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...and 51 to go.  Hooray!  I finished my first week as a graduate student!  Dare I say it wasn't that hard.  I have most likely jinxed the rest of my year by saying that.  But, that's how my life goes.

Not everyone in your group felt that way.  We had our first causality.  Arriving to class on Thursday morning we were informed that we were now a class of 6.  The girl, never did learn her name, that I mentioned in the previous post, the one who I didn't think would make it, dropped out.  It's unfortunate, but these things happen.  I guess it is good that she got out early and didn't waste time.  Oh well, enough about that.

On Thursday, I had my first course on Biocultural Approaches to Human Remains.  I am not too excited about this course.  First off, it's a theory course.  Second, it's rooted in a cultural approach to archaeology.  Finally, it's partially an ethics course.  All of that adds up to a very dull class with a lot of reading.  And the first class didn't disappoint.  Straight off the bat we began examining the history of archaeology and how it had to fit into the context and timeline set forth by the Old Testament.  Over the next 3 hours I tried to keep my focus and at least look like I gave a shit.  When it was done, I was surprised I made it. I also knew that I had 7 more three hour lectures in course.  On a positive note, it was the first time I have ever taken a theoretical history course and the name Franz Boas was not mentioned.  Thank you non-American education!

After that course ended I had more fun administrative stuff to do with the International Students Office.  This primarily involved waiting in lines.  Having sorted out my paper work on Tuesday (which could have easily been done while we were waiting in the lines), I only had to have my photo taken for my student ID.  It took over an hour.  With the stupid and idiotic amounts of redundancy the administration of the International Students Office produces it was amazing that I was there for only an hour.  Like all my student ID cards before, this one is yet another mug shot.  However, this one may be the best one yet as I was allowed to keep my black skull cap (beanie) on.  I look like a biker thug.  Got to find joy in the little things, right?  With that out of the way, it was almost time to head over to a International Student reception and information session.  I was only going because food and alcohol were being provided free of charge. But first I had an hour to kill.  I figured I would get my student loan check from the finance office.  What began as a simple office visit turned into a scavenger hunt all around the main building of the university.  Mind you that the main building is a freaking castle!  With no signs or directions.  Needless to say, it was easy to get lost.  Soon I was joined by another equally confused and lost student. Eventually, we made it to the correct office and I got my loan check.

The reception and information session was nothing special.  As promised, there was food and wine afterwards.  Met a few people as we snacked and drank.  Eventually, I called it a night and headed back home.  I am still on a very different time zone and I was surprised I was still moving.

Side view of main building of University College Cork

Friday was much the same.  Except this time the course was the Archaeology of Life and Death aka Mortuary Theory.  I will be very happy when all this theory crap is over with and done.  This course sounds slightly interesting as it will be dealing with how and why people dispose of the dead the way they do and how it has changed over time.  The first class was quite boring, as it was yet another examination of archaeology theory through history.

Friday night was Culture Night in Cork.  I had no idea what that involved but I had a mini-guide and I tried to find something fun to do near my house.  Just a few blocks away was St. Fin Barre's Cathedral.  According to my guide they were open late and giving tours.  I decided that I would check it out.  I have walked by the cathedral many times and I am always impressed by its medieval Gothic architecture.  The tour was quite basic but the building was amazing.  It was impressive even without being able to see all the stained glass.  I must come back during a sunny day to see the glass.  The pictures I took from that evening are poor as it was dark and raining (imagine that!).  I promise to post better ones soon.  That was my culture night.  Nothing else was really going on near me.  I returned home and both my house mates had some friends over.  They invited me to join them and we talked for a bit then decided to go out.  The evening ended up being a lot of fun.  Met a lot of people. None of them Irish.  I guess that's what I should expect when living with a Spaniard and German.

St. Fin Barre's Cathedral

Inside St. Fin Barre's Cathedral

So over all it was a good first week.  Plenty of bumps and I am sure I can expect plenty more.  51 more weeks.  Seems like such a far ways away.

First Day of Graduate Studies

My class was scheduled to begin on Tuesday morning at 10AM, less then 20 hours after arriving in Cork.  I left my apartment early.  I was convinced I was going to get lost.  Miraculously, I found the archaeology department with ease.  The building is located only 5 minutes away from where I am living.  I'm sure this will come in handy when I am inevitably running late.  The building itself is nothing special.  I was one of the first students there.  Soon, the other students arrived at the Human Remains Laboratory.  There are 7 students in total.  All, but myself, are female. There is one other American student who graduated from UCSB.  She doesn't fully count as a foreign student as she did one year of her undergraduate studies at Cork.  That makes the group 5 Irish girls who all know each other (except one), one half-American girl who knows Cork well, and me, who knows nothing at all about anything going on. 

Shortly after all the students arrived, I meet the professor of the program.  He seems very nice and approachable.  He welcomes us all to the program and passes out a packet containing the overview of the courses.  We spend the next hour going over each of the courses that we will be taking.  In total, I will have to take 7 courses plus a dissertation.  Those courses include:
     Regional and Topographical Anatomy (aka Gross Anatomy)
     Mortuary Theory
     Archaeogenetics
     Biocultural Approaches to Human Remains
     Paleopathology Seminar
     Quantitative Methods in Bioarchaeology
     Osteoarchaeology Laboratory (aka Osteology)

None of the classes worry me too much as I have been exposed, in some degree, to each of them already. Each course is graded by a multiple choice examination, an essay/ paper, or a combination of both.  The professor made a point to emphasize the difficulty of the anatomy course.  This scared everyone in the room, except for me.  I am hoping my previous anatomy course and the 5 years in pathology will help me out.

After wrapping up the introductory session, a group of us went to one of the food areas on campus and got lunch together.  Everyone seems very friendly and I think the group will get along just fine over the next year.  There is one girl who has already distanced herself from the group.  She is difficult to figure out and declined our invitation to join us at lunch.

After lunch, we had our first lecture in Anatomy.  The class is located in a brand new building and took us about 10-15 minutes to walk to from the Archaeology building.  It's a large course with approximately 75 students in it.  The course is made up of students from 3 different programs, 1st-year physiotherapy, 3-year neuroscience, and master's osteology students.  This further calmed my nerves as I figured if 1st-years are in this class then it can't be that difficult.  But, I am not going to become lazy because of that.  The class had begun and the student who did not join us for lunch was not there.  She finally arrived several minutes after the class had begun.  I'm not sure how well she is going to do in the program.  Over the next hour, I tried to entertain myself as I listened to a very boring lecture on anatomical position and directions.  I hope the course stays this easy.  We were informed that the class schedule for Wednesday (tomorrow) was canceled.  As that is my only class on Wednesday, I now had a day off.

Class ended and I had one final thing to do before I could go home and sleep.  I had to sign and submit some papers to the International Students Office.  It didn't take too long and soon I was back at my apartment. 

I think the program is going to be a good fit for me.  However, I am afraid that it will be mostly review and I wont actually be learning new material.  I guess that is to be seen.  Its easy to underestimate a course in the beginning.  Either way, I will be getting my Master's Degree and that all I really care about.

Don't Panic

Don't Panic.  These two words are quite possibly the most useful advice when traveling the galaxy. Or in my case just to Ireland.  Though, not panicking is much easier said then done.  My day of traveling began long before I got on a plane at LAX.  It began in my mom's kitchen nook, where my sister and I were packing my suitcases.  After checking the new international baggage rules and regulations, which are purposely designed to prevent international traveling, we had to unpack half of my suitcase, scrap a few clothes, and pack a 2nd carry on (which we could not figure out if it was allowed or not).  With no scale to weigh anything, it was anyone's guess if I was under the weight limit.  Once finished with that ordeal, I attempted to sleep, eventually achieving a mere 2 hours.  At 5:30AM we were off to LAX.  After a brief but tearful goodbye, I entered the long line to get my boarding passes and weigh my baggage.  My suitcase weighed in at 50.5lbs, 0.5lbs over limit. By a sheer stroke of luck, or a blessing of the travel Gods, the flight agent said, "we'll let that one slide" as if she was being nice and doing me a favor.

So hurdle one has been overcome.  Now onto the security checkpoint.  It's a long line, but seems to be moving quickly.  As I near the end of the line, the line begins to split into 5 lines.  I pick the shortest.  Mistake #1!  Its shortest because it is the only line that is using the new full body scanners and thus each individual take 3 times as long to go through when compared to a standard metal detector.  While awaiting my turn I turn to my right and notice a dog going through security.  This is not to be confused with a highly trained police security dog.  No, this is someone's pet that they are apparently attempting to bring on board a modern aircraft.  And it's not one of the small yappy type dogs either! It must have weight 40lbs!  Unfortunately, I did not see the conclusion to that episode as it was my turn in the machine.  "Oh joy," I say to myself, "at least my knee wont set this one off." Mistake #2!  As I exit the machine I hear over the radio of the TSA officer in front of me, "Male, anomaly, waist."  I haven't the slightest clue what the machine thinks it saw in my waist line.  Now, I have to get a person to give me a pat down inspection.  Amazingly, they find nothing in my waist line.  Stupid machines.  But, at least I was through security.  Now to just find my plane.

The flight from LAX to JFK was not too bad.  There was a very young baby right behind me but surprisingly only cried for a minute or so right after take off.  This being an American airline company, breakfast was offered for the price of $8.00.  A glass of water was free.  I had the water.  Who the hell would pay $8 for crappy airplane eggs.  Oh well, no breakfast.  A little time passes and it is time for the inflight move to begin.  Now I typically have good luck with airplane movies so I was hopeful.  Mistake #3!  Not today.  I was subjected to 'Something Barrowed.'  A romantic-drama of epically horrible proportions!  Even without my headphones in I could not escape the movie as the TV was right in front of me.  I fought back to urge to smash it with my fists.

After 5 hours of flying I land in New York.  I have 1.5 hours until my flight to Shannon, Ireland leaves.  Getting off the flight there is no airline representative to assist me or anyone in an information booth to tell me where my connecting flight is.  I eventually leave the terminal after making several rounds and determining its not there.  I randomly asked a employee at a ticket counter and he responded I needed to go to Terminal 4.  He offered no other direction and seemed very pissed off that I disrupted his few precious minutes of not dealing with any living human being.  I headed out of the building and looked for a bus or something to take me to Terminal 4.  I found a train.  Eventually, I made it to Terminal 4, got my boarding pass, went downstairs, and began the whole security process over again.  The line is long, very long, and moving at a pace that would make a snail think he's The Flash.  Once closer I see why the line is going so slow.  They are pushing everyone through 3  of the 5 available metal detectors.  It wasnt a staffing issue the prevented the other two from being used as there were loads of extra TSA agents just standing around chatting.  I now have 20 minutes to get to my flight before it takes off.  I can hear them calling for passengers over the loud speaker. I'm at least 30 minutes from the plane.  With about 5 people left in front of me, TSA decides it should open the other 2 metal detectors.  Finally, I think I'm going to get through. Mistake #4!  The guy in front of me gets his bag flagged in the x-ray machine.  Three TSA agents now are staring at a screen trying to figure out if he has a bomb or a pack of gum.  While waiting, an Aer Lingus representative came to security and announces it's final boarding on my flight and asks anyone on the flight to the front of the line.  TSA doesn't care.  They aren't letting me through until the guy in front of me has been fully searched.  With a little more negotiating by the airline rep she gets me through security.  I am now running down the terminal, without my shoes on, to the plane.  Check in, put shoes on, get on plane.  Nearly had a 'Dumb and Dumber' moment.  But, at last, I am on the plane to Ireland.

What a difference being on a non-American airline makes. First, I have my own TV.  I have my own remote.  I have a selection of 25+ movies to pick from and 20+ TV shows to watch.  For FREE! We are served a FREE dinner and snacks. However, the flight was not all perfect.  There was yet another baby on this flight.  I wasn't getting lucky twice.  In fact, it wasn't even a baby, it was a toddler, who was hell bent on making everyone's life a living nightmare for the entire 5.5 hours we were in the air.  My solution: volume on movie up and attempt to block it all out.  Maybe got a half hour of sleep on the flight.

We land in Shannon and now I have to catch a bus to Cork.  I buy a ticket and head to the bus stop.  Its currently 6:30AM, freezing, and raining.  Welcome to Ireland.  I find the bus, get on, and think about going to sleep.  Then I remembered I have no idea when I'm getting off this bus.  No sleeping for me.  Thankfully I didn't.  The bus ride was incredibly scenic as it took me right through the heart of the Irish countryside.  Everything is so green!  And there were so many castles and medieval ruins!  Just like a postcard or movie.  Taking pictures would have been a great idea.  But I didn't take any as it was too dark and they would not have turned out.

Finally, I arrive in Cork.  Get a taxi to my apartment.  Get my keys (not until I find out that they haven't received my wire transfer yet, just another headache to deal with) and find my room.  I meet one of my roommates as I enter.  He is from Germany, that's all I can remember.  I send my email letting my family know I made it, then proceed to pass out for about 10 hours.

Every travel guide should mimic the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and include the words "Don't Panic" written in large red letters across its cover. It's the most important thing to remember while traveling.  That, and never go anywhere without your towel.