9/22/08 - 9/25/08

It has been a couple days since my last post, and as much as I wish that was because I was super busy and didn't have time it is actually the opposite. With classes it has been a very slow week that has been filled with reading for class. On Monday I relaxed and did some readings for the week and just hung out around the apartment. Tuesday brought a day of pretty much the same, except I had my first class at the European Business School. I had been excited for it since I signed up for it because it is a business law class, a subject that is intensely interesting to me and is why I want to go to law school. I have the class every Tuesday from 1-3. It is even a farther commute than IES, being past Saint Stephen's Green, but I think it will be worth it. The class was interesting, especially because before the professor got there I am sitting in a classroom with all these European students and I cannot understand a word that they are saying. Turns out that I am the only native English speaker in my class, which should be an advantage. It is also a negative because the teacher repeats himself a lot so the kids understand him. He seems like an interesting guy, a little high strung, but interesting. Since the classes are so long here, there is a break about half-way through. It was hilarious because all the European kids immediately stampeded down the stairs to go outside and smoke. European kids really love to smoke and now wear deodorant (generalization I know, but its starting to get to me, the number of kids who have bad b.o.!). I had found out earlier in the day that my 4:30 class was cancelled, which was good because I was tired and didn't feel like sitting through another class. So I came back to do some reading and start working on the presentation and paper that were due for Thursday.
Wednesday was filled with class and work, I was up extremely late doing work for the presentation and especially the paper. This paper was the bane of my existence. We had to read about 70 pages of this book called Dublin Through Space and Time. It was the worst book I have ever read. it was about how Dublin was planned in the 1600 and 1700s. I was miserable reading it and am miserable thinking about it. After an extremely late night I had to get up for my 10 o'clock class. It was a rough morning and I woke up late, but I made it to class on time. In class, Derrick, Adam and I delivered our presentation and I think we did a really good job. I had found out earlier in the morning that my 1:30 class had been canceled, so I turned in the paper that I wrote to his mailbox and headed home for a much needed nap. After waking up we got ready to go to Kayleen's apartment to have our weekly dinner with her and her wonderful roommates Jeanine, Elizabeth and Monica.
We were running late because we all slept a lot longer then we were supposed to. We were all really excited because of our limited diets. We got there and found out that they lived in this rustic Irish house. It is pretty awesome, they even had a rose petal path to the candlelit dinner table. I have never walked on a rose petal path before and it made me feel like a king! They have a backyard, with apple trees! If we had an apple tree it might be all that I eat. Jake, Derrick, Adam, Brian and I tried unsuccessfully to gather the ripe apples, so we settled for some partially ripe ones that were delicious. We came back inside as they finished preparing dinner. We sat down to a delicious meal of Irish soda bread, mashed potatoes and two different stews containing Guinness. The one had beef and the other stew had lamb and barley. They didn't tell us that the one had lamb in it because they thought some of us wouldn't eat it. I guess they haven't realized how cultured we are! I have never really had lamb before and it was delicious. The meal was AMAZING, I wish I knew how to cook like that, but sadly I don't. After dinner we sang Happy Birthday to Jake (its his b-day on Saturday) with mini cheesecakes, which followed the trend of the night and were delicious.
After dinner we headed out to Grace's which is a pub near them for an after dinner pint, Adam and Derrick didn't join us because they hadn't recovered from last night yet. It is a cool pub, what I think of when I think of neighborhood Irish pub. After a pint there Jake, Brian and I headed back to the LUAS and came back to our apartment. The rest of the night has been spent hanging out online and talking to some people from home. Tomorrow we are going to go to a market where we can get some things for the apartment cheap. Jake's birthday is this weekend, so it should be really interesting, we are trying to go find a place to karaoke (who doesn't want to hear my rendition of I want it that way?). It should lead to some hi jinks around town.