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my Irish love, Cork


Happy Saturday! You made it to the weekend! *Cue living room dance party time!* How are you doing? Are you taking time to check-in with yourself and give yourself the care, love, and attention you need? If not, it’s perfectly okay to set aside time for yourself to do whatever you want/need to do during ‘me time.’ Maybe your thing is yoga, meditation, running, paddle boarding, reading, tending to a pallet garden you built, sewing some pillowcases for your home decor, making a dress to match your homemade mask, paddle boarding, refurbishing furniture, or even playing animal crossing with family and friends, but whatever you want to do during your assigned ‘me time,’ make sure you’re doing it and giving yourself a break.

If you didn’t get a chance to read yesterday’s post - “Irish beachy wild women” - you can click here to read all about the crazy things I do with my friends when no one else is around! There’s even a video! Otherwise, buckle up or strap on in and let’s continue this journey together! The next stop is one of my favorite places in Ireland - nay - the entire world. We’re going to Cork, baby!

There will always be a special place in my heart for Dublin as it was where I lived and studied while getting my Masters at Trinity College. It was the perfect place for me to be - settled in Rathmines, walking distance from everything I needed in my immediate surroundings and just a short bus ride to the airport, allowing me to travel with ease all over Europe. That being said, my heart longed to go to Cork with any opportunity and free time I had. Living in Dublin with a student visa and ID, I was able to get a round trip train ticket from Dublin to Cork for about $25. There were some days where I would just wake up early and decide to go to Cork, making sure I caught the train back to Dublin with enough cushion to get back to my flat at a decent time.

I can’t quite tell you what it is about Cork that made me fall in love with it. It wasn’t just me, either. When I would take friends or family to Cork and explain that it was my favorite part of Ireland even though I couldn’t quite put my finger on why, nearly every person understood what I was feeling - even if I couldn’t verbalize it. Cork felt like an Irish city that has held onto its Irishness. I love Dublin and have nothing negative to say about it, but it does have a more international feeling to it. There’s nothing wrong with that at all. It's what makes Dublin great, and it was a beautiful place to live, grow, and learn. I think my love for Cork, however, is rooted in it feeling like home to me from the first moment I stepped off the train.

The first time I went to Cork involved frolicking through fields of moo-cows and planting a smooch on the Blarney Stone with my brother from another mother, C. Budd, which I wrote about before and you can read by clicking here! We also spent some quality time in the heart of Cork, enjoying lunch at the English Market and wandering through the city streets decorated with Christmas cheer. We watched cargo ships sail away and found one of my favorite yarn stores in all of Ireland.

It took me only two months to make it to Cork for the first time (C.Budd and I first went in November), and I visited Cork another handful of times in my year living in Ireland. In an alternate version of the universe I could’ve seen myself living there - that’s how much I love(d) it. We'll be spending time in Cork for the next few blog posts, so get excited! Have you ever lived somewhere new and found another town within striking distance that became your beloved getaway? Let me know! Subscribe in the e-mail submission box below and reach out, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so happy you're here and that I’ve been receiving a lot of really incredible stories, questions, and feedback from a community all over the globe! Other people’s stories that I’ve gotten to read via e-mail, text, tweet, DM, etc. recently bring me such smiles, and I am so grateful for all of it! I hope I get to hear all about whatever stories you’ve been thinking about as we’ve been on this virtual journey together! Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you have any restaurants/eateries/pubs/coffee shops/ice cream joints/theatres/lookout spots you would recommend in other countries or even in your current home town or city, I'm absolutely 100% all ears!! I couldn’t do this without you! So THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, truly, thank you.

Sincerely,

Johny

P.S. - If you want to catch up from the beginning on this series of travel adventures, here's a cheat sheet to the posts (in order in which they were published):

1. Won't you join me?

2. grateful for starbucks and sandymount strand

3. Once Upon a December in the National Gallery

4. plant a smooch for that gift of gab

5. may the 4th be with you: Dingle style

6. cinco de mayo: the best Mexican food in Dublin

7. pizza in roma

8. mussolini’s window and the philosophers’ metro stop

9. father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife

10. it's the vatican, not the vatican't

11. spoiler alert: i did not lose my hand

12. more pizza and gelato and Neptune, oh my

13. craft beer, romper season, and volcano magic

14. bus singalongs and the okey dokey karaoke origin story

15. the beginning of the journey to the land of outlander

16. the boy who lived and the musical rapper

17. oh i just can't wait to be kingggg

18. fudge and haggis, quite the dynamic duo

19. the banshee labyrinth... or, my first time trying buckfast

20. the world's most magical toilet

21. gwyneth paltrow's (improv) sliding doors

22. scottish sombreros and jam, thank you

23. bob seger, a cèilidh, and arthur's seat

24. the next maxim cover girl!! 25. you can vote now!!

26. kindness at… the airport??

27. conversations with strangers and #basic meals

28. aren't gas stations amazing?!

29. not just mac's... supermac's

30. American vs. European Cell Phone Providers

31. brown bread ice cream

32. Black Lives Matter

33. technology and theatre

34. a love of Dublin pizza: Manifesto

35. a love of Dublin pizza: Dublin Pizza Company

36. a love of Dublin pizza: with my dad

37. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness

38. thank you! round 2!

39. a love of Dublin pizza: and every other pizza

40. ahh-oooooh werewolves of london

41. a special london edition nerd alert

42. defying gravity is a WICKED good time

43. that wanker Van Morrison

44. The Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre

45. LA girls love London green juice

46. Super Bowl LII Champs at Wembley

47. champagne fizz and fruity cocktails

48. How-to: DIY Pallet Garden

49. dublin tattoo magic

50. juneteenth

51. thank you! Maxim round 4!

52. dublin bog bodies

53. dún laoghaire ice cream

54. local celeb sighting

55. 13.1 in Dublin

56. thank you! Maxim round 5!

57. every girl likes a bad boy

58. poolbeg lighthouse

59. conflict, bias, and propaganda in belfast

60. bow to your lord mayor

61. HAPPY HAMILTON DAY!!

62. Maxim Cover Girl Quarter-Finals!

63. gulliver's travels in belfast

64. all aboard the HMS Caroline

65. all aboard the RMS Titanic

66. you know nothing, jon snow

67. cave-born shadow babies

68. afraid of heights?

69. giants and their egos

70. the Kingsroad

71. sunsets in Donegal

72. derry dining chains

73. Maxim Cover Girl Semi-Finals!

74. Spontaneity is Key

75. Dear Nana

75. blasket island centre

76. Nana's blue tin cookies

77. a dance lesson in Dublin

78. dublin to Royal Portrush

79. Shane Lowry's Open Championship

80. maxim and Belfast Chinese food

81. Irish beachy wild women

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