Slainte! (this is a long one)

Slainte, pronounced slawn-cha, means cheers, or to your health. Over the past two weeks I have been able to see what Irish college life is like. The night life is very active on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The students also go home on Fridays so generally there are few classes held on Friday, that or the students just don't go. The Irish love their families very much, the idea of being a close family is extremely important to them. There are very few Irish students who stay on campus over the weekend. Also, most of the students don't come back until some time on Monday. So on Monday they celebrate being back in the city and since Wednesday and Thursday are the last days of the week they'll be in the area they party hard. 

We were warned that if we are ever invited to an Irish party we need to bring our own drinks and if we ever hold a party we just have to pray our apartment doesn't get too trashed, and from what I've heard they do a lot of damage. 

I have been getting a good feel for which bars and pubs I like here and which I don't. So far I like the Crane Bar which is very traditional and farther away from the other bars so there aren't very many college students there, the drinks are cheaper, and there is live traditional Irish music. The other one is The Hole in the Wall (it was hard to find). This bar is nice because, although it is crowded, they are very accepting of Americans whereas other bars have given me the vibe that they just find us loud and annoying (which isn't too far from the truth for some). I've also tried out different clubs and decided which ones are way too sketchy and the ones that are just too crowded. Generally, the Irish go to the same place on certain nights. For example, every Monday they go to the GPO club because there is no cover charge. On Wednesdays they go to the Central Park club because it's free for women. 

I finally had a pint of guinness. The guinness is far less bitter here than in the states. So in my in-expertise I'd say it is better, but I still don't like it. By the end of the pint I was having trouble getting past the after taste. I think I'll just stick to hard cider. 

Also, many people have told me that when you are in another country the best way to explain where you from is "I'm from New York", but here you want to say "I'm from Boston". They love it. One historian told us that the majority of Irish families here have relatives in Boston or have lived there at some point in their lives.  

As for classes and academics (that is what I'm here for right?), they are easy so far. I don't see this being a challenging semester at all, in fact I feel a little removed from my classes right now, I'm not really enthralled. I had my first history class today, Ireland in the 19th century, which is actually seems really interesting, the Irish really have always drawn the short straw. For my chemistry course we were told how the final exam is going to work. They post the old exams on the internet so you can get an idea of what the questions will be like (not a new concept to me). As of right now it seems very cut and paste, all I have to do is memorize my class slides and I have an answer. The history and environmental politics class only have papers. The history class has a mid-term and final paper; at most I'll be writing 10 pages for that, the final paper is due by Dec. 4 leaving the rest of my time free (classes end on November 28). The environmental politics is similar,  I was initially told the paper would only be about 5 pages, but I'm not completely sure. My biochem class will be run more like an American class with multiple tests throughout the semester and lab assignments and tests. My exam will also be another 2 hour exam. 

That's the big update for now. Next week, the American girls and I are going to try doing a potluck dinner :). And next week the clubs will finally be recruiting members and starting! For now I'm just taking it really easy, but I can't wait to be a little busier.

Till Next Time,

Cheers!