We just started our Early Start Program, which
consists of all international students who move in a month early and for that
first month take only one class, to help us get used to the Irish system of
schooling (which is so different from Loyola – UCC is filled with huge lecture
halls and classes of 200 people), the Irish system of grading (70% or above is
an A, and a 30% is considered passing in most classes), and living in Ireland
in general. My class is Irish Folklore and Ethnology, and basically we learn
about the Irish customs that have to do with eating and marriage and houses and
anything else that has a specific custom attached to it. (For example, if someone
in Ireland invites you in for tea, you are obligated to say yes and accept any
and all food and drink they give you following this acceptance.) On our first
day of class, Molly and Claire and I sat down with the rest of the kids in our
class and waited for our professor. She walked in about five minutes late,
introduced herself, and started introducing the course immediately. Now since
we’re only taking one class right now, we have it from Monday through Thursday,
from 9:00 am until12:30 pm. Except at about 10:20 our professor stopped class
abruptly and said, “I’m ready for my coffee now. Enjoy your tea and scones.
Come back at 11:00, is that alright?” We had literally no idea what to do, but
after she walked out of the room, we all packed up our bags and followed. We
went into one of the dining rooms on campus, and ordered tea and scones. At
11:00, our professor came back into the room and continued to teach, picking up
exactly where she left off. We thought we were the only ones who had this
mysterious tea break in the middle of class, but everyone had done the same. If
any class is two hours or longer, there is a break in the middle, and the
longer the class, the longer the break. It’s definitely been an adjustment getting
used to taking a class with many more people than I am used to, on a new
campus, in an unfamiliar city, in a subject I have never studied, but I must
say having a tea and scones break in the middle of every class is something I can
definitely get used to.
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Week One: "Damn American kids. Happens every year."
Coming out of the airport into the light Irish mist,
I could barely keep myself standing as I made my way across the parking lot to
the waiting bus. We stumbled on and fell into the first seats we saw, most of
us sleeping the whole ride through the country and into Cork, the rest of us
listening to music and making half-hearted attempts at conversation. When we
finally got from the Shannon Airport to Cork, we managed to grab our bags from under
the bus and start making our way toward our apartment building, Leeside Apartments.
As we moved down the street, all of us in a pack, unsure of where to go or what
to do when we got to the building, I walked past a man who muttered (not
entirely under his breath) “Damn American kids. This happens every year. Every.
Year.” I was too tired to even fully comprehend what he had said, and too
excited to see my new apartment to care. After cramming ourselves and our
suitcases into the tiny Leeside elevator, my roommate Casey and I found ourselves
in Apartment 20. With our respective bedrooms pointed out to us and our
suitcases in our rooms, we stood in the living room wondering what we should do
next. First we explored and realized that we did not have any other roommates –
it would just be the two of us living in our apartment this semester. Next we
checked out the views from our living room. We have a wonderful view of the
river and some of the most beautiful churches. We sat down at the kitchen table
next to each other, pulled out our computers, and emailed our parents with much
more enthusiasm and energy than we were feeling. Honestly, after this my memory
gets a little hazy because of all of the jet-lag and the long drive through the
countryside to get to Cork. Though I’m not sure where the time went, Casey and
I soon found ourselves washing up and going to Luigi Malone’s, a restaurant
only a few quays away. A quay (pronounced key) is comparable to a city block,
but each Quay has a name. For example, we live on Bachelor’s Quay. A lot of
buildings don’t have numbers; they are identified by quay. We ate a delicious
dinner with our whole program and our director, Mary Breen, who is already
becoming one of my favorite people in Cork. That was only slightly affected by
the fact that later this week she took us on what she said would be a walk
through the Gap of Dunloe (seen in the picture above) but what actually turned out to be a hike that was
over seven miles, the first half of which was entirely uphill, the second half
of which was downhill, and it couldn’t have been more perfectly timed if we had
tried. Exactly as we reached the top of the hill and started to make our way
down the hill, it started to rain. Welcome to Ireland. All in all, this has
been a great first week, and I can’t wait to see where the rest of this
semester takes me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)