ahhh. after a mere three days' break (during which i had to finish two papers for the previous semester...), i'm back in the classroom again. i'll give you a rundown on what my day looked like today:
-8am alarm
-9am breakfast, consisting of a hard roll, granola with yogurt, an orange, coffee, and orange juice. i grabbed a scone and some butter for lunch, to go. breakfast is included in our program, but lunch and dinner are not. since everything here is so incredibly expensive, i've gotta make my euro stretch!
-9:30am plenary with the advisers from my program, going over last-minute class info and answering questions. we also received our completed program itinerary, so i know exactly what will be going on every day throughout the program.
-10am literature. today, we had a lecture on yeats.
-11:15am drama. an overview of irish dramaturgy.
-1:30 history. an overview of irish history from monolithic times until today.
-2:45 critical issues. an economic overview of where ireland stands in the eu and beyond. this class will also encompass politics and current events.
-4:00 gaelic culture. a brief overview of the irish language. this class will also consist of irish folklore and popular culture.
--mondays are the longest day of the week. each class is 75 minutes long, with an hour break for lunch at 12:30.
the other options for courses are visual culture and the resident director's course, irish film. visual culture will encompass archaeology and other visual arts.
we are required to take history, but the rest of our schedule is up to us. as of right now, i plan on enrolling in literature, gaelic culture, and the rd's course. i'm hoping that i'll be able to get english credit for gaelic culture, but we'll see... i also plan on auditing the rest of the courses, as they all seem far too interesting to pass up! gotta take advantage while i can.
we met in the graduate memorial building in the premier debating chamber at trinity. a pretty historic room, if you ask me. instead of moving rooms, the different lecturers came in and out while we stayed in our seats. we will also have different lecturers in each class throughout the semester, most of whom are world-reknowned in the subjects they lecture us on. all in all, it feels incredibly like some six-week-long conference. very interesting, but not at all bad.
tonight, most of the group is taking part in a literary pub crawl where, apparently, some actors take us around to some pubs that are known as the haunts of some of ireland's best writers. sounds like a swell time!
there are many other group outings like this planned throughout the semester. generally, we have two or three outings a week after classes and they all coincide with what we're learning in the classroom. wednesday, we'll head out to the theater. there are also guest lecturers, seminars, concerts, etc. so much fun! and then, of course, our weekends are free after 5 on thursday, which works perfectly for travelling.
all in all, it seems to be a well-organized and intense program, with lots to look forward to and lots to learn. i'm really excited! of course, i need to start geting used to being in lecture for 6 hours straight...
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