So I actually have a lot to write about this past week, but first I'd like to give some props to Chicago- Go Bears! And of course, some lesser props to my other hometown Indianapolis! I watched the games in a pub last night, the only place that plays American sports. I'm so mad I left the Colts game early though- what a comeback! It really makes me long for home though... Maybe I'm bad luck and all they needed was for me to leave the country haha. Of course the only January in my life when I haven't lived in either Chicago or Indianapolis, they both go the the Superbowl!
Well back to what I've done all week. Last Tuesday/Wednesday was quite an adventure. Tuesday night the film club played American History X for free, so after my lecture I stuck around and watched it with some of the Americans on my trip. Wednesday morning was the registration for English seminar courses for visiting students, so I was talking to some of them and they said that if you have a course you really want, you need to get there at 4:30 am. So a few of us decided to stay up all night and go really early because we had classes we needed to get (there's only one media studies class here). So we watched movies and hung out, and got to campus at around 5, and there were still over 30 people already there. This system is probably the most ridiculous I've ever heard of. Some crazy girl got there at 1:30 in the morning. And of course the weather here sucks, so we were outside in the hail and wind for hours. It sucked. But in the end I got my class, slept all day Wednesday, and still managed to sleep Wednesday night.
Thursday was a pretty wild night. For most of the time I've been here, I've been going out with Colin and his friends, but last week I finally met the Americans on my trip who have pretty much only been hanging out with each other. Thursday one of the girls had a party (but not in the way Americans think of parties- it's really more just getting together before you go out, BYOB. But I'm determined to have an "American" party here where we provide ice for drinks and red solo cups. They don't do real kegs here though. They have tiny little ones though that have about 10 pints in them- they're hilarious.) Then I went to The Cellar- the Americans favorite bar here. It was pretty fun, but all of them are really obsessed with the band that plays there, and they pretty much blow. My roommate is like a groupie, she hung out with them later that night. It's kinda weird. I went home and chatted to my Irish roommates who are awesome.
Friday then I had to register with immigration, and I missed the taxi that they set up for us, so it was pretty confusing finding it, but my friend and I got in a couple cabs and found it. It turned out to be about a 5 minute walk from my apartment, haha.
The best part of this week was our homestay. As part of my program, all of us go stay with an Irish family for a weekend. I went to Tuam where I stayed with a widow who lives on a farm, and two girls named Katie- one from Hinsdale who goes to Notre Dame (and, by the way, IS GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL! Her dad made a promise to their family that if the bears made it to the superbowl, he would fly all 8 of their children to Miami for it. Ridiculous) and the other Katie is from Buffalo, NY and goes to Miami-Ohio. They were really great and the whole weekend was worth it just to meet them. Not to mention Mary Fahy, our host mom. She was so nice and welcoming, we all loved her. She shared her opinions on Irish girls with us, and how she thinks the way they dress is "disgusting." It was nice to hear an Irish person say they preferred us wearing jeans, haha. The only problem was that there really isn't anything to do in Tuam. She dropped us off on Saturday for about 5 hours in town (the farm was about a 15 minute drive outside town) and we walked around, but ended up spending all day at the pub with all the other Americans who also had nothing to do. The general problem with all our homestays was that these people have students every weekend, and run more of a bed and breakfast than a cultural experience. One girl's family took her hiking and horseback riding and all over their farm, but the rest of us never had anything planned. Some families were downright rude to the students. Overall it was a really relaxing weekend, and it was nice to have really good food cooked for us.
Last night we got home and I hung out for a couple hours before heading off for the game. Now today I have to go do official registration for my classes, and head into town to pick up some bus schedules to finalize my trip to Berlin! I can't believe it's in 4 days! I'll write more later, I think I'll do an entry on things that I miss from America/piss me off about here. The list is growing and growing, let me tell you.
Tschuss!
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