Jessi - September
This was written on September 4:
Hey guys!! I'm having a lot of fun over here. Thursday and Friday night I went to the pubs. The pubs here are pretty cool, but there are so many people in them. I also went to a club, which was fun. It reminded me of the clubs back in Cincinnati. I went with a huge group of friends I made during orientation. They were all a lot of fun. I think it's so great that the drinking age here is 18 and over. I don't understand why the U.S. is so difficult concerning that.
Friday and Saturday I figured out what classes I'm gonna take. It's probably going to be 4 history classes and 2 psychology ones, but I'm not sure yet. Official registration is on September 15th. The classes between now and then are optional, but I'm going to go to them anyway. Attendance usually isn't taken here, and I heard that a lot of Irish people skip their classes. One Irish person told me "You're not going to learn anything academic here, but by the end of the semester, when you step off the plane, you'll think, Wow that was so much fun!" I wonder if he's right. The classes seem really easy, there's no homework. I love doing essays, which is the format of most of the classes. I am completely in my element with the classes. Plus classes end in November, and we have over a week to work on our essays after that. The essays are usually around 2,000 words, which isn't bad at all. I've had to write 15 page papers for some of my classes from Elmhurst, not to mention all the homework on top of that.
I got my NUIG (National University of Ireland, Galway) college ID today. Which was cool, because only 2 out of 2,000 people got their ID today. Me and one of my roomate. Which is why I can FINALLY use the internet here, because without your ID, you can't get in the library. The computers crashed after our IDs printed out, so we were so glad we got there early.
I'm going to get a bank account today. Probably at the Bank of Ireland. That's pretty exciting. I already got a cell phone too, which is nice. It's terrible because I've spent 400 euros here, which is 550 dollars. I HATE the conversion.
This was written on September 5th:
I bought a labtop today! Technically, my mom bought it with my money, but it's for me. It's cheaper to buy a laptop in the U.S., because of the conversion rate from euros to dollars. I'm probably not gonna see the laptop for a week or two, but at least now I have one. My mom's going to ship it to Alex (my boyfriend), and he's going to put programs on it, like Photoshop and Word. After he's done with that, he's going to send it to me. It should cost about $130 to ship to me, which is unfortunate, but can't be helped. It's still cheaped to buy the laptop in the U.S., even with the shipping added on top of it.
I had 3 new classes today. The first one was a History class about Medieval Europe. That was interesting, but the teacher is from Hungary so it was hard to understand him. I have to do a big essay for that class for midterm, and then a 3-hour test at the end, where I have to answer 2 out of 4 questions in essay form. The second class is about Nazi Germany. The teacher is English, I think. I have to do two small papers, and either a written test at the end, or just a essay. I can't remember. The third class is Human Sexuality, and it is so great!!! I love it!!! It's not about the genetics of the body or anything, it's about the psychology of sexuality. The teacher is so hilarious; he's also from America. I have to do about 15 pages worth of papers total for the whole semester, which isn't that bad at all. I think it's going to be a very fun school year for me. I'm excited to start learning!
Hey guys!! I'm having a lot of fun over here. Thursday and Friday night I went to the pubs. The pubs here are pretty cool, but there are so many people in them. I also went to a club, which was fun. It reminded me of the clubs back in Cincinnati. I went with a huge group of friends I made during orientation. They were all a lot of fun. I think it's so great that the drinking age here is 18 and over. I don't understand why the U.S. is so difficult concerning that.
Friday and Saturday I figured out what classes I'm gonna take. It's probably going to be 4 history classes and 2 psychology ones, but I'm not sure yet. Official registration is on September 15th. The classes between now and then are optional, but I'm going to go to them anyway. Attendance usually isn't taken here, and I heard that a lot of Irish people skip their classes. One Irish person told me "You're not going to learn anything academic here, but by the end of the semester, when you step off the plane, you'll think, Wow that was so much fun!" I wonder if he's right. The classes seem really easy, there's no homework. I love doing essays, which is the format of most of the classes. I am completely in my element with the classes. Plus classes end in November, and we have over a week to work on our essays after that. The essays are usually around 2,000 words, which isn't bad at all. I've had to write 15 page papers for some of my classes from Elmhurst, not to mention all the homework on top of that.
I got my NUIG (National University of Ireland, Galway) college ID today. Which was cool, because only 2 out of 2,000 people got their ID today. Me and one of my roomate. Which is why I can FINALLY use the internet here, because without your ID, you can't get in the library. The computers crashed after our IDs printed out, so we were so glad we got there early.
I'm going to get a bank account today. Probably at the Bank of Ireland. That's pretty exciting. I already got a cell phone too, which is nice. It's terrible because I've spent 400 euros here, which is 550 dollars. I HATE the conversion.
This was written on September 5th:
I bought a labtop today! Technically, my mom bought it with my money, but it's for me. It's cheaper to buy a laptop in the U.S., because of the conversion rate from euros to dollars. I'm probably not gonna see the laptop for a week or two, but at least now I have one. My mom's going to ship it to Alex (my boyfriend), and he's going to put programs on it, like Photoshop and Word. After he's done with that, he's going to send it to me. It should cost about $130 to ship to me, which is unfortunate, but can't be helped. It's still cheaped to buy the laptop in the U.S., even with the shipping added on top of it.
I had 3 new classes today. The first one was a History class about Medieval Europe. That was interesting, but the teacher is from Hungary so it was hard to understand him. I have to do a big essay for that class for midterm, and then a 3-hour test at the end, where I have to answer 2 out of 4 questions in essay form. The second class is about Nazi Germany. The teacher is English, I think. I have to do two small papers, and either a written test at the end, or just a essay. I can't remember. The third class is Human Sexuality, and it is so great!!! I love it!!! It's not about the genetics of the body or anything, it's about the psychology of sexuality. The teacher is so hilarious; he's also from America. I have to do about 15 pages worth of papers total for the whole semester, which isn't that bad at all. I think it's going to be a very fun school year for me. I'm excited to start learning!
posted by jennifers at 9/07/2006 10:03:00 AM
2 Comments:
Wow it sounds like Ireland should be a lot of fun. It sounds like you really know how to go about things in another country, with you opening a bank account already and purchasing a cell phone. That's a really good idea to purchase the laptop in the U.S. and then ship it, hopefully that gets shipped safely and quickly. I look forward to hearing more about what the classes are like and how they compare to classes at Elmhurst.
It was actually very annoying to ship the laptop. If you can avoid shipping, do it. Sometimes they charge VAT on it, which is taxes. They decided to charge the VAT on mine, and it turned out to be a total of $170. Plus the $130 it took me to ship it. I then had to go through two weeks of e-mailing people to get it back. I should be getting it back in a week or so. It's just easier to buy a laptop before you leave.
- Jessi -
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