First come, first served...crazy registration and the fun night preceding it...

I am on my third day of sunshine today! It is PURE sunshine too! There are no clouds in the sky and it is a magnificent blue. I am stoked :D Not only that, but, after waiting in line for 3 hours (details to follow), I got the last spot in the English seminar that I really wanted!! Today is shaping up rather fabulously!

So yesterday before classes I went shopping in town and bought lingerie because it is SUPER cheap here! Seriously...stuff that would cost $15-30 back home is only 6 Euros (around $9!). And it's light so I'll be able to take it home :)

After shopping I went to class and the first one was good...the director of the English department is the lecturer and he is quite entertaining. Then in between classes, I met up with Josh (who, P.S. is gay, haha just in case you were all wondering about me spending so much time with him) and we wandered around trying to find out where to turn in our Arts in Action forms. Arts in Action is an awesome program where they take you to various performances throughout the year and you can pick which ones you want to go to. 40 Euros for the whole program or 10 Euros for each event. I'm going to 3 so it was only 30 Euros, but I'm SOO excited because I get to go see Martin McDonagh's new play! He is an Irish playwright that I studied in my contemporary drama class at USC, and I loved his play The Pillowman. It is creepy and twisted, as are most contemporary, postmodern (particularly Irish) dramas, but it was so well written and absolutely fascinating to study. Can't wait to see that. I'm also going to a dance show featuring and Irish as well as a Korean dance troupe. Also going to a string quartet concert with information and history on the string quartet.

But in any case, while we were searching for the correct buliding, we wandered into this amazingly creepy building along the way! We walked in and not only does the place feel completely deserted and under construction and very horror film like, but there is a huge case of stuffed dead birds. Walking down the hall revealed more creepy cases of taxidermy, skeletons, and other strang things. Apparently we had wandered into the zoology as WELL AS the math deparment?! What?! Our friend Erin is a math major and she actually has classes and advisement in that creepy building! Anyway, it was entertaining. We then went to the right building and were glad to turn in our forms. Then we went and got a snack in the concourse...I had to settle for a bagel because they had nothing else, but it was a nice pick me up between classes.

Then went to class (OMG with the really boring guy again, nooo! I have him twice a week and he speaks super slowly, monotonously, and he places strange emphasis on weird syllables and also separates syllables!! Like he'll say..."AND now we are going to TALK about the RE......formation." Anyway...) with Kat, when I found out that she and Josh are planning on getting to Seminar registration at 7AM!! Registration doesn't start unil 9AM....jeez! I wasn't planning on getting there until 8, but after hearing that many other people were arriving early, I decided to get there around 7:30ish.

Well Josh calls me later and says Erin wants to meet up for a pint in town at around 8:30, but I got done eating dinner at home around 7:15ish, so Josh and I decided to meet for dessert in town. I don't end up getting there until 8, but we found this cute little sort of Italian place called Buon Apetito. We both get dessert; I got vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and toffee chunks, mmm, and it was in a basket?! Haha. It was premade but still quite good. However, afterwards, we both got super hungry for some reason! Everyone else in the restaurant was ordering food and it looked SO good...even though we had already eaten...so after lamenting for quite some time, we decided to get a drink because Erin still hadn't called us and it was like 8:45. So I saw in the window next to our table that they had Crema de Limoncello!! AAAH!! Had to have it! I had forgotten about it, but Josh and I both ordered it. Unfortunately, for some reason the waitress gave us just plain Limoncello instead, but hey, I'm not going to complain. So we both sipped it...I believe it was quite high in the alcohol content because it tasted quite potent and I was slightly buzzed after just sipping one shot. But it made everything warm and fuzzy which was nice. Then when we had to leave, hahaha, Josh had somehow gotten trapped because these Italians came and sat at this long table that was perpendicular to ours, and pushed their chairs back to the side of our table, and Josh was trapped between them and the window of food. Haha so that was fun to watch him clamber out.

Then we went to the King's Head, a famous pub in Galway, which was quite quiet since it was only a Tuesday night. Erin got there around 9:15-9:30, and they had pints of beer (I decided against it just in case the lemon, dairy, and alcohol reacted poorly together) and we sat and talked for about 2 hours, which was really nice. But Josh and I were still hungry! Hahaha so we went to Supermac's down the way, which is basically exactly like McDonald's, except supposedly better/classier, but not really when you go down there at around 11:45 at night and all the drunks are around. There was this one guy on the sidewalk outside who was quite violent and drunk, and was trying to punch out this other guy. We walked in and got greasy food (mmmm...I just got fries) and sat in the Supermac's hahaha and felt very American. I had a view of outside and I watched the drama with the drunk guy unfold. He kept trying to come inside and the manager kept kicking him out and the guy get causing trouble. Eventually it escalated into him trying to get physical with this other Irish guy, who was pinning his arms behind him and pinning him to the class outside. Then this other very tough looking Supermac worker went out and broke it up, and then the Garda (police) came and took statements. Didn't see the guy again, but it was all interesting to watch...

We sat and talked and then Erin got ice cream too and so we didn't end up finishing until around 12:15. I decided to take a taxi home just to be safe, although the other two walked home. I don't know, maybe I am paranoid, but Mary is paranoid and she made me promise to take a taxi home any time after 11PM, which I think is a smart idea. I mean, I'd rather pay to take a taxi then get robbed or raped or something terrible like that. So a nice taxi driver took me home, where I went up to my room and got ready for the morning since I had to wake up at 6:45AM bleeeh. Got to sleep around 12:45 and poof the alarm went off.

Arg early...the earliest I've woken up since I've been here in Ireland. Yuck! The sun wasn't even up yet. But thankfully when I looked out, there were no clouds...because man it would have SUCKED to have waited in line in the rain. So I got up and went to the university and sat/stood in this giant line of people. I couldn't believe it! Some people had been there since 3AM!! A few of my friends got there at 6:30...jeeeez. I got there at 7:40 and so I knew I was kind towards the back of the line, but I was hopeful at least that I wasn't last. So at around 8, they started giving people numbers so that we could go away and then come back, which was nice. So I got my number and then me, Josh, and his friend Molly went to go get coffee. Or rather, they got coffee and I got a croissant. Then we went back to stand in line and stood together for awhile before eventually separating, although me and Molly were next to each other in line so that was nice.

Once we eventually got into the building, it was so nerve wracking because they had giant sheets of paper with the names of all of the closed/filled classes, and a woman read them out. And everyone's just hoping that they don't hear their class. I was quite hopeful because I hadn't heard mine yet! I wanted to take Love, Gender, and Genre, which is about love (YAY!) and is at the perfect time as well. I was just waiting for it to close right as I got to the front, but I made it to the front, and I told the guy that I wanted that class, and I got the LAST spot!! AAAAAAH YAY!! I was SOO excited! Apparently though, the reason that they were all filling up so fast, was that they only allow 3 visiting students per seminar!! I mean, granted there are like 20+ seminars, but still! Quite crazy and I am SO thankful and very lucky to have gotten that last spot!

Then I wandered out and Josh and I sat and enjoyed the sun for a bit before I came back into the library to use the internet :)

So overall it's been a great (if slightly tiring) 24 hours, and I can't wait to be done with class at 3 and just go home and sleep and relax. Sigh, but tomorrow is MORE registration (for lectures) with more lines....gaaaah. Then on Friday I have to register with Garda/Immigration so yay MORE lines. After that I am going to be SO ready to go out and enjoy myself.

As usual, having a great time, even with the annoyance of in person, first come first served registration (HELLO?! Online registration anyone?!), but yes, enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful green grass very much :D