climbing, green cards and yummy dinners

things are going amazingly :)

wednesday's diaspora class was fabulous and i love what we are talking about, the readings are interesting and class discussions are fun. ok i am a dork and i know it.

went into work after it and emailed. so far work has been fabulous also, the people are great and the work isn't hard. so yay! then went climbing and the wall killed me. i need to get climbing shoes. i did the blues on the straight wall, i was pretty close on the reds, and then i attempted to do the small overhang where the reds, yellows and blues got me. i was the closest on the blues, but the last move is tricky. so i spent some time trying to figure them out so i can do them. i belayed for some of the new people and then i tried the greys on the overhang and that was hard, i got about 3/4 up, also using some of the purples. so i'm getting there. so it was fun, and it was a great workout. then off to tom barry's and there was a bunch of new people :) yay! there was the introductory meeting so they went to the pub from there, so it was fun meeting new people and talking. then to the brog where it was packed! but still fun.

thursday i worked in the afternoon and did some readings in the morning. my housemates and some friends were going out, so i invited kara and there were a bunch of us talking and drinking in the house and then we went to the club classic. its a new place and it was cool. i would have liked it more but it was SOOOO hot. so it was a fun night.

worked friday morning, and then my adventure friday afternoon was to finally register with the garda. my bank statement finally arrived so i was able to go. i got out of work at 1, went home and grabbed a different bag, walked to the garda station and was there about 1.30. the immigration window opened up at 2, and i was about 15 people back in the queue. so i read for class while waiting, finally at about 3.30 i was seen. it took a few minutes, and everything went well no problem :) yay. so i am no legal to be in ireland. my id card picture is quite funny. my passport has a few more fun stamps. the next stop was to register for a PPS number, pretty much an irish social security number, so i can complete all the paperwork for work and get paid. so i should have that in a week. so i feel better that this is all sorted. yay.

i also went grocery shopping on the way home, yay for tescos. then after watching home and away with aoife i went out to dinner to with my coworkers to say goodbye to ashling. she has worked in the office for the last 2 years and is leaving to be the secretary in the law department. so yay for her, she was really nice. diner was fabulous. my co-workers are so great. we went to curren's and it was fabulous. soo yummy, i need to go out for a good dinner more often. then we went to the woodward where friday nights are salsa dancing and kieran tried to teach us and it was sooo funny. such a good night out :)

this morning i went out with the crew team and it was a good row. i went out in an men's 8. it was really cool because we went out at 7am, so seeing the cork harbor in the dark was really cool. the rowing went well. i'm still getting used to the differences in rowing here.

i'm meeting up with kara to go into the city centre in a bit and then just relaxing tonight so i can go hiking tomorrow :)

YAY!

annnd megan is coming to see me next week!!! she is coming saturday to thursday! yay! i can't wait to see her. and kathryn is coming the next week from the 31st to the 1st. so yay for visitors!
and i booked my flights to london for thanksgiving. i'm going wednesday to saturday to see megan! yay! and i'm going to edinburgh for christmas to see laura. i booked my flights from december 20th to 28th! YAY! sooo excited to see my friends and to travel :)

first week of grad school!

last week was a crazy week, i've started my first week of grad school classes, went climbing and started working!

monday afternoon i went to the ucc rowing club meeting and seeing the slides and hearing them talk about crew really made me miss it, even more than i already did, so after i went up to talk to a few members and i talked to this guy called toss, he has been helping to coach their men's side and he coxes for one of the boat clubs in cork and he said they needed a senior men's coxswain, so he said to come around on saturday for the water practice, and i went on saturday and it was fun. so since i had experience i went out with the men's 4 and it was weird, but i enjoyed it. it was weird because they do things different, but luckily they all knew what they were doing so for some of it like bringing the boat down and such i just watched. they carry the boat at waists, and gunnels up, which is just so weird and uncomfortable for me to watch, and they don't have docks just a concrete slip so it is just interesting. and so we didn't go out with a coach, so it was just us and it was weird to have no one there, but the guys were great and i had fun, i forgot how much i missed coxing. also one thing to add, its weird rowing on a commercial river, i had to watch out for container ships. yay for the port of cork!

so monday night i went climbing, and the 'new' wall is a lot different. it was the first time i have gone climbing in a long time, so it was frusterating because there were things i wanted to do, i just need more practice to get back into it. but it was fun and i climbed a few walls no problem.

tuesday was my first grad class! YAY! i met up with kara for tea before class and then went to the history postgrad seminar - historical methods and research. its pretty similar to historical methods at wac, and it should be good. different professors each week coming in to talk about different aspects of history and research, and we are going to dublin to go to the archives and national library during the term too. it will just be some readings and participating in class discussions, and then an exam in december. so should be good, and its nice to see what the other history postgrads are doing. so tuesday morning i saw posted on a student job hunter site a job in the accommodations office, looking for part time postgrad work so i stopped by with my CV. and tuesday night i also had a slight issue with my bank at home, but it was all easily fixed.

wednesday was the first diaspora class and it was fabulous! so exciting, i met kara and we figured out where it was, possibly the most random place on campus, its about as big as a professor's office. so there are 8 of us, 4 boys and 4 girls, kara and i are the only americans, the other 2 women are older, one is in her late 20s the other in her 50s. the 4 guys are all younger, just graduated or a year out of college. so andy the professor is fabulous! we talked about the class and our ideas on what is a diaspora, the term diaspora and then our individual research. it was cool to see what everyone else was interested in, and we have some very big differences, which is awesome. the only people who are similar are kara and i, we are both interested in irish female immigration to the US, but different time periods and looks on it. but i am soo excited for this and so glad i decided to come back to cork and do my masters here. wednesday night i went climbing and to the pub, it was fun as usual.

thursday i got a call from the accommodations office, letting me know i had the job, so i went down and decided to go start with a few hours on friday afternoon, just to ease myself in. thursday night was relaxing and i read and did some work. friday morning i ran some errands and then went into work for the afternoon. it went well. i am in the accommodations and student activities offices, so i deal with people looking for housing and the societies on campus. so i update the accommodations website when we get calls from people with available spaces, i help students find places to live, i answer phones and then deal with the societies coming in to get checks written, lodging money into accounts and photocopying. its pretty easy, and as long as there is nothing going on i can email and use the internet and also get some light reading done for class. so friday went well, the people i work with are nice and were really friendly and helpful. so yay!

friday night i sent a text to kara seeing what she was up to, and so i met up with her and her spanish roommate and friends and went out to qube because its free for UCC students to get in, but it wasn't that great. now i remember why i never went there. saturday i met up with kara and carmen, her roommate to go into the city centre after i went to the rowing practice. i ended up buying a really cute green pea coat in dunnes, its a fab colour and it fits me great. so i am excited for that. then after dinner, i went over to kara's where we watched the notebook and drank some wine. kara's friend was having a house party, so after we finished the wine we headed over and it was pretty cool. most of the people were a few years older and either postgrad/phd students or working. but i had some great conversations with people and it was such a fun night!

sunday i didn't go hiking because i felt horrible, my throat and head had hurt on friday/saturday and i decided it wasn't worth it to go hiking and feel like complete crap and possibly even get sicker. so i just relaxed and did readings for class.

monday was my first full day of work! it went well. nothing too crazy that i couldn't handle, i spent about half of the day online though, so i could get used to this. went climbing and i am getting better. i really need to get shoes, as i can't do what i want in sneakers. but i did some harder climbs and i'm getting back into shape. i attempted 2 hard overhang routes and go about halfway up each of them, and i did a slight overhang ok. so i'm getting there. belayed a lot as there were a ton of new people, wednesday is going to be even crazier.

today went into work for the morning, then my seminar class, which was good. interesting topic we dicsussed. the use of digital cameras in the archives and the impact of computers on history. something that really made me think, especially in digital history and making archives easier accessed. then kara came over and we did dinner and hung out. i'm now watching the first episode of this season's grey's online! i finally found it online and ahhhhhhhh, seriously? so glad to finally watch it. i plan to watch the second episode tomorrow and then i want to try to watch private practice. i do miss watching it with the girls though, so it is kinda sad.

i also made lots of travel plans this week, megan is coming to visit the 20th to the 23rd of october, so i am sooooo excited to see her! kathryn might be coming the following weekend from france to see some friends in dublin and cork. i'm going to london for thanksgiving to see megan. and i'm going to edinburgh, scotland for christmas to see laura! so yay! soo excited for this. and i emailed the contact i'd been given about the UK ZTA alumni chapter, and they have been fabulous. so YAY!

id cards, clubbing and hiking

thursday was a very interesting day, i had registration in the morning which went surprisingly well. the only thing that wasn't smooth was when i went to registration when i should have gone to the international student office first, which i wasn't told about, but the line wasn't too long and i got my id card! yay! sooo exciting :) now i can use the library and the gym!

so i walked into the library and i was so impressed. the brand new library just opened and they did an amazing job! i am very very excited to go in and read because they have comfy couches and chairs now, and its a lot nicer looking and i just love libraries. i also opened up my irish bank account and walked around campus a little, i need to register my laptop with the campus so i can get wireless on campus,

so after that i went over to clubs day and i helped out and handed out info on the mountaineering club and talked to people. it was crazy! there were so many people and it was fun talking and joking around with everyone too. wednesday night was also fun at tom barry's and crane lane, talking and getting excited for the first hike and i also saw a few more people for the first time in a long time.

so thursday night i went out with grainne (my housemate) and her friend aiofe. it was so much fun. we drank wine and watched friends and talked and then went to havana's, a club in town. it was good music, not too crowded and it was fun. i hadn't been clubbing in a while and it was great to go out and have fun.

friday i met up with kara and went into the city centre and ran some errands and went for tea. it was great to talk about home and what we are studying and get excited about the disapora and research. when i got back everyone had gone home for the weekend and i was tired, so i just relaxed and watched some rugby. saturday was extreme lazy day and it was nice to relax and do nothing. i did laundry and cleaned the kitchen.

sunday was the first hike with the mountaineering club of the season! yay for bouchail. it was pretty nice weather, kinda sunny and a light wind. 84 people were out for the hike, and kara did come, so that was exciting! i didn't really get to talk to her until the end, because we were on different busses and went in different groups. but i went with emer, ger and karen and our group was pretty awesome. it was really funny because there were so many masters students in our group and i also met a guy doing a history masters. the hike was fabulous, this time i hiked straight up what i went down last time by the pond and it was nice to be out hiking again. i seriously missed it. the bogs were grand and one guy in our group had a slight encounter, but it was funny. after on the bus i met a guy from NAU, it was really funny. it is such a small world. We stopped at a pub in Killarney and had tea and snacks and watched the end of the ireland-argentina rugby match. sadly ireland is out of the rugby world cup now. then the bus back to cork, where i went to the pub with a bunch of people. so it was a great first hike and met a lot of fabulous people.

tonight i am headed to the rowing meeting, we'll see what happens, then off to the wall to climb! YAY!

very excited for class tomorrow and to finally be getting started! YAY!