Cork, Sweet Cork

Over the past four months, this blog has been filled with photographs from my travels all around Europe. However, I feel like I never got around to posting (or even photographing) too many photos around Cork City, except for this handful of posts and some snaps on Instagram. When you live somewhere for four months, I think it becomes easy to think of the place as "home" rather than as a destination or vacation. Once a place becomes familiar, there is no longer the same compulsion to constantly take pictures that exists (at least for me) when I am visiting a new place.

Even living in LA, I tend to photograph places that are "new and exciting" and have failed to document simple places like my favorite spots around the city, areas on campus, or even my current apartment (side note: once I am finished decorating, I will definitely make an effort to post some photos! :)). So, during my last week in Cork City, I made a conscious effort to take photos of our usual stomping grounds. The photographs above are my favorite places in the city—places that Andrew and I would visit almost every single day. Especially The Bookshelf...I can't tell you how much we loved The Bookshelf.

Cork was such a cool city to live for four months. While it wasn't the prettiest city, it definitely had a lot of character and there were new places to discover every day. Andrew and I have made a promise to each other that, one day, we will return to our Cork, sweet Cork :)

Shandon Bells

Andrew managed to capture my intense focus while ringing the church bells quite well...

On a lazy Sunday morning, we decided to take a walk around town and visit St. Anne's Church, known for its Shandon Bells and 360-degree views of Cork. For a small fee, we were able to climb up to the top of the church unattended, and take in the wonderful view. Some parts of the climb were actually pretty terrifying (example: at one point we had to duck under wood paneling and climb up a rickety ladder in the small bell tower filled with live birds and plenty of their poop haha), but the view at the end made the whole climb worth it. I was especially proud of Andrew for making it to the top, since he has a strange fear of birds as well as heights :)

sending love to all my friends and family back home! (and in other parts of Europe...) MWAH!

Catching Up

{What I'm Wearing: Top—Anthropologie "Tulip Lace Shell" (remixed), Dress (under lace)—Old Navy,

Denim Jacket—Heritage 1981, Belt—Nordstrom, Earrings—Anthropologie (shop)}

I'm back from Italy and finally reunited with my laptop! I had originally planned to take it with me on the trip, but plans changed when I realized I was over weight on my carry on and sacrifices had to be made! Fortunately, the 600 pictures I took on my camera made it safely back to Ireland and are now uploaded on my computer waiting to be posted (when I finally have some down time...).

As for this post, these pictures were taken in Cork right before we left for Italy. Andrew and I hiked up a super steep hill off the city centre and there was a gorgeous view of the whole town waiting for us at the top.

P.S. I'm headed to Dublin tomorrow for our first of two study abroad orientations, but I can't wait to be back in Cork to start exploring more of the city!

Exploring the University

{What I'm Wearing: Blouse—Ruche (shop), Skirt—Target (shop), Tights—HUE, Handbag—Fossil (shop), Boots—Nordstrom BP}

After taking a couple days to settle into our new apartment, Andrew and I decided to explore the actual university we will be studying at for the fall semester. It's a mile and a half from our apartment, which means I'll be walking about a half hour to classes everyday. Good thing going to school in LA has prepped me for long walks to class! Plus, walking to campus (as well as pretty much everywhere else) gives me an excuse to not actually exercise...which is always a good thing in my book :) The campus is really beautiful and has a ton of historic buildings. It's also built on the side of a river, and we were able to take a nice walk down by the banks after we toured the campus.

Overall, these past few days have been mainly filled with running errands, getting comfortable in our new place, and doing a bit of exploring. We'll be leaving for Dublin tomorrow and then flying out to Italy for a week before we head back for our study abroad orientation. I'll have my laptop, so I'm hoping to be able to update a few times in the next week! UPDATE 9/5: I will actually not be bringing my laptop (due to a certain European airline's crazy weight restrictions) so I'll be back in about a week and a half!

Until next time,

Melina ♥