Just so you know, I'm using the website pictures, and so they are unrelated for the most part to my actual entries. My pictures won't be up until I get to Austria, which is Monday. Yesterday morning we took an early bus to Cork, making friends with some people we had to sit with. I played travel-battleship with the kid I sat next to, but I think 4 loud Americans was a little much for him that early in the morning. Once we found our guys and checked into the hostel, we all piled in their little Fiat and drove to Blarney. Everyone picked up random picnic-like items (along with a giant bottle of Smirnoff Ice, Chianti wine, and a pack of Guinness) and had a near-perfect picnic in the park. I say near perfect because there was a stinking bee. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Blarney Castle - we took a flashlight and the six of us crawled through the underground dungeons. The boys thought we were heading into forbidden unchartered territory, but as it turns out locals drink there a lot because there were several beer cans and graffiti once we reached the inner dungeon chamber. I did not kiss the Blarney Stone because I think it's retarded, but everyone else did. On the way out certain unnamed persons dove into the wishing creek and fished out a few Euro (it technically didn't belong to anyone, so we weren't stealing, right? UGLY AMERICANS!!) We walked to dinner at this nice cafe (Shirlea and I shared a huge rack of ribs and some chicken'n'bacon pasta), and then went out to a pub... but I was so tired and out of it from the pain of my blasted feet that I didn't really enjoy myself. Everyone else did, though - great conversation! There is a french guy in our room travelling by himself who told us he doesn't like Ireland, but I think that is because he's travelling alone... because for us it has been more fun the more people there are. The dude snored really loud, too... so Shirlea and I slept with cotton balls in our ears. This morning we got up for Mass at the cathedral not even five minutes from our hostel, and the priest who said Mass was visiting from Belfast. He and the sister who assisted both came to talk to us afterward, asking us to pray for the young people of Ireland. The priest gave us a blessing for our remaining travels, and then came the dumbest thing we have thus far done because the boys insisted... we had lunch at McDonald's!!!!! EWWWWWW! I hated it - I haven't had fast food or pop in over a week, but it feels longer and I felt so gross after eating it. The boys left this afternoon to go back to Killarney and took Josh because we couldn't find Shirlea's bus pass. We only have 2 more days before heading back to Dublin and flying out and we were all feelin' some girl-time, so we have been relaxing in the hostel this afternoon and will probably take it easy tonight, although we are throwing around the idea of going dancing. And, praise God, there was a "walking specialist" sports shop down the street from us so I purchased a pair of blister-preventing super support socks. They were expensive, but I'd rather have less money than wobble around like an old lady for the rest of the trip. That's all for now, ta ta!