Where did you stash the newts, Noah?

#1 Classes: I have to go to those, right?

Finally! I have all of my classes. BUT because Wake Forest likes to be obsessively strict about things, I still have to make sure that all of my credits are going to transfer properly. AND because the University of Ireland likes to be unbelievably lax about things, I still don't really know what work I should be doing for each of my classes. Nevertheless, this is what I am taking:

History of Irish Thought

Luda, class is crazy and I wish you were in it so that we could talk about it. We learned about the first Philosopher in Ireland. He was a Monk who said that every Christian who is serious about understanding the Bible must at wrestle with this question: How did the amphibians survive the Great Flood?

Studies in Renaissance Literature

The head of the English Department teaches this class of like 400 students. It is very interesting and he is a very funny and witty dude. They say the word “Renaissance” really different here. I can’t even imitate how they do it, it's so weird.

Literary Genres and their Histories

This class is kinda paired with the Renaissance class and the professors are young and engaging. Yay for genres!

Medieval Ireland in the 5^th – 9^th Century

They also say “Medieval” differently. That may be the most interesting thing about this class. Um, I mean I may or may not have fallen asleep in class yesterday. Don't even blame me, it's pre-viking stuff.

The Appreciation of Poetry and of the Poetic Form

This will be a class of about 10 people that starts next week. All of the international English students had to line up waaay to early to sign up for these seminar classes. There was a lot of stress about who would get what seminar, there were numbers passed out, pushing in various lines, and a lot of tension between people who wanted the same seminar. Fortunately, I did not have to stress out (not that I would have anyway) because turns out that not that many people appreciate poetry and the class was not in high demand. I am probably a little too excited about this class. Don't worry, I will continue to post excerpts from poems that i appreciate.

A photo of the line to sign up for English seminars circa 7 AM (yes, the people in the front camped out).

#2 My first Visitor.

Sir Ryan Crimmins, Wake Forest friend and fellow Look Out Mountainer, stopped by lovely Galway during his break from school in Austria. He is on a ten day long exploration of various fun parts of the British Isles and Ireland. We toured the city yesterday and went to some pubs with live traditional music. Today he explored by himself while I was in class and then went to some castle ruins with my friend (and now his friend too), Chris. Apparently they had to go through many thorns and wade in a marsh and go through fields to get there, but it was awesome.

Below we are with the young and old Oscar Wilde.

#3 Foreign Fellowship.

While Crim was doing manly adventuresome things, I took a bus (instead of walking 4 miles in the rain) to Mandy and Jason’s house. They are a couple, originally from Texas, who started a church in Galway. They have two cute curly headed girls and another one due next week.

Every other week they host a dinner and movie night for all of the university aged peeps. About 15 of us were there. It was so fun to hang out with Christians and especially ones from all over – Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Germany, Australia.

We talked about cultural differences and apparently it’s really funny that Americans have drive through banks. They thought it was hilarious when I added that we also have drive through pharmacies. Oh, lazy ol' Americans ('Merca, love it or leave it...).

Mandy, Jason, and other church members fed us very well (chicken, pasta and apple pie – hello!) then we watched and discussed the movie Gone, Baby, Gone. I don’t know if you’ve seen that movie or not, but it is really intense and raises some really cool discussion topics (plus Casey Affleck is a cutie).

The night was really fun. I am thankful to have fellowship and a Church body to be part of while I’m here.

#4 Comments on Previous Post.

The poem at the end of the last blog is actually lyrics by one of my favorite musicians, Greg Laswell (mentioned in an early post as a soundtrack to this trip). Those words are from a great song by Greg entitled Embrace Me.

This is my toenail coming off and bloody/rainy sock -- the result of my really long walk to and from church. Figuring out the bus system is a much better call.

#5 Other Thoughts/Tidbits:

There are hair straighteners in public restrooms. I guess a girl had got to look her best.

Candy bars have odd names and little description on the wrappers. What does it take for a girl to get a Hershey’s Bar with almonds?

Bangs are called fringe. There was a miscommunication in my apartment when discussing haircuts.

“To have a good crack” means to have fun, or to have a good time. Several more miscommunications.

A veggie burger means a hamburger bun with vegetables on it.

North Carolina is can be most easily identified as the state where One Tree Hill takes place, where The Notebook takes place, or where Dawson’s Creek was filmed. It can also be described as a state located between New York City and Miami (where CSI: Miami takes place).

Ireland is small, so street signs are superfluous.

Crimmins was commenting and appreciating how green the grass in Ireland is.