Well hello all! So this is my blog about my experience in Cork, Ireland at the University there. Just an advance warning- I'm not sure how much I'll update this (those who know me know I'm easily distracted), but I'll do my best.
So from the beginning! (But mostly just a summary.)
After many days of packing and multiple changes as to what I was bringing, my parentals drove me to Newark to catch my flight where we then waited in the longest check-in line EVER. People were legit yelling at each other! Finally I made it to Security where I said goodbye to my parents and continued on alone. So sad :-( I met a bunch of people from my program as we were loading onto the plane, which was really great…I realized I would actually have friends on this trip lol. The flight to Dublin was about 6.5 hours, but I slept though most of it so it seemed pretty short to me! The people from IFSA Butler met us outside customs where we waited for a little while for the bus to take us to Cork. I found out that one of the girls on my trip knows one of my good friends from home as they both go to UConn. Oh coincidence!
Finally we got on the bus to Cork and I immediately passed out again…no sleep really doesn’t agree with me. 3(?) hours later we arrived at The River Lee Hotel in the center of Cork. It was so nice! I roomed with a really cool girl, Danielle, and we relaxed for a couple hours while watching Irish TV and commenting on the strangeness of it. There’s an Irish Deal or No Deal, except it makes absolutely no sense. We couldn’t figure out how or why this adorable old lady was getting the money—it was very entertaining. I watched a little hurling too. Danny, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry but hurling is very strange…I had NO idea what was going on. After a fabulous dinner in the hotel (which obviously included lots of potatoes) a couple of us went out to wander to downtown Cork. We ended up getting rather lost but it was fun because we saw a lot more of Cork than we would have had we just stuck to the main road. Once we finally made it back to a familiar neighborhood (“Head for the courthouse!”) we were all far too tired to go to a pub and decided it was time for bed—it was 8:30pm, just by the way.
The next day we moved in to our apartments on campus. I’m in Victoria Lodge, which is about 10 minutes from the main campus. All of my roommates are from Quinnipiac University—there’s a huge group from there living all around us—and my apartment is fantastic! I’m in a single with my own bathroom, and it’s actually pretty big. We didn’t have any time to unpack, though, before our group trekked the 25 min to the city center to buy necessities. I got a phone (for you Irish peoples, my number is 085 8199893) and a duck hamper. It’s yellow with duck feet and wings and a cover that’s an adorable head! I think that may be one of my favorite things I own…I’m taking it home even if I have to leave other things behind or carry it on the plane. Fo realz. By the time we finished shopping all of the stores had closed, including the grocery, so I made do with Subway for that first night. Funny story- since I hadn't gone shopping yet I had nothing...including toilet paper. So in possibly the sketchiest moment of my life, I stole the extra toilet paper (the whole roll!) from the Subway. Seriously. Yet probably the most unfortunate part of the day wass that I did not have internet in my room because (so I believed) I needed an Ethernet cable. I was panicking a little bit as I was completely alone because I didn’t know where anyone lived and I didn’t have phone numbers yet, until one of my roommates kindly informed my that the complex common room had free wireless. I spent a long time there updating people and chatting a bit; basically I just wanted to be connected to the world and people I knew. I finally went to bed as I had orientation early the next morning.
AAAAAAND THEN I almost missed orientation anyway. My alarm did go off, but it was set to silent—that was rather useless. I did make it, though I had to speed walk down the street and I had no idea where I was going. It was over 3 hours long and while there was some useful info much of it was repetitive and I was really tired and hungry. I do really want to take Intro to Irish, where I’ll learn what some of the street signs actually mean lol. Since Irish is technically the official language of Ireland according to their Constitution, everything is written in both English and Irish. It’s such a beautiful language; I hope I’ll get to learn at least basic phrases. We have a 2 week “shopping period” to choose our classes before we officially register…it’s a little strange not knowing what I’ll be taking. And in order to figure out which courses fit in my schedule I had to go through one of the most complicated processes ever. Basically there is a dropdown list of subjects that you can choose from, then the semester, then choose the day, then the time; from here a timetable comes up and you have to find the number that corresponds to the class. This wouldn’t be too difficult if the subject heading the classes were under were the same as on the list we were given earlier—essentially I had to search through all of the subjects to find a few classes because they weren’t in the “right” place. Also, classes aren’t always at the same time each day and they aren’t Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs like at Bowdoin—I have some that are Tues/Fri or Mon/Tues/Wed. It makes planning anything very, very difficult. Like 4 hours worth of searching difficult (though I must admit I was on Cracked.com for some of that). But I finally figured it out, I think: I’m taking Bioinformatics, Biochemical Immunology, Intro to Irish Gaelic, Archaeology of Ireland, and Folklore of Ireland.
I did finally figure out my internet problem—I need to get my computer registered not just with UCC, but with Victoria Lodge as well. That happens tomorrow night, meaning I won’t have internet in my room until Mon or Tues. For now I’m using the internet in the complex common room that trickles into my common room and only works in one corner lol. I started cooking as well- pasta for the next couple days…what a win!! Rebecca, Rafa, and I are planning to make cookies later then go check out the Athletic complex…mainly the rugby team because they practice at night. Then, perhaps, a pub! I haven’t been out for a pint yet, but I plan to remedy that. Especially since today is “Women’s Christmas”…I have no idea what that is, actually. I think I’m finally getting settled here, even though I still miss everyone from back home.
P.S. Pictures will come soon, I promise.
Slán go fóill! (Goodbye until later!)
No comments:
Post a Comment