Having planned since late January/early Feb, Nicole and I took 3h aircoach express ride to Cork. We met Ruiting and Wanyi. Ruiting was my JC classmate and Wanyi was someone I met at the SMSI pre-departure dinner. I'm not close to both Ruiting and Wanyi and it was Nicole's first time of meeting them! So glad we all managed to hit off and had a good time. 

We walked through their "grafton street"... Which gave Ruiting and I some time to update each other about school and about relationship and about life. First stop was the English Market. It was a mix of London's Covent Garden and Borough Market. We tried this huge oyster which only cost us €1.20 each! It was so good. Although it was hard to chew because of th braces, the oyster was fantastic. It was succulent and the seafood taste/smell wasn't too pungentz even Nicole who doesn't take oyster said it was good. It was really good.

2nd stop was the Asian mart. As students studying abroad, Asian marts are very important to us! Unlike the UK kids, Ireland is very NOT cosmopolitan and has v little external influences hence we don't have Chinatown or anything. Thank goodness I stay in Dublin, we have several Asian mart and they are relatively well stocked. The one in cork is a bit small indeed. 

3rd stop was lunch stop! We had lunch at this cafe and it was awesome. Having not ate atas food for awhile, it tasted like heaven. I had a smoked salmon roulade with sourdough and wild rocket side salad... It was a house special sandwich and it was yummy! (: We discussed Ireland, our respective school cultures and smsi over lunch. Oh and this cafe had a pretty toilet which made me happy! 

Because it was only a day trip there, it was between Blarney Stone or UCC. We decided to go to UCC. On the way there, we talked about JC and high school lives and Ruiting insists that I need some matchmaking in my life. Haiyo, all the people who want to do matchmaking in my life... Pls queue up, thanks! 4th stop was UCC. Apparently, UCC was once a palace and was restored into the university it is now! One attraction of the campus is the chapel. The chapel has witness the marriage of many UCC graduate couples! Another attraction is their exam hall names Aula Maxima. It is a large royal drawing room. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling... Imagine taking an exam and the only light sources are those high up windows and high chandeliers, it would be so straining for one's eyes!! Wanyi mentioned how she had difficulty taking her paper oh well haha. And there's a beautiful lawn in the quadrangle. Legend has it that no one should step foot on the lawn (or the intersecting pathways) if not you'll fail and not graduate. So can only walk the pathways after graduating! It is said that the pathways are clear because it leads one from the result room to the president's office. Thus, failures to promote will run across the lawn to beg the president to let them pass! UCC is really pretty with the old buildings and a river+bridge at its gate. We also saw an old servants' squatter. The door is only about my height? Maybe I was a squire in my previous previous previous 1500s life? Hahah just kidding. 

5th stop was O'Connail's cafe. We had superb hot chocolates! I chose a white+milk+dark chocolate hot chocolate. It was grand and they gave everyone a small cup of chocolate chips to go along with the hot chocolate. The cakes were pretty good as well. Wanyi took out two boxes of food: one box of sweet potato rice one box of nian gao. They were having potluck that evening so Wanyi stayed up till 3am the night before to prepare the food since she was busy entertaining us in the day! And also thoughtfully prepared another portion for us cause I said I wanted to try her cooking! Super touched, really. 

Thereafter, they showed us the way out and they left because they had the potluck to go to. But that was enough. I had a day of fun! They were so warm in welcoming us and sincerely bringing us around and telling us everything: what good hosts! 

I'm glad I decided to make a trip to Cork afterall (: