The First Week

I’ve been here one week already. Woah.

It’s not quite real yet that I’ve been here for that long, or that I’m here at all, ya know?

The past few days have been interesting to say the least.

On Thursday we started classes as I said before in the last post. I was VERY mistaken when I thought it would be an easy day. We have a lot of reading to get done this week, and this semester in general. Good thing I’m a History and Literature person!

Thursday was also the first day of our hiking class. We hiked back down to the beach where my roommates and I went earlier that morning. That class will definitely help me work off the Guinness from the pubs. We are planning to hike Diamond Mountain soon I think. I can’t wait. That’s going to be awesome. It’s a legit hike and when you get to the top, the view is supposed to be spectacular. I know I’ll be hiking that more than once.

Thursday night was pretty low-key. Most of us are realizing that our bodies are going to start hating us (and our wallets) if we keep going out at night, so we had a game night in Cottage Six, which was pretty interesting.

Friday we did a walking tour of the Renvyle Peninsula (the area where Tully Cross is located) with Dave Hogan, an Irish Professor. For the AQ people, think of him as Professor Biedeman basically. He knew EVERYTHING there is to know about the land surrounding us. I was really impressed; the way he respected the land and the way that all of the Irish seem to respect the land reminds me of how Native Americans respect the land in America.

After that, a lot of my time was spent on homework so I could head out to the pubs with everyone that night. I just want to say how thankful I am that I’m a guy, and not a girl here. All of the Irish men are hitting on all of the girls which is funny for the guys to watch, but I can’t imagine it’s too fun for the girls. I ended up being people’s “fake boyfriend” that night and saving them from awkward situations. Dr. Dawson had a “How To Say No To Irish Men” talk with them the following morning.

Saturday was spent quickly doing homework that was due that day and heading to class. Yeah, we had class on Saturday…Whatever. The History is actually really interesting. We’re learning about the Easter Uprising right now, and the Literature we are studying is surrounding that period as well. It was the time in 1916 that the Irish decided to Rise Up against the British Rule while the British were in the midst of World War I. The Uprising lasted only six days and the Irish were unsuccessful, but it gave the country a sense of unity and nationalism, which is what Ireland had been in need of for a while.

Anyway, enough with academics. I just wanted to prove that I’m learning something other than the Pub Life. The rest of the day was spent doing some more reading and watching some movies with some of my classmates. It’s now Sunday and we went to church across the street. The mass was interesting; there was no music included in the mass, and it was the fastest mass I’ve ever been to. Started at 11, was done at 11:30. Not too shabby. After that we had brunch with the girls next door. They have been helping to feed us and make sure we have a decent diet going.

After brunch, Ken, Jake, Beth, Brit, Hannah and I went down to the soccer field behind our cottage and played soccer. It was so wet, but a lot of fun. I officially realized I have lost a lot of whatever athletic abilities I once had. We’re hoping to make that a Sunday tradition, rain or shine.

Tonight is the official “Welcome” dinner from the Tully Cross community to the Aquinas program. They are serving us dinner which I’m super excited about since the food in our cottage sucks. We’ve been living off of pasta and grilled cheese. After the dinner, it becomes a party for the whole community so we’ll get to meet more people and basically just have a good ole time.

That’s all for now. Here are a few pics and more will be on Facebook later.

My team after our soccer match. Notice the mud all over my jeans. Fail.

Peace, Love, Ireland.

-Rob