Ok so I've never blogged before but I will make an attempt at it. Where to begin...... well first let me thank Julie in our Study Away office for all of her hard work to get us here as well as Cindy Heider and all of the Profs in HPG and Psychology you guys are all so great to help, it is greatly appreciated. Well this whole thing started in about September/ October, somewhere around there, when we decided to broaden our horizons and now we are finally here. First impression? LOL I was so tired from the plane ride I didn't even care. However, after we slept for 20 hours and got a hot meal we were good to go. It is the middle of Winter and everything is soooooo GREEN!! It is gorgeous! And our campus is AMAZING!!!! The south campus was an old abby of sorts, the buildings are tremendously old and beautiful!!!! PS you can get lost very easily but it’s an adventure. The cathedral is so amazing I almost cried. There will numerous pictures posted randomly of our outings so look forward to that.
It snowed here this last week. Apparently it doesn’t snow here very often and when it does it is never very much. There are a few pics of the students going crazy playing in the snow. They commented that they loved it when it snowed, to which we replied that if you came from Missouri and had to deal with inches at a time on a daily basis the new would ware off quickly!!! They are nuts!!!!
So the people are very friendly but the campus is a bit different from home. Everything is so open at home whereas here everything is so closed. You go through a door just to see another door before you get to a staircase. Then when you go to a professors office there is no Admin. Assistant to greet you and guide you, all of the Profs are in different office and the doors are all shut so you kind of feel as if you are bothering them. At Western there is always a friendly face to greet you and direct you and the Profs usually have an inviting open door. I miss that.
The academics here are very different. The majors are very one tract and do not require Gen Eds. Being an upper level Psych major I have found that all of my lectures are simply review. This reminds me to thank the Drs in the Psych department for the ample knowledge this far. Thanks. Anyway they refer to classes as lectures here. I was saying to one of my “flat mates” that I had a class at 1:00 and she laughed. I will be talking funny when I get back I just know it. Ok now that I have digressed, as Dr Wann would say, let’s get back on track. So… all of the classes have an essay. The essay is anywhere between 2500 and 4000 words. You answer a question given to you by the Profs at the beginning of the semester. The info may or may not be covered extensively in lectures so you may have to do additional reading on your own to write a good essay. I am a little confused because in the Psych classes at home we have never written essays worth so much of the grade. Also the final exam is basically broken down into about 4 essay questions and you chose from 2 of them and just write. There are no multiple choice tests!!!! Yikes. There is no homework or mid term tests for a cushion!!! Very Very different. It will be ok just maybe a little harder to study for. Oh while on the subject of classes…… The Profs are always late!!!! I told one of the students that if a Prof was 15 minutes late for a class at home they would arrive to find practically no one left waiting. I guess it is really laid back here. And students kept coming in late, I’m talking 20, 30 minutes late to an hour long lecture. I thought of home livid some of our Profs would be if we straggled in like that. You know who you are! LOL They only have 2 hours of classes per week and the time structure has no organization to it. Also opposed to one Prof the whole semester there are different Proffs giving lectures every other week. I guess we will be getting a very wide range of views.
Also the college is FREE to all of the students here that are from Ireland. You are not required to attend lectures and all you really have to do is turn in the essay and show up to the final!?!? I was amazed to learn this!!! That’s about all I have to say about that.
Next topic… oh lets go with currency. The US dollar is not faring well on the exchange. Also coins are actually worth something here. They have a 2 Euro and 1 Euro piece. I forget this all the time. Anyway,If you were to go to the grocery you will find that things are comparatively within reason…….until you figure the conversion then it kills you. Well “ When in Rome…….or Ireland”. The restaurants are quite expensive though. We went to a pub for a bite and we had a “100% Irish Beef” hamburger with “chips”, which we call fries, and a beer and it was roughly 20 Euro. I would expect to pay that for a steak at home but not a hamburger. Oh that’s another thing… As both Kennan and I are well over the drinking age in the US we had a beer. However, the drinking age here is 18. Everyone goes to the pubs here and there is a different pub to go to each night of the week. On the weekends almost everyone goes home to work so all of the recreational activities happen on during the week.
I got off subject again, sorry I have so many random things to tell everyone. Ok so the grocery store isn’t bad but eating out is. There are a few places that are not as expensive but they are fast food or the bagel shop, which is our new favorite spot. There is a little shop in town called the Bagel Factory. They make sandwiches from bagels you can put whatever you want on them. They also have soups; you can get a bowl of soup and a buttered bagel with a hot cocoa for 6 Euro. The hot cocoa is amazing by the way. They also have all kinds off coffees and fruit smoothies. It is a nice clean place with good pricing!!!! Oh and another thing. They don’t have Mexican food here. All I wanted was a frozen burrito!!!!!! NO such luck. Oh well I am going to attempt to make tacos next week if I can find any taco seasoning. I may have to have some sent in a care package from home LOL.
Hmmm what else? Oh you walk everywhere in town but it is really compact and easy to get to so it’s not bad at all. If you want to travel you either take a bus or the train which is actually really reasonably priced between 3 and 5 Euro. There are not many cars here but the cars they do have a really compact it’s like a world of prius and geo metros LOL it’s kind of amusing. But word of advice when you are walking, do not jaywalk at any time. It is dangerous here. They drive like madmen and of course what we think is the wrong side of the road. Always Always Always use the cross walks and only walk when the light tells you too. These people are crazy and don’t slow down!!!!
Ok moving on the living accommodations. There are apartment that have 5 bedrooms. Each bedroom is furnished with a bed, a desk, shelving, and a closet. They also have their own bathroom which is nice but tiny. All of the flat mates share a kitchen and living area. There are pots and pans and dishes provided. The TV gets about 8 channels and there are DVD players in some. I am told you can get a play station or what have you and hook it up if you want but they are not provided. As far as TV they love the Simpsons and Ellen here. Every time I turn on the TV that’s usually what’s playing. They have the same shows we have too. Of course Grey’s Anatomy is big here but they are a season behind us. And then they have their version of American Idol and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Well I have babbled long enough. We are planning a trip to the countryside so I hope to have more pics and more to right about this coming week. If there is anything you want to know just ask I will try to answer the best I can. If the babbling gets to you tell me to hush. I would just like to close today by saying as weird as it may sound and as happy as I am to be here I do miss Western. The great part about a smaller University is that you do have a more intimate relationship with Proffs and you do get a set group of people that are in your major that you grow to become good friends with. I miss the Psych family I have come to know, I miss the HPG family, and I especially miss my Sisters!!!!
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