What? School?

Hey all!

I'm pretty sure real life just walked back into my world.  Hello.  Nice to see you again.
See, apparently spending a semester abroad entails actually ATTENDING and PASSING university classes. Whoa.  My brain is definitely struggling to re-adjust to the whole concept of thinking... and it's hard.  Not only am I taking 5 upper division classes, but each one meets at a different time, in a different room, with a different teacher EVERY SINGLE DAY.  Ready for a crash course on the Irish education system?
1) Most classes have one lecture a week. One hour of non-stop talking... where taking notes is almost a joke because the pace is basically in hyper-mode.
2) In addition to lecture, science and language classes each have at least one lab a week. I went to my first spanish lab yesterday, and we spent an hour with headphones on, listening to jibberish... or I guess maybe it was spanish. Again in hyper-mode.
3) Almost every class also has 1-3 tutorials a week.  These are classes of 10-20 people from your lecture, lead by yet another teacher.  Basically a discussion sesh.  We were told they don't start until week 2 or 3... which of course means I missed all of the tutorials that conveniently started on week 1.  Awesome.

So basically this last week and a half has been a circus.... I just hope I make it out alive with my GPA still intact.  Wait for an update.

On a more adventuresome note, the ever-so-awesome Erin came allllllllll the way out from Washington to visit this weekend! How cool is she?  Erin, her brother Jeff, Miss Margaret from API, and myself left late Friday afternoon for a weekend on the Aran Islands.  First time Allie played hookie in Ireland? Check.  First time Allie stayed at a hostel? Check.  First time Allie fell off 300-foot cliffs?  Hahahaha... let's hope not.

We took the bus from Limerick to this little costal town called Doolin Friday night.  Oh Doolin.  Such an amazing little gem :) Touristy, yes, but gorgeous and with so much character.  That night, we stayed in the Aille River Hostel... yes, my dyslexia is kicking in too... I swear it says the ALLIE River Hostel.  Almost famous.  Gah.  I fell in love with Ireland all over again once inside the hostel.  So comfy and welcoming.  You know that feeling of just wanting to curl up next to a crackling fire on a dreary night to read a fantasticly wonderful novel while sipping on some chamomile tea? mmmmm... that's the Aille River Hostel.





So many stories in such a plain old guestbook...



Words of Wisdom right there.


Good morning and welcome to Saturday!  Wow... does Ireland look gorgeous in the morning or what?  Goodbye for now, Aille River Hostel.

The next part of our journey took us to the docks of Doolin, where we boarded "The Happy Hooker" for our journey across the sea.  Hmmmmm.  Lets just say we were lucky to come off of that boat dry and with our stomachs slightly intact. 

Inishmore is the biggest of the three Aran Islands, but with only 800 residents, it feels very removed and isolated.  I would live there in a heartbeat.  Don't get me wrong, I'm more of a city girl than most Landerites I know, but a girl's gotta have her small town too!  We spent all afternoon walking along a tiny little road along the coastline... picking wild blackberries, watching for seals, and taking in the rolling hills and pure simplicity of it all.  Eventually our 6 mile-ish walk lead us to one of the most well-preserved Bronze Age fortresses in all of Europe: Dun Aonghasa.  Don't EVEN try to pronounce that.



The edge of the world!

 


Thank you, Google, for this awesome view :)



Taking it all in

Catching a van ride back to our hostel, we met ever-so-lovely Bertie.  Probably gonna marry that man one day.  As we handed him our 5 Euro and hopped out of the van, he assured us we'd see him again at the pub that night, rightfully spending our money on Guinness.  Glad to say he was a man of his word. 

The four of us spent that evening talking to Italian men, cooking a spaghetti dish out of onions, proving Allie is unbeatable in both Checkers AND Chess, and wishing we had some ice cream.  So good.  The morning came too quickly, though, and we made our way back to the mainland and the rest of society.   The last few legs of the trip back were slightly uneventful... saying goodbye to a good friend is always hard.

But oh, what a trip!  While the honeymoon stage begins to wear off, and I can feel myself heading into the "culture shock slump" I'm still so in love with this adventure and am taking in every last second.  My camera memory card is full, my friends are plenty, and as they say in Ireland, it's all a good craic!  (not to be confused with the American crack... Irish craic is actually NOT a drug, but rather a word for great fun and good times....)