Classes, etc.

Soo that Social Psych class I mentioned? We went to the wrong room and missed the whole thing, so we walked over to Tesco's for beers instead. I mean why not?...haha. We each got four or five big cans of different beers and then tasted them all to see which ones we preferred. A lot of the beer here is literally black and looks more like a milkshake than actual beer, but they don't taste too bad. Anyway, we decided Smithwyck's was the way to go.

That night, the boys had a party at their apartment and invited everyone in the three buildings around them, so we met a lot of nice new people, including a girl who is on the rugby team here and who had just flown back from spending her break in Nepal working at an orphanage..so cool. We just chatted and met new people and I finally learned how to play Guitar Hero, however poorly I may have been at it. (Though it did help that I was playing along with a kid who wins contests as a professional GH player...no joke.)

After the party dwindled we took off for town, going to two or three pubs in the rain before calling it quits. We met some kids from Villanova (there are 30 of them here this semester...), including one who's twin brother goes to BC. I also saw a delivery truck outside Dominos and ended up being handed a pile of raw dough. Sweet.

Tuesday was my first real day of classes. My first one was called "Problems in the History of Ireland, 1580-1700" or something along those lines. I wanted to take at least one Irish history course while I'm here, and this one seems fine enough. The prof is a cute, bald Irish guy who seems nice and very welcoming. It also doesn't hurt that Jim, Molly and Meg are in it as well.

After class we grabbed lunch, and then I almost got hit by a van since I was looking the wrong way when crossing the street(since the cars drive on the wrong side of the street here...duh, Caroline). I tried out a class called simply "The Habsberg Empire", which I quickly decided was not for me. However, the professor was hilarious looking. He is almost seven feet tall, bald, with glasses, and was wearing tannish-brown pants, a white and red checked shirt, a navy sweater, a tan blazer with red and green details, and to top it all off, a bow tie. I loved it. The next day in class, Meg told me he was wearing the same outfit again, just a different bow tie.

After Habsberg, Molly and I went to the second session of Social Psych, which seems interesting and is taught by a hilarious prof named Todd (an American). We decided against going out, since the weather was horrible and we had early classes the next day, and instead ordered pizza and watched the Discovery Channel for probably three hours. It was great.

That night I was awoken at one am by loud roommates, who kept me up until 3am, at which point the fire alarm in my building was pulled again. Fabulous. I guess thats what we get for living in a residence area with mostly first year students...

Yesterday was supposed to be my day of having classes straight from 9am to 4pm, but my first class at 9 was cancelled, since the prof had a family emergency, and my ten and twelve don't start until next week I found out. That meant that I didn't have class until 2, (whoo hoo!!) so I slept late and then went to campus to check out Societies Day. After wandering through all the tables, I signed up for the International Students Society, the Media Society, the Film Society and the Food and Drink Society. A lot of them seem to have great events planned, including trips to other countries, so I'm excited.

The International Student Society was throwing a bar party that night, so we all signed up to go.

After Health Psych, another interesting class, Molly, Tara and I headed back to change and get ready. We met Molly and Tara's other two roommates finally, and were so happy because they are fabulous. SingWay (thats the way you say it, I have no idea how you spell it) and Charmaine are their names and they are both from Singapore. They had been travelling for 27 hours, so they were exhausted, but still so nice and welcoming.

Around 9 we met up with some Irish boys and then our other guy friends and walked to town. We found the bar where the party was, grabbed a table and ended up having a great time. A lot of times the bars here are so crowded that you can't move and definitely can't get a drink, but this one (since it was rented out by the club) had just the right number of people in it. It was great. After a couple of hours some of us went to another bar, splitting off from the larger group, and finally Meg and I took a cab home along with some delish french fries.

This morning I went to the school where I am going to be student teaching. I only went for about two minutes to introduce myself to the principle, but it seems like a really fun and relaxed place. I can't wait to start. Now I am in the interim between the first and second parts of my English class, and then I am returning home to nap for the rest of the day.

Note: the Irish word for fun is 'craic', pronounced like crack. Don't mistake it in someones conversation for the drug, or you will be entirely freaked out...they use it all the time.

So that's what I leave you with.