It's my second week of classes and they have been continuing to go well. They are still a lot different from Quinnipiac, and we get assigned a lot more readings than we do at home. I didn't have class on Wednesday, so I took a bus to Kinsale, a shore town, for the day. I went with two friends, Sarah and Emily. We took the 11:05 bus and the bus ride there was about 35 minutes. The town was right on the water, comparable to Newport. Unfortunately, it actually has a lot in common with Newport in that a lot of the town is closed in the off-season, and it's really quiet as well. We were told that a lot more places are open and there's more to do after March when it starts to get a little bit warmer. There's a harbour cruise that sounded like a good thing to do that starts back up in March, so we may go back and try that out. We went out for lunch to Jim Edwards Restaurant, a place that a local store owner recommended to us. I finally had fish and chips, which are apparently a big deal here, and they were so good. It was a giant portion and was served with mushy peas and a side salad. I guess mushy peas are also more common, even though I can't say I was a fan. We walked around the town after that, and there was even a cute farmer's market with different breads, and an olive station. Luckily, we picked a sunny day to visit, so being by the water was really nice. It was similar to our Cobh visit, but I actually liked the train ride to Cobh better than the bus ride to Kinsale, but both were just nice to be by the water. We took a long walk out to Charles Fort, which is one of the few suriving forts from the 17th century. We had read about this previously, and it was one of the most well-known attractions in Kinsale. We learned that it was used for military use until 1922. The view the whole way to Charles Fort was incredible. It was all along the water and we were able to see the harbour and land in the distance. We also walked all along different houses that mostly all had gates and passcodes to enter; it was definitely a wealthier area. We passed a yacht club as well. What also stood out was how modern the homes were. They were very different; some houses were one long house, yet two different colors since they would be split between what I assumed were two families. On our long walk over, a dog started following us for almost the whole walk there, so I guess we made a new friend. The fort was cool to see and we had such nice scenery views from it. We ended up walking a little over 8 miles. After our visit to the fort, we headed back toward the bus to go back to Cork. The bus ride home took about an hour due to traffic, but we got a full day of sun at Kinsale for a little diversion. Back in Cork, we stopped at the Wholy Grain for tea and a little dessert for our walk back in the cold. We will hopefully plan something for the weekend coming up.