The End

     Well, its over.
          Classes, I mean.
               But not final examinations.
                     Though, I'm nearly done with two of mine.

     Enough of the gloating. Yes, the Irish college semester at Galway is now over. We go for 3 months, have two weeks off for Easter and spring break, a "study week" and then finals. Unlike most American universities, examinations are spread out over a month, instead of packed in to one week. As an english major, many of my classes assign a final essay instead of a test, so in that respect, I'm used to my final schedule.
     My last class finished at noon today, and I turned in my first final right after class to the department secretary. The paper I am currently working on is for my Seminar, and is due online at 6pm on Friday. I actually enjoy writing it. I was able to pick from a list of 6 questions, and have had a month or so to work on it. I guess the only down side is this: there's no excuse for not doing well! I have another essay due on 8th April, and 2 mini-essays due 24th April. My two in-class finals are essay questions as well, and I will have 2 hours to answer the prompts.

The school doesn't believe in making students "guess"

 

     I know exactly what is expected of me, and know what I need to study. For now though, I'm planning to focus on my essay. I'll deal with studying later in April, after our spring break trip to Scotland. YAY!

     Last weekend I went on a field trip with my sister's "Castles" archaeology class . . . along with another friend going to NUIG . . . and her friends that were visiting from the US over break. The professor was talking to them and was slightly surprised that there were two girls on his trip who didn't even go to school there!

     To be fair, he said his students were welcome to invite guests, provided they pay the 20 euro fee.

 

That 20 euro was well spent

 

     We visited 5 sites that day, and most of them were not open to the public. Pallas Castle was our first site and our bus driver (who knows the country very well) didn't even know it was there. A locked grate covered the entrance to the castle which keeps idiot tourists from straying in and falling off the tower top, or ruining the well-preserved buildings. Luckily, the professor (a licensed archaeologist, no less) has a key for many off-limit national monuments. WAY more legit than Nicolas Cage. The photo below is Pallas from the bawn (grassy courtyard out front).

     On the right side of the photo is the tower house, which we went inside. Up, up, the spiral staircase we go until we reached to top floor and were able to venture outside on the battlement, which is where the picture below was taken:

 

     There, you can see the gatehouse and to the left, a little plaque about the castle. The next site was a Elizabethan-era-style-bla-bla-bla castle. It's up for renovations, so not nearly as cool. Much more touristy . . . once the curator opens it to the public in a few more months.

     Then we had a 2 hour long lunch (the professor knew the owner of the pub we all had lunch at - that was pretty sweet. Food was great too!)

     We went to a monastery next. Pope John Paul II (I think) preached there. Also, the largest Celtic crosses can be found at Ciran's Monastic site. So yeah.

      The best part (aside from Pallas) was the professor ushering us along to a broken down ruin of a castle that looked like it was about to collapse. At any second.

 

     We had to circumvent one fence, then crawl under barbed wire of a second fence to get to the ditch at the bottom of the castle. All teacher-approved. From experience, I can tell you that the defensive structure is superb. Climbing almost verticaly out of a ditch to try and storm a stone castle? No thanks. The hill in the picture is significantly taller and steeper than it looks. You can hide almost the whole army in the ditch in front of it, though.

     Pays to have awesome (and legit) professors with keys and disregard for barbed fences. That is, he didn't let the wires stop us - he DID hold them up so we wouldn't scratch ourselves.

     College isn't for everyone. Study abroad isn't for everyone. But I know without a doubt the experiences I've had in college and in Ireland would have been impossible without pursuing higher education and having a grand sense of adventure.

     This will not be my last post in Ireland - I still have so much to look forward to! It is simply The End to weekly classes and waking up at 8am for my 9am class in a freezing lecture hall after a 20min walk. Oh, things to celebrate!

 

♥C