Classes

Hello All,

After several tries I have finally gotten registered in all the classes I'll be taking while at University College Dublin. -That just reminded me, I should lay out some basic information about where I'll be. Just in case you're curious. I'll do that at the end of this post...

The classes I'll be taking in Ireland are:
Discovering Ireland: Landscape & Heritage - It's a class that is based entirely on field trips to archaeology sites near Dublin. I'm hoping for castles, burial sites, churches.
French 3 - needed for me to graduate from Kansas State
Introduction to Folklore
Irish 1 - not really to learn the language, but I want to know how to pronounce place names/words I see around.
Discovering Ireland - a class entirely for international students.
Political Geography

I don't know my actual schedule yet, but hopefully will within a day or two. I don't know a lot of things right now, except that I'm supposed to get a ton of information once I arrive on campus. I did find out that I'll be living with Irish kids in my apartment on campus, instead of other Americans. I'm pretty happy about that, but also a little nervous for obvious reasons.

I didn't expect that this month I've been living at home in Halstead was going to be the hardest part. Yeah, it's the last month before I leave so no matter where I was it was going to be full of excitement and anxiousness, but because I've been doing a whole lot of nothing besides thinking about leaving it's only added to my anxiousness. I had a few days in which I wasn't sure I even wanted to go anymore, and thought it would be easier if I'd have just stayed in Manhattan for my last couple of classes. I've thought about the worst possible scenarios for this trip, and have stressed about every single detail (my mom hears about it all the time). I feel a bit like a bum right now - in my parents' basement, no job, with nothing to do except wait.

I guess at least I'm GOING somewhere soon. I felt like I spent all year telling a lie, "I'm going to Ireland." "I'll be in Ireland."...and my plans kept hitting roadblock after roadblock, and every time I thought it wouldn't happen. I mean, at one point I was going to France. Part of the reason I felt like it was all in my head is due to the amount of times I've talked about transferring from Kansas State and either chickened out or had it fizzle out for some reason.

Anyway, it's finally here. I'm more excited for this than anything in my life, I think. I can't wait for my first Guinness in its homeland. Here's where I'll list some of that basic information on UCD for you:

Location: South Dublin, in an enclave named Belfield. Belfield is almost entirely made up of the UCD campus. Originally in the center of Dublin and known as the Catholic University of Ireland.
Students: ~14,000 undergraduates

That wasn't near as much information as some of you may want. In fact, it wasn't very much information at all. If you have any questions, leave them in the comment section on this post.

Slainte!

In the beginning...

I'm leaving for Dublin in one week. Seven days.

Basically, I've decided to keep a blog because I feel that I probably should. People might like to read it. I may end up enjoying writing these posts. As for this first entry, I really don't have anything to say except that I am not looking forward to packing, and have extreme anxiety about moving to another country for four months without having ever been there before. I can't imagine I won't have a blast. I can't imagine I won't make new friends. It's none of that anxiety. It's more like, where am I going to get a haircut? Anyway, we'll see what this blog becomes in time.

I hope you're all ready for a demonstration in evolution.

Forget me not,
Edwords