D

Kristina showed me St. Francis Church, which is absolutely gorgeous. Like St. Mark's in Venice, it had a great deal of gold mosaic, but somehow also simple and restrained. It was breathtaking.

After we left, it started pouring down rain, and Kristina went one way to go back to her host family in Carrigaline, and I set out another to head back to Farranlea Hall. I was positively drenched by the time I got in. But now, all is well and dry, and I need to go make myself some dinner. Cheers!

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