The Boring Day-to-day Stuff

Woooa. Two posts in one day. I feel like writing, though.
Today is 3 weeks since I left Wee-scan-sin. I honestly feel like I've been here forever. It feels like home in a way...no offense to the fam. It probably helps that the EC group was so big. If I had came by myself, things might be completely different. But I have spent quite a bit of time with my Irish housemates, and I genuinely really like them. They definitely have their loud, drunken, messy moments, but ha...so have I once or twice already! I've also heard far worse stories about Irish roommates from other people I know. My friend Amanda had an Irish roommate who didn't like living with just Americans and was a jerk to them, but he ended up switching houses with our friend Liz.

Well, I think I will now describe highlights from last week, and talk a little bit more about my classes, because I think my parents are probably curious about what they are paying so much money for.

We have lecture and "tutorial" which are like lectures split up in to sections and it is like a discussion panel.

Mondays I have my 2 Sociology classes: irish contemporary issues at 9 and then Social Inequality and Exclusion at 4 PM, which means naptime in between! Irish Contemporary Issues is basically...well...I guess you can tell by the name of it. So far we have discussed how society has changed over time. The lecturer (they are not professors here, but they love American students because calling them that is a promotion) is named Patricia Neville and she is very passionate about the subject.

Social Inequality is pretty self-explanatory too. We are going to be discussing demographics that are typically excluded from having the full rights of the rest of society: homosexuals, the homeless, etc. It is almost just like the class I took last semester at UWEC called Human Behavior and Social Environment, but this will obviously focus on the problems in Ireland. Despite not getting social work credits, I think that these classes will look good on a resume and make me more well-rounded.

Also, I have Irish Folklore. The teacher's name is pronounced Moy-rah. The class is huge and meets in a small lecture hall that is really warm. And it's 2 hrs long. She didn't show up to our tutorial last week when we were supposed to make crosses for St. Brigid's day (Feb 1) but she told our section we could make them this week, because she screwed up and couldn't remember what room we were meeting in. The scheduling system here is way different than Eau Claire. Unlike having MWF Friday classes, you can meet pretty much any day. Like my Contemporary Issues class meets Mondays and Tuesdays, Mondays at 9:00, and Tuesdays at 11:00. And the classes are held in different rooms. I have Social Inequality at 4 PM Monday in 1 room, and then don't have the lecture again till Friday at 9 AM in a different room in the main building.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have Traditional Irish Music. It is learning about the actual music, but at the end of the semester the class is putting on a performance (not a major one, we just have to invite friends) For our tutorials for that one we had to sign up for something: playing/learning an instrument like the tin whistle or flute...singing...or dancing. I signed up for dancing. I figured it was my best shot. I don't want to learn to play an instrument haha, and I'm not much of a singer in public, so dancing it was! We had our first tutorial last week. The tutor is a dance student. I struggled with the first part of the lesson, which involved jumping and switching legs. I can't seem to coordinate my left leg with the rest of my body. Then we tried sidestepping, which I did better with. I had "Hop, two, three! Hop two three" in my head the rest of the day!

We don't have much homework except for preparing answers for the tutorials each week. No major tests except for the finals. A couple essays here and there but nowhere near as much work as at UWEC.

I have been trying to reduce my amount of going out to the clubs and pubs...at least for a little while. Going to the clubs is pricey because some have admission fees and if they are far from campus, then you have to get a taxi. But hey, I'm going to be here for quite awhile yet, so I will still have time to go out and live it up. Last week I went to The Lodge with Kathleen, Colleen, Kaitlyn, Amanda, my roommates Gearoid and Sean, and Colleen's roommate Sean. Sunday is Ladies Night, but we spent so much time pregaming that we missed the cutoff time and had to pay. It was INSANE. The dance floor was insanely crowded and you could hardly dance. I was pushed around...it was like a fight. Skeezy guys were in every direction. Colleen was awesome though at pushing them away, and our guys tried enclosing us in a circle. When we weren't on the dance floor, guys kept coming up to us and talking, or trying to talk, but between the accents and booming music I couldn't hear a thing they were saying and they lost interest. What a shame. I'm sure I lost my potential Gerard Butler that night. I was able to finally figure one guy was asking me "If I fucked off, would that make you happy?" to which I was unsure how to answer. Awwwwkwaaard. So no more Lodge for me.

I do really want to meet a guy. Well, sort of. It'd be fun to have a bit of a fling, but I don't know how it will work when it's time to leave. One of my "goals" despite thinking of it as somewhat of a joke, is to bring an Irish lad back home for my sister's wedding in June. However this will require A) finding a guy who likes me enough to do that and B) finding a guy who has a passport and could afford that.

Ok. I've got a wee bit of a headache, so that is all for today! Goodnight :)