Part 2: The Apartment

Here's a bit of a photo tour of my apartment. Some changes have been made since these pictures were taken (for example, I have added a large map of Ireland to one wall and my bedding is different) but they should give you a basic idea of where I am living this year.

Having lived in some pretty grim "student housing" situations in the past, I wasn't exactly holding my breath in eager anticipation when I first walked out of the elevator and down the (really really really long) hall to my fourth-floor apartment in Cork. I always figured that no matter how bad, I could always endure it for a year. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by the accommodations and I am glad that my year-long residence will be nicer than what I was prepared to deal with.

I live in an apartment that consists of four bedrooms along a hallway and a large combination sitting room/kitchen. We have a washer/dryer in unit (yes, it's the exact same machine for both functions), a television, and two surprisingly comfortable couches. There are only two of us living here for now, but our other two roommates should come soon (probably for the regular semester in late September).

Here's the view when you look down the hall to the right after entering our front door.

My room is around the corner to the left of the main hall and at the end of the apartment.

Here's the succession of views as if you were backing into my room...I have a bit of a corridor into the main space.

That door to the left is to my....VERY OWN BATHROOM! I definitely was NOT expecting to have my own bathroom, but I will gladly accept! I've never had my own bathroom before!

Of course, it has its own little Irish idiosyncrasies. For example, the mirror is not directly above the sink but to the side; the sink has the standard separate taps for hot and cold (so no lukewarm water for me!) but the hot tap is slightly out of place, so it's difficult to use it without sloshing water out of the sink into the trash can below; the shower is tiny...you can not get in unless you have both doors open since they each only open about 10 inches wide; no storage: we're talking no shelves, no cabinets, not even counterspace...my toothbrush, toothpaste, hand soap, and washcloth are all precariously balanced about the sink taps.

Continuing down the hall...

This is (obviously) my desk, under one of my THREE windows! Lovely lovely light!

And here's my bed under the largest of my three windows. As I said, my bedding's different now and I added a pillow, but I'm still using my Monsters, Inc. pillowcase!

And my "armoire" directly across from the bed.

And back out the hall and into the common area...
The "settees"...blue velvet-y!

The kitchen/dining room...the little white unit is the combo washer/dryer (seems like a good idea? It's not. But it'll do. Plus, it's not a laundrette so no dragging clothes across the city and no paying!)

Snarky comments aside, the apartment is fantastic. It's about five minutes walk from downtown Cork meaning I'm only five minutes from great live music most every night. It only takes about 20-25 minutes to campus and it's a nice walk up around Saint Finbarre's Cathedral.

I hope the pictures give you a sense of where I'm living for the next year...I'll try and post more pictures of the city and the UCC campus soon.