On Sunday, January 11, our whole QU group had a plan to go visit the Cork County Gaol, the Jail. I woke up earlier that morning to walk over to UCC to try to find some of my classes. Most of them aren't too far of a walk, 25 minutes at the most, which is a lot different from Quinnipiac. After touring, we were all supposed to meet at Mardyke Arena, the gym, so we grabbed a snack before heading off to see the jail. It was a little bit of a walk to get there, and it was definitely colder than it had been the first few days we were here. A tour guide split our big group into two and took us inside the jail. It was so cold inside and we were in there for a while. The guide brought us around the jail and showed us mock rooms or situations that could've actually happened. We learned about the conditions of the jail, what prisoners ate, and a few specific stories of past prisoners. This gave us more of an idea about what times were like, especially during the time of famine. Many people got jail time for stealing food or fabrics, especially due to the shortage. We learned how many people thought being in jail was almost better than being on the outside, since an inmate was guaranteed food, which was scarce at the time. An inmate was fed to maintain their current weight. If someone lost weight, the guards would know they weren't getting enough food, but if someone gained weight, this person was thought to have been stealing food or eating someone else's, and they were therefore punished. After the tour, we were almost in City Centre, so I stopped in a pizzeria with one of my roommates Hannah to grab something to eat. We walked home (a 25 minute walk) and went to finalize our class schedules for the week. The University is giving international students a week or two to try out different classes and then hand in our registration, whereas the Irish students already have their schedules all set. Monday (January 12) was my first day of classes. I woke up earlier to go check out the gym and I went to a class that was being held. The fitness classes are definitely more intense than the ones at Quinnipiac. We had to have tickets to get into the class, which are included in our tuition, and our instructor was pretty hardcore, so I'm not sure I'll be returning to that exact class again. I had a music class called "Exploring Irish Traditional Music" that also seemed to be pretty interesting. Tuesday I also had two new classes. I had an Irish Folklore class and Irish History. Both seemed pretty interesting and very different than my classes at home, so I'm looking forward to experiencing something different. My history class especially was a big lecture, which I haven't had before, so I had to sit in the front in order for it to feel like a smaller class. In the afternoon, I went with some friends down into City Centre to go back to Paradise Crepe, the crepe restaurant that I have been to one other time and really liked. I got a crepe with salami, cheese, onions, and potatoes, which I really liked. We went back to O'Conaill Chocolate Shop for cappuccinos and hot chocolates, and then took the bus back to campus for class. I think we are planning a trip to Cobh this week on a sunnier day, which overlooks the water.