So it's been four days here, and it's been quite a time. Today was our orientation at DCU. Prior to today, we (our other roomie from Whitewater, Danelle moved in on Wednesday morning) decided to wander down to DCU to see how far of a walk it was from our apartments and to have a look around. It took us about a half hour to walk there; they told us it was a 20 minute walk. But, I guess I won't have to be joining a gym while I'm here!

Thursday, we wandered around, found the location we had to meet this morning, and then found a cute little Irish pub where we all got to have our first fish and chips experience. It was a fun time, and we got to stop at some shops on the way home and pick up some stuff. After we got back, Becky, Danelle, Melanie and I headed over to the other side of our apartments and went to a Home Depot kind of store and a Eurospar (general market). I got a travel alarm clock and we all sat around in my room and hung out the rest of the night.

We had to leave by 8:30 this morning to get to DCU. Everyone kind of mis-read the e-mails and they had said we should be there by 9, registration starts at 9:30, and then the orientation starts at 10. Well, neither Mel's or my alarm clock went off. Thankfully I had taken a shower the night before (MUCH warmer than the first one I took) so I wasn't really grungy. We left about 10/15 minutes late, but headed off.

Made it there, and had to wait around for 15 minutes before registration started, and then managed to climb the stairs to the really steep lecture hall that we would be having our orientation in. The electrical equipment didn't work, so they moved us across the way to the business building. We were all given nifty DCU mesh backpacks which contained a folder with a bunch of information in it and a schedule.

We all sat down and started talking to people around us. Eventually we met two Aussie girls named Cass and Vanessa and French guy named Vincent (aka Vinny). We ate lunch with them and had a great time. It was just a lot of information all at one time. We learned about the University and how it differs from ours...but for the most part, it was basically a lecture on how it's expected that you attend class and on time.

We had a short break and then finally were told about classes (or as they call them modules). Let me tell you...I wish we had this system over in Wisconsin! You can choose to take the classes for fun or for credit...aka, you can show up to class for attendance and credit or you can show up just to learn. They typically have one-two lecture periods and then you're given the option to take one out of (usually) two or three seminar classes; which review what was learned in lecture and to discuss what is going on in the class.

They showed us the paper work that needed to be filled out and then sent us off to go look at the timetables to make sure we had no conflicts and stuff. I had planned on taking a class called 'Belief and Communication' and I had desperately wanted to take...however, 'Communication Theory' has an equivalent back at UWW, that is required for my major. In order for me to advance on in my program back home, I needed to take Comm. Theory here. There was a time conflict, and I was faced with what I wanted to take and what I needed.

Thus, I'm taking on four classes, all on Monday and Tuesday's, and then I have a full day of seminars on Wednesday. I have off all day Thursday and Friday. Since we are exchange students, we don't have to worry about the classes filling up; thus there is no rush on registering--which is what I was worried about. Ireland also does finals different. Modules are either marked as CA (constant assessment) or exam. At the end of the course, there is either an exam that is worth a certain percentage (can be 100% or 80%, etc.) or over the course of the semester, they can assess you and that determines your overall marks.

All of my classes are CA's. Which means I have no exams. Which means I have the entire month of May off to do whatever I want. :)

Since I have Thursday's and Friday's off, I may look into getting a job here. Minimum wage is something like 8.45 Euro...which is wonderful money in the US. I'm not sure about that though, since I'd have to get a work visa and such.

So that's my update and whatnot. Things are going well and getting much better now that we're settling in. I'm missing everyone back home, but I'll be home soon enough!

Love you all, and as they say here, once again...Cheers!