1st Day of School

So I am taking Irish Lit and Film and Irish History. Both lectures seem like they are going to be pretty cool. Still need to buy school books and a watch. Normally carry around the cell and use that to figure out the time, but since the cell doesn't work here, a wrist watch would be helpful.

The sun rises super early. I woke up at 8am because I could hear the two children that live here. Others told me the sun came up at 5am. It doesn't really get dark here until 11pm. That’s a lot of sun.

The weather is beautiful. As all you VA people know, humidity is a killer in VA. Here when it is hot it is also dry, no humidity, its lovely, warm but not sweaty. There was a nice gentle breeze today too. I’ve been told the weather is rather unusual. I only saw the tiniest bit of rain in Dublin, and none since I arrived in Galway. My host family thinks it is probably warm enough to swim in the ocean and offered to drive me and my roommates there. We had to decline because the day was booked full with classes and the reception. Last year about this time, I am told, it was raining every day and everyone was soaked. I hope the weather holds up like this.

The reception after classes was not what I expected. I envisioned cloth table clothes and horderves. But I also work at VCU Center for Corporate Education who throws receptions for business people quite often. And this was a reception for college students. First off it was at the college bar. Yes, the college bar, you know, the one on campus inside a school building- ha! They gave us two drink tickets. I got a hard raspberry cinder. Quite good actually. They had drinks on tap and bottled everything. There was loud techno music. There was a sitting area, then a balcony, where myself and the other GMU folks sat, and also a little patio that had a view of the river. I saw kayakers float pass. There were also people who brought about large plates of sandwiches, chicken, sausages, and eggrolls on a large platter to each table. All were quite tasty.

The campus is more modern than perhaps you would envision. Much of the town also has modern architecture. Pictures will be posted soon.

Everyone in Ireland has been especially friendly. There are probably about 100 Americans in this program. There are also people from other countries touring around Galway.

I went on my first trip into the town today. Its awesome. Several street performers, though one group only seemed to know two songs. Most of the clothing/other stores close down at the latest around 7. So everything was closed when I got there. However the streets were still teeming with people. The pubs and night clubs close much later and have staggered closing times so you can go from one place to the other.

The river that runs through Galway is just beautiful. I saw several swans, baby ducks and black faced seagulls. Men were standing in the river fishing as the sun began to set.

My host family has informed us that there are no misquotes in Ireland. There are however HUNDREDS of moths. They only appear at night and hover around the tallest objects. Being 5’11 I was quite unhappy to find their attraction to me, but they went away as soon as I got around a tree or a wall. Could have been worse, three of them fell down a girl’s shirt who I was with today. She was quite frantic to get them out.

There were also tons of crows. At least I think they were crows. Again these only appeared at night, flew around a church and into the trees. They were so loud it was almost deafening.

I’ve seen two feral cats around campus and they are not eartipped, sadly.