Everything's Grand!

Hello Everyone!

Sunday night, Emily and I were excited to meet our other Irish roommate, Lisa. We spent the evening watching programs on T.V. about 9-11. I was very glad to be able to watch the ceremony in New York where Pres Bush and Obama both spoke and such.  I am still always suprised to hear how much the Irish know about that day and how they where hurting with us/for us on that unforgettable day.

Monday we were fortunate enough to be able to take a free fieldtrip to Kilkenny Ireland which is only about 35 km from Carlow. We went with about 100 other international students from the IT school. It was crazy being with such a large group but fun at the same time. We met people in the group from Greece, Germany, Holland, the US, a lot from France, and others from various parts of Asia as well.   Anyway, older students from the IT school came with us as our "Pals" and showed us around Kilkenny. We stopped at the town Castle (much better than Carlow's castle), the Abbey, brewery and also the downtown shopping and cafe section. Emily and I found a great little sandwich shop and had a great lunch. We also came across a store called "Fruits and Roots" and bought some delicious apples.
We we arrived home after the field trip we were all pretty tired and spent a quiet evening at the apartments watching t.v. and bonding with our Irish roommates.  Most of the programs on the Irish T.V. stations are either American or UK shows. So, we have been watching things such as Glee, X factor, the Simpsons, Modern Family and so on.

Tuesday was a pretty free day due to classes not starting yet.  A group of us walked into town to get more supplies and groceries. We have been getting better and better at finding our way around town and I think we have even mastered getting St. Pats College in a fairly straight line.  (Side note- our group from st. ambrose lives very close to the IT school, but we are taking classes at both colleges in town, so our walk to st. pats is about 20 minutes) Tuesday evening, our group started to plan our first weekend trip to Wicklow, Ireland. We are all very excited to get out and see some more of Ireland. Planning, though, is a very scarey thing.  It will be good to get this first trip under our belt.

Today, Wednesday, we had Orientation at Carlow College (St. Pats).  We got our timetables, ID cards and loads of information. I think we are all excited to start our classes and especially our field trips with our Irish Experience class.  Everything is starting to fall into place and everyone has been so great and helpful. 

Now, for the good story.  Today was suppose to be our first lecture at Carlow IT for our Anatomy class. The four of us in that particular class, left orientation early to get back to the other school for lecture. We found the room, no problem, sat down and waited for class to begin.  About 2 minutes before the class started Irish students flooded in and filled the large lecture hall.  The prof started right off the bat with her lecutre and kept referring to "yesterday." We thought that was odd but kept listening. Then we noticed that she wasn't discussing the topic we were expecting and when she passed around the attendance sheet, we were not on it. So naturally, the four of us started to freak out and started discussing what to do. We got some looks for talking so we shut up. After about 10 minutes of lecutre I got the courage to raise my hand and basically ask if we were in the right place because we weren't on the attendance sheet. The class burst into laughter and the prof seemed to not know what to tell us.... We then decided to leave and go to the International Studies office. They informed us that our lecutre had been cancelled and that another class had been moved to that room for the day. I guess they had tried to contact us but were unsuccessful. Anyway, long story short, it was somewhat embarrassing at the time but now, we all just laugh about it. We were just glad that we were right and didn't have to go back into that room. hahahahha. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully we'll get to the right room at the right time for the RIGHT CLASS. :D

Well, that's all folks! I'll probably post again after this weekend! Wish us luck on our first self planned weekend trip!