My first Irish sweater, dropping classes, and waking up early for a cancelled class

Eyre Square

Tuesday, September 6th: On Tuesday I woke up and met my friend Elizabeth and we walked into town to go to lunch. Our plan was to go to a place I read online that had the 8th best fish and chips in the world. However, they didn't open until noon and it was 11:30. So instead we wandered around town and went into cute little shops and went into the original Claddagh ring store. They were the first to create the Claddagh ring and the only ones allowed to produce and sell the original mold. In the back of the store they have a small museum that we looked around in until 12 when we could go to lunch. At lunch the fish was really good but the mushy peas and "chips" were not as good as I had had at other places so I would not rank them as high as the website did. But regardless, it was still a great lunch! Then we went back to one store we had been in before lunch because they had a wool Irish sweater I really wanted. After spending 20 minutes trying on sizes and styles I finally chose my sweater :) I am very happy with my purchase. Afterwords, I had class from 3 to 6pm. First my English Shakespeare class, where the professor lectured the entire time and we just took notes. And then my Marketing, Media and Communications class where we had a quiz on the first day of class which freaked out all the Irish students. Irish students are used to extremely easy classes where they don't actually go to class and instead they just download all the notes and then cram for the final. Overall I really good day!

Wednesday, September 7th: On Wednesday I had a class at 11am till 1pm. I went to the class Marketing Research for the first time and found out that the class was double the credits I thought it was and that it was 4 hours a week with class on Friday (meaning I can't travel), that is was supposed to be for seniors about to graduate, that we would be doing a giant group project with a major research paper and basically that it was going to be a lot more work than I thought. So I sat for two hours stressing about what class I was going to take instead and if the new class would clash with my schedule and how screwed I felt. Then once the class was over I met Elizabeth and we walked into town and I told her my whole dilemma and how without that class I wouldn't be a full time student at Richmond and how I couldn't have class on Friday and she listened and then mentioned that she was taking a Financial Management I class. When she told me the times I knew it would work with my schedule so I felt much less stressed. Then we walked into town and tried to go to the Galway Tour Company to buy tickets for a tour on Saturday to the cliffs of Moher that Elizabeth has to take for school and I want to take because it sounds awesome, but the place was closed until 2pm so instead we went to a little cafe that I had been to before and I got my second new favorite food (a bagel with cream cheese and salmon) and coffee. It was delicious! Then we went to the tour company and bought our tickets. After, I came back to my apartment and emailed about the Financial Management class and skyped my mom, who made me feel much less stressed! Then I had to walk back to campus because I had my Biological Psychology course from 6 to 7pm. The course was in a huge lecture hall and the teacher seems very relaxed and like she cares a lot about her students. At the end of the lecture she asked all the Erasmus students and US students to come and talk to her and she asked us all about our backgrounds in Biology and Psychology. Apparently the first year Irish students have had a 8 week course on Biological Psychology and she wanted us to make sure we had some background in it. I feel completely confident that I can handle the course (background or no background haha)

Thursday, September 8th: Today, I woke up and my friend Elizabeth and I walked to campus to take my new and Richmond approved Financial Management I course at 9am. But when we got there the class had been cancelled for today. So we decided to go to the campus bar and get breakfast and then we went to the bookstore and bought the text books that we knew we needed. The textbooks here are at least $100+ than the US is was really nice! After that we got coffee and then headed to our classes. I had the Psychology class again which was a lecture about cells (what I learned in Honors Biology in 9th grade and again in AP Psychology my junior year of high school). And then I had my Saints and Sinners of the Celtic World class, where the professor rambles about random history and language and stuff and basically has no rhyme or reason or organization to her lectures. Thank God the final is just one essay that I'm sure I can give her multiple rough drafts on. After that I cam back to my apartment and took a freezing shower because apparently I have to turn on the water heater at the end of the hall (I guess I have been lucky that someone else has done it every other time?) Anyway, that's about it. I need to get better at writing every day. It's hard to remember all the random little stuff when I write 3 days at a time (I'll get better at this whole blogging thing). BYE!