First day of classes... kind of...

I have now officially been in Ireland for one week (as of yesterday) and am loving it. This weekend was pretty laid back, we basically just explored downtown Galway which I love. It is a great walking city with cute shops, cobblestone streets and tons of friendly people. I loved getting a chance to walk around the city center and go into shops, and when we were down there it started snowing (which it doesn't do much here) and it was so pretty! We went into the original store that sold Claddagh rings which was very cool. The rings are named after The Claddagh which is a small fishing village on the outskirts of Galway. The rings in this particular shop (Thomas Dillon's Claddagh Gold) are engraved with a special mark on the inside that symbolizes throughout Ireland that these rings are the real (original) Claddagh Rings. That was Saturday and after exploring the city we came back, ate some dinner and watched a movie at a friend's apartment. The next day was pretty lazy. We just hung out, watched movies and relaxed in preparation for our first day of classes which was today (Monday).

Now, I say today was the first day of classes, but that is not entirely accurate. Visiting students (like me) at NUI Galway have what is called a "shopping period" for the first week where they basically go to whatever classes they think they might like. After this week we turn in a form to register. Today I went to a really cool class called The Development of the Castle in Medieval Europe with basically everyone in my study abroad program. That looks like its going to be a fun class. We go on a field trip, write one paper and have a multiple choice test (which according to the professor no one fails)! After that I had a little break before my next class. This class was interesting because about 25 of us waited for 30 minutes in the wrong room! by the time we figured it out we just decided to forget about it. It was okay though because I probably wont end up taking that class anyway because I don't really need the credit.

In other news, it is a little bit warmer out here now. A lot of the ice has melted and your face no longer feels like it is going to freeze off when you go outside. Also, I got a long internet cord today so I can now sit on my bed and get comfortable while blogging to all you wonderful people!!

I hope you all are doing well. Thats all for now.