Friday morning, and I have now completed my first week of class here in Dublin at UCD. Overall, I'd say things are going well. I think I'm getting used to going to class, reading academic writing, and the overall school experience once again. I confess myself a little bit nervous, as my MCAT scores will be coming in sometime within the next week or so. Hopefully I did well enough on it that I don't need to retake it.
So what's been going on this week at UCD? Well, I had my first few sociology, irish, irish studies, and history lectures. Sociology will probably be one of my easier classes since it's an intro class. The professor is really enthusiastic and funny, so I think I'll enjoy it a lot. Irish is a different matter. The language so far has proven to be challenging. It isn't like any other language I've ever heard. It also doesn't help that I haven't studied foreign language in two years. I think it will just take a lot of practice, particularly the speaking aspect. So far, though, I've learned a few phrases to say "hello", "what is your name", and "where are you from". I'll definitely have to practice with my Irish roommate. Irish studies is a little bit hard to gauge. The thing I don't like about it is that it is every Wednesday night from 6 to 8 p.m. We have a two hour lecture on the odd weeks, and a lecture followed by seminar on the even weeks. The first half of the lecture was awfully boring, but the second lecturer was far more engaging and interesting. I think it will take a lot of outside reading and work. As for history, I think it proves to be one of the more interesting subjects for me this semester. The professor is really interesting, and he lectures well. I am concerned, though, because I haven't taken history in four years. This much reading of the academic writing of egocentric professors is going to fry my brain. Hopefully my interest in the class will keep me going. Archeology hasn't started yet. We have two field trips this semester, but I'm not going to worry about that class for maybe another week or so.
Apart from classes, I haven't been up to much. I had my orchestra audition on Tuesday. It definitely could have gone better. With almost no warm up, I did not accurately portray my skills as a musician to the director. However, I was told they need trumpet players, so hopefully it works out for me. I think this scene from The Big Bang Theory accurately depicts how it went:
I have also noticed a lot of things while here. First, grocery shopping is terribly inconvenient. It takes me about 20 minutes to walk to the grocery store, it costs 1 euro to rent a cart (you get the euro back), and a cab back would cost about 10 euro, so you're better off walking back with a backpack and side bag packed with groceries because bags at the grocery store cost money.
Second, the public bathrooms in Ireland smell particularly awful. I mean, all public bathrooms smell bad, but there's something about the ones here. They just smell worse. They smell like a bathroom in India, and that's pretty bad. Third, along a similar line, I found out that many residents of housing here at UCD experience problems with birds. I noticed some stuff on the floor of our kitchen, and learned last night that birds are flying into our apartment through open kitchen windows, pooping on the floor, then leaving (WTF?!).
Fourth, I have found it to be difficult to make Irish friends. They all come to the university knowing people, or having their own previous groups of friends. Now, I did hang out with some Irish first years on Black Monday, but when I saw them this week on campus and said hello, I could tell that they had forgotten who I was. Also, I seem to make a lot of American friends, which is ok, but I'd like to make more international friends. Actually, this week, I met some more Germans, another French guy, and a girl from Australia. So hopefully I can keep that going.
Lastly, and perhaps of my greatest concern, is food. I have realized that in general I am always hungry. I know I was always hungry back in the States, but this is different. I'm just dying for food. For breakfast, I just ate a three egg omelet with broccoli, spinach, corn, and peas; an orange; a banana; and a glass of milk. Yet within 30 minutes, I'm hungry again. I know I should eat until I'm satisfied, but food is so expensive here, and I feel like I'm running through my groceries so fast. On top of that, I've spent soooo much money here, and it has only been about two weeks. It's crazy.
Now despite some of these setbacks, I'm still having a wonderful time. It's good to be back in the college lifestyle, and hanging out with/meeting new people.
So what's been going on this week at UCD? Well, I had my first few sociology, irish, irish studies, and history lectures. Sociology will probably be one of my easier classes since it's an intro class. The professor is really enthusiastic and funny, so I think I'll enjoy it a lot. Irish is a different matter. The language so far has proven to be challenging. It isn't like any other language I've ever heard. It also doesn't help that I haven't studied foreign language in two years. I think it will just take a lot of practice, particularly the speaking aspect. So far, though, I've learned a few phrases to say "hello", "what is your name", and "where are you from". I'll definitely have to practice with my Irish roommate. Irish studies is a little bit hard to gauge. The thing I don't like about it is that it is every Wednesday night from 6 to 8 p.m. We have a two hour lecture on the odd weeks, and a lecture followed by seminar on the even weeks. The first half of the lecture was awfully boring, but the second lecturer was far more engaging and interesting. I think it will take a lot of outside reading and work. As for history, I think it proves to be one of the more interesting subjects for me this semester. The professor is really interesting, and he lectures well. I am concerned, though, because I haven't taken history in four years. This much reading of the academic writing of egocentric professors is going to fry my brain. Hopefully my interest in the class will keep me going. Archeology hasn't started yet. We have two field trips this semester, but I'm not going to worry about that class for maybe another week or so.
Apart from classes, I haven't been up to much. I had my orchestra audition on Tuesday. It definitely could have gone better. With almost no warm up, I did not accurately portray my skills as a musician to the director. However, I was told they need trumpet players, so hopefully it works out for me. I think this scene from The Big Bang Theory accurately depicts how it went:
I have also noticed a lot of things while here. First, grocery shopping is terribly inconvenient. It takes me about 20 minutes to walk to the grocery store, it costs 1 euro to rent a cart (you get the euro back), and a cab back would cost about 10 euro, so you're better off walking back with a backpack and side bag packed with groceries because bags at the grocery store cost money.
Second, the public bathrooms in Ireland smell particularly awful. I mean, all public bathrooms smell bad, but there's something about the ones here. They just smell worse. They smell like a bathroom in India, and that's pretty bad. Third, along a similar line, I found out that many residents of housing here at UCD experience problems with birds. I noticed some stuff on the floor of our kitchen, and learned last night that birds are flying into our apartment through open kitchen windows, pooping on the floor, then leaving (WTF?!).
Fourth, I have found it to be difficult to make Irish friends. They all come to the university knowing people, or having their own previous groups of friends. Now, I did hang out with some Irish first years on Black Monday, but when I saw them this week on campus and said hello, I could tell that they had forgotten who I was. Also, I seem to make a lot of American friends, which is ok, but I'd like to make more international friends. Actually, this week, I met some more Germans, another French guy, and a girl from Australia. So hopefully I can keep that going.
Lastly, and perhaps of my greatest concern, is food. I have realized that in general I am always hungry. I know I was always hungry back in the States, but this is different. I'm just dying for food. For breakfast, I just ate a three egg omelet with broccoli, spinach, corn, and peas; an orange; a banana; and a glass of milk. Yet within 30 minutes, I'm hungry again. I know I should eat until I'm satisfied, but food is so expensive here, and I feel like I'm running through my groceries so fast. On top of that, I've spent soooo much money here, and it has only been about two weeks. It's crazy.
Now despite some of these setbacks, I'm still having a wonderful time. It's good to be back in the college lifestyle, and hanging out with/meeting new people.
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