A little homesick, but mostly just sick...

Hey everyone!

Well I know some of you have begun to wonder whether I'm still alive & kickin over here. Yes I am, but barely! This weekend I came down with some sort of cross between what feels like strep throat, the flu, and one heck of a migraine. I told mom if there's anything that's going to make me homesick this is it! I just want to curl up by the fire in Lincoln (where it's not raining!) with a bowl of mom's chicken noodle soup. Don't get me wrong, I'm still glad to be here! I just think my body's having a hissy fit with the constant cold humidity.

There were a couple of times last week that I sat down in the computer lab here and tried to write something but had complete writer's block. Really there was nothing too terribly exciting going on last week. Most of my time was spent running around from office to office asking questions about classes, credit transfers, visas, yada yada ya. Tomorrow I'll officially know what classes I'm really in. I went to my Spanish class today and was relieved to find they are exactly where I left off at home. We had a past tense verb quiz and I only got a few wrong out of about 45. This is a huge relief because I have 6 hours of Spanish every week and to be behind would be a nightmare.

I feel really guilty that a whole week has gone by and I haven't really gotten out and seen anything new. Nine & Peter took a weekend trip to Cork but I couldn't go because I had class until 4 on Friday and they left in the morning. I guess I did walk around downtown Galway a little more Saturday afternoon, I know where the ocean is now! That sounds like a very ditzy thing to say but really I'm used to being able to look up and see mountains to orient myself. But here there are no mountains and even if there were you wouldn't be able to see past the buildings because you're standing in such narrow streets. Plus I don't think I've walked down one straight street the whole time I've been here so it's very easy to get turned around. It's taken me two weeks to realize that I have to use the buildings to find my way around, not the Irish street signs that I can't read, the mountains that don't exist, or the sun that never shines!

One thing I've been surprised to find is the size of the classes here. Most of my classes are in lecture halls with at least 250 students. I wasn't expecting this because the student population is similar to MSU's, around 12,000. I haven't checked the stats but the faculty to student ratio must be a lot smaller here. Another factor is probably that European students are usually on a three year program plan, and of course you can pump a lot more students throught the system in less time with lectures. Every English student gets to pick one seminar per semester where the group size is about 20, with three or four lectures in addition. The teachers are great so far, but I already have a greater appreciation for the small class size at MSU where English classes are never over 40 students. This allows for more engaging discussions, and I believe more thought-provoking classes. As I said before, I won't know which classes I'm taking for certain until tomorrow, but there is one lecture on James Joyce and WB Yeats that I know I'll get into and am very excited about. The teacher has promised by the end of the semester we will have read and understood Ulysses, which seems like a daunting task but a rewarding one. I'm so excited to study these two Irish authors that I've always admired.

Well I honestly don't have too much more to say that's very exciting. I promise to come up with better reading material for next time! I think I'm going to go home and try to sleep off some of the ants inside my head who are desperately trying to fight their way out with sledgehammers. Thank you all for keeping in touch. Miss you!