NUI Galway

I feel it's time for the obligatory school post.

Classes have been on for just over a week now and so far things don't seem too different from the states. We even use blackboard (an academic website used for hosting information about your various courses), just like at Tufts. A major difference is that I'll be taking 6 courses here, which is considered a full course load by NUIG standards. Unfortunately this translates into Tufts making my life difficult and only giving me half a credit for each.  At the moment my courseload is as such:

Marketing and Media Communications

Brand Management

European Economy

Economics of Technological Change

Intro to Financial Econ

Economics of Financial Markets

One of those (brand management) is subject to change because at the moment Tufts will not approve it for credit towards my Communications and Media Studies Minor. We have a two week shopping period so I do not officially register until next week, but classes still move forward in spite of the fact that you can jump in two weeks late. Some of my classmates are taking english seminars which require them to wake up at 4AM to wait in line to register one day this week. Thank God the department of business and econ is soo much easier. The big difference that they tell you about between European and American universities is that European classes come with a reading list sometimes three pages long from which you have to select your reading for the semester. Once again, not in the econ department. We just use textbooks the way that American schools do.

All of my lecturers are Irish which, for the most part, has not proved to be an issue at all. Every now and then I do find myself a bit lost, however.  One of my first days of class I sat there listening to the professor talking about "paytons" over and over again. I kept thinking there must be someone named Peyton that I've just never heard of (I can't imagine Peyton Manning has anything to do with economics) until I heard him start talking about copyrights. Apparently Irish people call patents paytons. Where they get that pronunciation from I will never know. 

My schedule is very do-able so far. The only day that I have classes before 1PM is Monday, which consists of a very painful 9AM.  

One funny observation I made here: when a fire alarm goes off Irish students don't move. And when they do finally move, they move outside the room, but make no attempt to go OUTSIDE outside. Yesterday when one went off during one of my classes noone moved until the professor went out, evaluated the situation, came back in and then told people to go ahead and get out. Once the alarm stopped going off and it was safe to return to the class, half of them never came back in. They either stood outside chatting or left. The lecturer kept thanking those of us who actually came back for the last twenty minutes of the class.

The only painful part of school is the trek there from my accommodations here. It's about a 12-15 minute walk when I'm really determined and involves crossing a rather busy bridge. By nature this bridge is always incredibly windy with cars crossing it at approximately 100kph. The walk is 2km, by google's approximation, but when the weather's fighting against you it feels like a whole lot more. Yesterday we were lucky to have 2 hail storms. I actually think this was the first time I had ever experienced one, and it got quite intense. That's the last time I go out without my waterproof coat.

Today I registered with immigration, so I am no longer an illegal alien in the eyes of the Irish government! The process involved a myriad of paperwork and many sleepless hours on my part. It seems they don't like to make it too easy for us students. It went much more smoothly than I anticipated but it did involve me getting soaking wet. I thought I was lost, because the Irish aren't big on street names, but actually wasn't, but wound up retracing my steps anyway and in the process stepped in many puddles and got splashed by many large trucks. My feet were sopping wet. I didn't really get a chance to actually remove my wet socks and shoes until about 5.5 hours later which made for an unpleasant afternoon, but whose fault is that.  As a result my mission to purchase wellies (rain boots) has been renewed. If only I could find a pair without sparkles on them...

On the bright side two things happened: 1) I got to experience the Galway Marriot Courtyard, when I went in to ask for directions and 2) I had a lovely inaugural experience. The Marriot is lovely and I highly recommend it for your next celtic adventure!

For the inauguration Sam and I were headed to the campus bar for a party that promised news-watching and donuts. Well, had I been able to move past the approx. 500 people in the room I certainly would have enjoyed a donut, but that didn't happen. Instead Sam and I bolted into town and ran into the nearest pub. We each grabbed a pint of cider and cozied up next to the fire just in time to catch Obama's speech. Regardless of your feelings about Obama (or mine, for that matter) there is no denying that the speech was inspiring. I'll admit that I had chills throughout most of it. It was really cool to watch it in an international setting, too.

On that note I will conclude. Next post: my home-stay this past weekend.

Along the river Corrib...

Wednesday morning we woke up bright an early to meet coach buses to take us to our home for the next 4 or so months (the other day I heard someone use the word "fortnight" in a sentence, coolest thing ever). I am living in Gort na Coiribe (pronounced gurt nah kuribah if you want to sound authentic), "self catered" student living accommodations about a 15 minute walk from shop street in Galway center and a 15 minute walk from the University. The name has something to do with the river Corrib (which we are nearby), although I can't remember the exact translation from Irish to English.

This is when I take a moment to apologize to anyone I've ever corrected for referring to the language that the Irish people sometimes speak as Irish. I always assumed the Gaelic was the way to go, but I have since learned that this is not the case. Gaelic can refer to any number of dialects between Ireland, Scotland and Wales, so best to stick with Irish. Also, Irish people will never refer to their accent as a brogue, though some fellows thought it was "neat" when I did.

Back to my accommodations. I'm living in a double room similar to a dorm room in a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath townhouse. The townhouse is 3 levels with a kitchen and living room on the 1st floor. I'm living with my American roommate and the other 3 girls in the house are locals. Irish students attend university for 3 years, generally in the national university closest to their hometown (there are 8 universities total). 3rd level education, or college, is free to Irish residents. Generally the students live in accommodations like mine during the week and pack up and go home on the weekends. This leads to American confusion as to why Irish students go out to the bars on Mondays and Wednesdays, not the norm in the states.

Galway is nothing short of charming. The road that I live on is not so much. It is the major highway that enters into Galway center, and is what I would consider Ireland's equivalent of Long Island's  Jericho Turnpike. Plus side! We live directly across the street from a supermarket/department store hybrid, and there's another one just down the block. No more planning for a week to go to the grocery store. The main grocery store here is Dunnes, but it's more of a Stop 'N Shop combined with Macy*s. Alcohol is only sold until 10 in the evening, though Dunnes is 24 hours. There are no open container laws, and there is no need for brown paper bags. When folks leave the bars they are handed a plastic cup to pour the remainder of their drink into...pretty funny seeing people carrying alcohol out in the open!

As you walk down the road from my accommodations the town gets more and more traditional. In the distance you can see the Galway Cathedral, a very handy landmark for finding your way around. The main road also follows along the river which runs straight through the town. In the spring I believe they stock the river with salmon. The shopping area in the city center is partially closed off to cars. All of the stores are brightly painted and the area is filled with a myriad of restaurants with food from around the world. Of course there are also loads of pubs. Galway is situated on a bay so the air smells salty and there are seagulls flying about. The area is known for its oysters; there is an oyster festival later in the year.

That's all for now, but possibly more later tonight or tomorrow! Leave comments!

In the beginning...

I know I kept telling people that I'd be writing a blog while I was here, so here I am, sticking to my word. I'll try to write these entries about once a week, but hopefully more frequently. For now I'm going to attempt to fit all of my first week into this entry, and maybe I'll be able to get some pictures in too.

When I touched down in Shannon airport on Sunday (approx. 6:10 GMT, or 1:10EST) I met up with several girls from my program who were on my flight over from JFK. We went through customs together, which took almost two hours. I take it Shannon is not used to having  large quantities of folks coming through at 6 in the morning, so customs was highly understaffed. They also apparently aren't quite in the 21st century so their computers are awfully slow. Customs officials don't have real regulations on what information they need from you before you enter, and my official seemed to want a lot of info. This man now knows way to much about my family. In the end he was very friendly, called me "beautiful" (he was like 60, dad and Pat) and said "welcome home" when he heard that I had ancestors from IE.

We took a bus down to Limerick which was a bit of an adventure. The bus driver was super quirky and did everything he could to fit approx. 30 students and all of their luggage onto the bus he was driving (Bus Éirann, for those who are familiar with the system). The ride was about 20 minutes to Limerick, give or take, and helped me to make some discoveries about the irish:

1. They LOVE traffic circles, even more than Massachusetts (google tells me they're called "Bay Staters")...I think it's because it keeps them from having to slow down EVER, which leads me to...

2. They will almost always drive inappropriately fast, even on extremely narrow, rural roads.

3. They don't really have traffic (although I cannot vouch for Dublin yet)

When we made it to  Limerick we still had a walk to the hotel. Most people took a taxi cab, but myself and a few other girls were cheap and walked. Let me just say, I got my work out on Sunday. 75 pounds worth of luggage pulled about 3/4 of a mile was sufficient to last me a few weeks. The hotel we stayed in in Limerick was called Jury's Inn, a chain over here. It was right on the river Shannon and pretty much in the heart of Limerick. I met my roommate Sam, who is also my roommate in my permanent accommodation in Galway. 

We got to explore Limerick over the next couple of days. It was exhausting because we were all adjusting to the time change but they had us up around 8 every morning. I later found out that Limerick has historically been referred to as a "stab city", generally not the nicest area. Now a days its reputation is changing and it's definitely safe to walk around at night, but Galway is definitely a step up from Limerick. Limerick has been in the news lately because it is the home of the Dell factory. I believe they just announced that they are laying off 1900 people due to the recession (as one local told me "in a country of only 4 million, 1900 people is huge"). 

During our time in Limerick our Program took us up to the Cliffs of Moher (this is geographically counterintuitive because the Cliffs are much closer to Galway than Limerick). The cliffs were absolutely beautiful, and it was great to see them on a really clear day. Unfortunately some of the pictures are a little dark because we got there in the late afternoon and the sun was pretty low in the sky. I'll try to spare you of those.

Our first night in Limerick we went out to a pub named Dolan's. Our program had recommended it so unfortunately there was a group of about 25 American students sitting in a very locals-oriented bar. One of the guys even had them turn on the Eagles game (yes, Hayley and Pat, I watched a game from Ireland). It was a little embarrassing to seem so American but they had great live traditional music so it was a good time. 

I'll stop there for now and make my next post about Galway.