Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Walking to class today was my first real taste of Ireland weather..... Sustained 30 mph winds and pouring rain. I'm pretty sure I looked like godzilla by the time that I go there. Note to self: don't wear tennis shoes that aren't water proof to school :). When I got to my first lecture hall I was informed that a pipe had burst in the building so they weren't able to heat certain points of the lecture hall.... including my classroom.... brrrrr! I had four lecture classes today. All were very interesting, and the professors try and make it easier on the International students so instead of taking a written exam at the end of the semester we just have to write a 3500 word paper- THANK GOODNESS! I'm so much better at writing papers than taking exams :). My 19th century Ireland course is alright, but I feel as though the professor is going to make the material very interesting. It almost felt as though I was watching a well done monologue in his class. He is incredibly animated throughout his lectures. My castle course is really cool too! We even get to go on a 2 field trips to castles in Ireland later on in the semester :)

After classes today Brooke and I went to the activities fair and signed up for kyaking club. It starts next week and the club meets 2 times per week, and there are is a weekend trip during the semester to one of the beaches in southern ireland. We were finally able to meet some Irish girls when learning about the club which was a plus too! I'm super excited for it- they are teaching us the basic skills in the canal next week, and then we will progress to the river, and then to the bay, and the ocean. They provide all the gear for it too! Next week is the societies fair where we plan to join the international students society which also provides a bunch of cool trips, and apparently the club has a lot of funding. We are also going to go to the community service fair in hopes to get to do a project or two within the Galway community.

Below I uploaded some pictures of the walk to school. It's absolutely gorgeous on a nice day- but today was pretty blustery cold, it's still a beautiful walk. On the next sunny day I promise to take pictures around campus :)

Tonight we are meeting my sorority sister (Amber- she is living here, but is from OR) for a drink at the Cellar pub off of shop street. She reserved a table and we are doing a "Linfield Ireland Reunion". It should be fun, I just hope we don't get blown over on our walk to shop street!