The First Week

The first week of classes is officially over and I must say, it's a lot different than GW. Classes here are set up where your end of the semester grade is determined mainly by the final. For each class the final is worth about 50 - 100% of your grade so, there is very little work assigned during the actual semester. Also, the grading scale is a bit different as well. A 78% > is an A+ and a 75% is an A. As a study abroad student, I need a C (which is a 50%) in order to recieve credit for the class. Compared to America's grading system, this should seem like it would be a breeze; however, apparently they grade a lot harder here. And with the final worth so much, I feel like this grading system is necessary if anybody is to pass these courses. Fortunately, it's a little bit different for me in the Computer Science program because I will have to be programming throughout the semester. Other than the computer science classes, there is very little upfront work. This also means that the students have to do a lot of work on their own time - they have to self study. Personally I'm a lot better at getting work done when I am told of the assignments I need to do, so this could be a quite a challenge for me.

Monday, January 18th was the first day of class. After having 1 of my 4 scheduled classes (the other three were labs that didn't occur on the first day) I found out that today was a party day for everyone at Unviersity College Dublin. Apparently the first Monday back at classes is called, "Black Monday" and everybody goes to the school pub and pubs / clubs in the city and they have a good time. After my entire house decided to go out, we made our way back to campus to see what was going on at the campus pub - it was packed. Tons of college kids filled the pub and everyone was drinking and dancing. (The picture is the line to get into the school pub) It was a lot of fun, and all my house mates seemed to have a good time. I was told that was as "exciting" as the on-campus pub will ever be, so it's good we went. However, from the few Irish students I've met, it seems they like to drink every night of the week. I don't think I can keep up with that... From going out only two nights I've already broken a ring Darby gave me for Christmas last year.

One of the interesting classes I have is Introduction to Computer Forensics. Something that made me laugh is the professor used the word 'twat' quite frequently in his lecture. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think 'twat' would be that acceptable in America. The first week of classes came to an end when this class was over and when it was done, I wanted to make my way over to Immigration. Garda, Ireland's police department, requires visitors to register with immigration if they will be staying a long period of time. So Friday I was on my way to go register when I got a message from my roommate saying not to bother, they already stopped letting people register for the day. Since I was already on my way over there, I decided to check out the shopping on O'Connell Street. After shopping for four hours I returned home empty handed. Needless to say, I was not pleased. The same routine occurred Saturday, but Sunday I walked home with a new pair of boots! I was thrilled!

Even though my shopping was a sucess, I still had to get to immigration. I decided I would miss my class Monday morning and just go and get it over with. I arrived around 8:40 am and was waiting in line for my ticket. When you get your ticket you sit around and wait for your number to be called. After it is called you show all your paper work, pay your 150 euro fee, and then wait around for your ID card to be made.

I was fourth in line for my ticket at 8:50 am when a man who worked there came around and said, "Anybody who is a student, please leave the queue. We do not register students until 9." (For anyone who doesn't know, the queue is another word for line here in Europe) I looked down at my phone and saw the time was 8:54. All of the student's loooked around at each other and clearly no one wanted to move. The man told us to leave again, and so we did. With all of the students out of the line, the queue shrank down to about 8 people. And 6 minutes later, the 60 students who were told to leave rushed back to get a spot in line. I ended up around 30th. Considering I had been fourth, I was a tad bit bitter.

Finally 2 and a half hours later I was registered and done with immigration. I jumped on a bus and headed to UCD for the second week of class.