Sunday marked the end of my first week here -- that's hard to believe. Last week went by so slowly despite how busy it was. Picking classes has been an ordeal...I want to take courses that will count toward my major and minors, but there are so many modules (that's what they're called here) at UCC that sound interesting. Here's what's on tap for my semester (assuming all goes well at the International Education Office): Trad & Blues, a music class; From Pagans to Christians, a history course that is counting as Celtic Christianity; Aspects of Irish Folklore, an Irish Lit equivalent for visiting students; Intro to Shakespearean Drama, which is (hopefully) going to stand in for Shakespeare at St. Mike's (I can't imagine that not being approved); Intro to Irish History -- self-explanatory, I think; and Intro to Modern Irish, which is a language course on Gaelic (though that's not said here...it's either Irish or Gaeilge [pronounced "gwail-guh," I think] to Irishmen and -women, and if you say Gaelic people know you're American). I had a few classes at the end of the week, but this week is when they really get underway. I'm looking forward to learning the Irish academic system...I've heard about how much it differs from American education.
I've been exploring the town with my new API friends (who are all really great! I'm so lucky!). We've been to some pubs, shopped, tried some food places, taken pictures like tourists, all that jazz. On Saturday, we had our first official API excursion to Blarney and Cobh (pronounced "Cove," and it actually used to be called that, before it was Queenstown and then, later on, Cobh). Our first stop was the Blarney Castle, home, of course, of the Blarney Stone! Naturally, we were all tourist-y and kissed it. It wasn't as epic as I thought it would be, but it's still cool to say I've done it. After that, it really hit me that I'm in Ireland. The grounds of the castle were absolutely beautiful. Have a look at a few of the 300 pictures I took:
Those are all of Blarney. I think the top left one looks like a painting; I can't even explain how lovely it was. The view was incredible and we had great weather for the trip. These next few are from Cobh, the town that welcomed the Titanic as it made its final stop before setting sail. Check out not only the random palm tree-like fauna (I'm used to seeing plants like this in warm places, but they're everywhere here!), but also the rainbow. No leprechauns or pots of gold in sight, unfortunately. That'll have to be another adventure. The picture of the boat was just my attempt at being artsy. I liked that it said "Cork" on the side and I thought the blues were pretty. To the right is a picture of my fellow API kids. We're a group of 12 (our RD is to the left of me): ten girls, two of whom are year students, and two guys. We all get along really well, and the size of the group is perfect. The house picture is something you'd typically see on a postcard; multi-colored neighbors are common here. Apparently, some locals thought it was something all people do...we told them that, no, we don't typically paint our houses whatever color we wish to paint it. I think it's a great idea. It brings so much life to an area.  |
In Cobh, we visited St. Colman's Cathedral, walked down by the water, and explored the Cobh Heritage Centre, where we took "The Queenstown Story" tour. A significant portion of the trip was spent in the gift shop and eating pastries, activities far happier than looking at the names of those who went down with the Titanic and learning about the devastation of The Great Famine.
I've also taken pictures of campus (on Sunday so I didn't have to be a tourist) which I'll put up on a later post about the college. Things certainly are done differently here...and isn't the point of study abroad to experience new-ness? I'll try to take some time in the next few days to fill everyone in on what the campus culture is like.
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