So Savage ;)

I LOVE Irish slang, (as you can tell from my title) almost as much as I love their accents! Fingers crossed I’ll come home with a slight accent, lol! Today was my second day of class. Their school system is so different from ours it took me a while to kind of wrap my head around it on Monday and get my classes picked out. It seems to me that once you begin college and pick a major, you are with all the other kids in the major for every class for the next four years. So basically all the kids get to know each other really well and I of course stuck out incredibly bad. I was the new kid with a weird accent haha. Everyone is extremely nice though, and I’m talking to more people each day. That is partly because I am in two different majors. I am currently taking 5 classes (normal is 6), 3 of which are in the first year accounting major and two are in a second year business administration major. I tried to pick classes that sounded fun and that I haven’t had before, since the courses probably aren’t going to transfer. Here is a list of what I am taking:
Business Math and Stats
Introduction to Marketing
Business Management
Accounting and Computer Applications 2
Communications
I already took a communications class a couple of semesters ago but I thought that it would be beneficial if I took one here. It will force me out of my shell a bit. I also already took two accounting courses but I thought it would be cool to see how they couple it with excel.
The schedule for classes is also a lot different then any of my college experiences. Something that is really different from SMCC is that you cannot pick your class times. The professor and department decide class times. Also these are what they call provisional, so they can change at anytime. I haven’t had any problems with it yet but I can see where that could cause problems, especially since I am in two different majors. One class time is already conflicting between the two, but attendance isn’t calculated into your grade the same way over here, so I am not that worried about it. Plus, one girl said she could give me the notes from the class I miss. Another weird thing was that classes are only 45 minutes long, and you can have the same class, in different locations multiple times a day. For example, tomorrow, Thursday I have Accounting and Computer Applications 2 at 9 am, then again at 10 (same teacher but in a different room) then I have Business Math and Stats at 11, then Communications at 12 then Accounting and Computer Applications 2 again at 1 and my last class is Business Math and Stats again at 3. It seems to work out well for them, its just hard getting used to. Thursday is my longest day out of the week so it isn’t that bad.
Tomorrow I was invited to go to the pub with one of my classes. I haven’t been to a pub yet and am really excited!

Home Sweet Home

I have made it to Cork! After 15 + hours of traveling (because everyone of my flights was delayed or cancelled) I have finally made it! I arrived Thursday at Eden Hall and was informed that most of the students have unfortunately had not arrived yet. Friday morning however I met one of my roommates. She lives about half an hour from Cork but is attending CIT and CCU and like most of the other Irish students living here, travels home during the weekends. She was SUPER nice though and I went with her and one of her friends to the grocery store and they helped me pick out some food for the weekend. She is coming back on Sunday night and we are suppose to hangout, which I'm really looking forward to.
In all Friday was a pretty quiet day. Today, was quite eventful to say the least. The adaptors I had bought back home and brought were the wrong kind, and I was desperate to charge my laptop and have a connection with the outside world, so I decided to venture out. The city is basically a straight shot from the school. I got down there alright and was able to find all the things I needed with a little help (everyone I talked to was extremely friendly and nice). I picked up a sim card, coat hangers, dish soap, and an adaptor. I'm not exactly sure where things started to go wrong but on my way back I got more lost then I could have if I tried. The 40 minute walk ended up taking me 2 hours. But all in all I think that it was a good learning experience for me and the moral is; when your as directionally challenged as I am, TAKE THE BUS.


P.S Here is my room for the next 4 months :)