Wednesday, September 7, 2011

One week down...

Today officially begins my 2nd week in Galway! As expected, I neglected this blog before it even began. In my defense, the last 7.5 days have been an absolute whirlwind!

In the interest of keeping your attention and finishing this post sometime before 2012, I won't go into much more detail (sorry, it hasn't been terribly exciting yet). But I arrived last Tuesday after a semi-interesting but mostly uneventful red eye flight from JFK. Last week was filled mainly with orientation, settling into my apartment, getting to know the other 14 students in my API group, finding my way around town, learning how to count change in Euros, and taking all the touristy photos I could before the NUIG students arrived. On Saturday, a few of the girls and I decided to take a stroll down the old Long Walk to the Salthill Prom (on a fine soft day-i-ay.....already getting sick of that song) but most of us accidentally turned around before we actually arrived at Salthill (oops). I also spent Sunday handing out energy gels and directing foot traffic at the Ironman triathlon down near Galway Bay and I got a sweet yellow shirt out of it.....GEL-OUS?? (I know how much you all miss my puns...)

This week saw the start of classes (blech). I kind of forgot I had to go to school too but so far, I think I'll enjoy the majority of my lectures. The next two weeks are kind of a try-out where you go to the first lecture or two to see if you like it and then registration is due on the 17th. I'm currently (planning on) taking:
- The Two Irelands in the 20th Century (about the separation of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland)
- The English Language in Ireland
- Contemporary Social Thought (aka Social Theory)
- U.S. Politics (heh heh heh....)
- and a Gaeilge course

I feel like I'm a little bit in over my head, especially when the professors make references to Irish history or other things that really aren't in my general knowledge database (clearly, I'm an American robot...???). It should be an interesting term to say the least!

I also met my housemates, Lori from Limerick and Lorna from County Mayo. They're both super DUPER sweet and really made me/us feel welcome. Lori lived with 3 girls from TCNJ last year so they're used to Americans. I feel 100% better about being here now that I have real live Irish friends!

Anyway, I'll definitely try to be more diligent about updating this. I can already tell you that for the most part, I won't be documenting my daily schedule here. More likely, I'll write about what I'm learning, culture shock, and other tidbits that take less time to type out. But for now, I'm going to take a nap.

Oh, and here's my contact info for anyone who's interested!!!

EMAIL: kate.mcgarry3@gmail.com
SKYPE: kat.mcg
MAILING ADDRESS:
Kate McGarry
76 Gort na Coiribe
Headford Rd
Galway, Ireland

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