First Day of (No) Classes

Corrib Village is full of cars. The once (by which I mean, last week) quiet village is now overflowing with Irish and full-year students, who all moved in last night with great merriment and hoopla, which continues tonight. The boys in the apartment downstairs seem to be having a constant party, and take it in turns to run around the village, ring doorbells, and return to their thumping music. Campus is full, and it's strange to see it like this after getting sort of used to it being empty. We had a bit more contact with Stefania (I honestly still don't know how to spell her name), and she's a commerce major, which translates to economics. She came to Ireland to work on her English, and (understandably, being from Italy)is not overly fond of the constant rain. Still, she seems to like it here, and she's been giving us some tips and tricks for different things.

Today was the first day of classes, and I had two on the schedule: History of the Roman Empire at 10 and Studies in Modern Irish Literature at 4. Irish time, you must understand, is different from other kinds of time. Things always start a little later than you think they will. For example: when we had orientation last week, the program said it started at 9:30, so most people were there by that time, seated, drinking their complimentary juice box, and awaiting the speaker. She comes to the microphone, and in a voice of genuine astonishment thanks us all for being there so promptly, and says that they put 9:30 on there in the hopes that we'd all get there to start at 10 or so. Ah well, now at least I understand my family's chronic lateness: Irish time, I'll tell people, we're just running on Irish time. Similarly, the classes here are slated to start and finish on the hour (10-11, or 2-4), but you have time to reach your next class if they're back to back because they don't actually start until about 10 after. I rather like this system, but I worry that I'll get in the habit and keep to Irish time when I go back to Pitt.

Of course, arriving on time is a moot point if you reach the class and absolutely no one is in the classroom and the door is locked. I had heard some classes didn't start until next week, and apparently this is one of them. That class was sort of a toss-up anyway, and I think I'm not going to take it after all. So, there I was all ready for the day, so I decided to take Finn's advice from our first group meeting and "lose myself" in Galway. I wandered into town and took streets I'd never been on before, winding my way through the crowds down past Nun's Island, back and forth across the river on different bridges, to the docks and the bay before returning to the part of town I know. The sun was at the perfect level, and I took some lovely pictures (to follow) of the town. The strange thing about the sun here (at least at this time of year - I don't know about the summer) is that it doesn't pass overhead during the middle of the day... it rises and sets on the same side of you, forming an arch (points) over there, so that your shadow is always on the same side of you, rather than on one side, then tiny and in the middle, then on the other. It's a strange sensation, actually. So yes, I walked all through Galway, discovering many pubs, restaurants, charming shops, and bookstores as I went. I spent a good two hours looking around, trying surreptitiously to take pictures of everything that excited me (which, if you know me, was pretty much everything) without getting too many strange looks from the locals. I was very bad at being stealthy.

Later, when I went to my second class, they were using the time for the info session for the third-year Irish students, so I don't have that class until Friday. So, I went home for tacos. Finally, the airport called me tonight saying that one, or posssibly both (he wasn't completely sure, since a whole bunch of luggage is coming in small groups), of my bags have been located and will be sent to the village tomorrow afternoon!! Woot, huzzah, and yea verily =)