My First Classes and Beautiful Men

Today was my first day of classes, and they went okay I guess.  But first I had to register this morning to take this seminar class (more discussion as opposed to a lecture) called "Erotic Bodies: Pornography, Sexuality, and Writing in the Early Modern Period." I am thinking about possibly doing a Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Major or minor as well as English and Philosophy, so it will apply somewhere. If not, it will cover and English Major elective. For some reason though I just couldn't get out of bed. I did go to bed quite late (like 1am-ish) because I was writing in my journal, so waking up at 8:30 was hard. I had to book it over to campus, which I made it in like 13 minutes walking VERY FAST. My legs hurt really bad afterwards and I was kinda sweaty, but you couldn't tell. My hips and legs hurt in general the last few days just from walking everywhere and keeping pace with the Irish who walk surprisingly fast considering their laid back attitude. (I figure if I walk fast people will think I am Irish not American and won't judge me or try to abduct me.)

But I made it in time to register and then had 4 hours to waste until class. Luckily I had brought a book with me per suggestion of my friend Jeff who's in Dublin (he says he read a lot the first few weeks he was here and had a lot of free time and didn't really know what to do).  I read for about two hours, albeit really wanting to just go back to bed.  At about 1:30 I went over and got some lunch (soup and roll for 2 euro!, I had brought an apple with me too) and then just chilled until class at 3. 

I was somewhat surprised to have an American professor (he reminds me for some reason of uncles Bob and Dave), considering the study of  early Celtic poetry requires extensive knowledge of Gaelic.  But boy did he move fast through the information! I don't know if it was because I missed the first class but it felt like he was all over the place. Perhaps it was because I was not mentally ready to just jump right in without any previous reading. He talked about filid (highly knowledgeable celtic poets, not to be confused with bards, who were often for entertainment...I think that's right...) and rankings among poets. I took 2 pages of notes in a matter of 45 minutes, and my notebook has big pages and I condense a lot.  I was also unsure about what we are required to know and what reading we should be doing. Yes, the syllabus had some selected readings, but he was also providing quotes from other sources, which he said could be found in the library.  Since I am taking 35 credits (also another 2.5 for the Bodhran class) which is equivalent to taking 5 full classes at Gustavus, I might drop this classes depending on how the others go. Friends back home who took 5 classes found it to be VERY difficult, so I'm not sure if I can handle it.  I'll give it another class or two. 

The other class I had today was "Intro to Anglo-Irish Lit" where we look at poetry, drama, and prose by Irish authors (written in English). This class seems more laid out, if that makes sense, where I know exactly what sources we will be looking at. It's only for visiting students however, so I won't be interacting with fellow Irish students, but I will be able to in my other classes. There were about 50 or 60 students in this class, about a dozen in the other. 

I forgot to mention that in the Celtic Poetry class there were 4 adults ("mature students")! I never saw this at Gustavus.  I'm just not used to going to a school with undergrad, grad, and post-grad students. 

I also forgot to mention in yesterday's post that I saw one of the most beautiful men while eating lunch yesterday. He sat at the table across from me. I'd say he was somewhere between 24 and 28. He was dressed so nicely and was well groomed: slacks, collared shirt with rolled up sleeves, vest, black sweater, scarf thingy, a good haircut, tall. He looked smart (he was reading the newspaper). See, why can't I room with these types of boys?!  I hope I see him again and I will start up a conversion. I was too impressed by his handsomeness the first time to say anything. Oh and walking around town I see very good looking men too in their nice black pea-coats! Perhaps they are young hard-working businessmen or they just like to dress nice. Either way, they are wonderful to look at.

I don't have class tomorrow so my plans for the day include (not necessarily in order): sleeping in, getting groceries (I am out of travel shampoo!), taking pictures while exploring, figuring out how to do homework and then doing some. I got some groceries today but the store didn't have as much as I thought they would. I did get some Dubliner cheese. Oh, it is so good, I highly recommend it. We've had it at home so it can be found in the States. I also got some Irish butter, which is supposed to be quite good, and some pasta for dinner.  I cleaned out the smelly fridge and fixed the freezer so I can get some real food now.

It does get hard not thinking about home and how it would be so much easier if I were there, but I am trying my best to take advantage of this amazing opportunity I have. I hear the weather is nasty at home though, so at least I am missing that. Although, there are record lows here, some people actually froze to death as there is a cold wave across Europe. 

That's all for now! Take care.