The first week of class...

I know it's been a while since my last post, but with classes starting this past week, I didn't really get a chance to go exploring or do anything too exciting. I know some of you would like to read about the ordinary, though, so here's a look back on the week:

I had my first class, Management of Change at 9:15 Monday morning. I already wrote about the events of that day, so I won't go into anymore detail about that.

Tuesday I had my second class, Managing Behavior from 1:15 to 4:15. The first two hours of class are a lecture and the last hour is a seminar, where we'll break into smaller groups and work on the group project that will constitute our coursework grade in the class. I was delighted to find that my Austrian friend, Bernie, is in the class with me. He and I are going to be in the same group along with three other Irish students. Although it might be hard to coordinate the group work, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to get to know Irish students. Right now I don't really know any of them because it's hard to talk to each other during lectures, they all know each other already, and I'm living with all international students. Our group project is going to be a five minute presentation and 3000-4000 word written analysis of a current issue in organizational behavior. The professor, Dr. Robert Kerr, spent a good thirty minutes at least trying to convince the students not to be afraid of getting up in front of the class and talking. It sounds like the Irish students don't have any experience doing this. He told them they are at a disadvantage to Americans, because American culture values the ability to speak calmly, collectively, and convincingly in front of others, therefore students are taught to do so at a very young age through show-and-tell and other activities. Because he said that, I'm definitely feeling the pressure to give a great presentation. The second I open my mouth everyone is going to know I'm an American. Wish me luck! After class, five of the girls and I called a taxi and went to Abbey Centre to get some much needed groceries. I'm getting more and more used to the selection of food they sell here, but some things I find still surprise me - like pre-packaged pancakes sold in the bread isle and the absence of turkey in the lunch meat section. Another peculiarity I discovered was the fact that you have to put a pound into the handle of the trolley (aka cart) in order to use it, but you'll get your money back when you put the trolley back. The shopping trip was successfully cheap, and we all came back to cook our own delicious feasts.

Wednesday I didn't have any classes, so it was a question of what to do with myself all day long. I took full advantage of having nothing to do, skipped the alarm clock, and slept in till about 11. I just putsed around until 4, and then seven of the girls and I hopped on the train to the Great Victoria Street train station in Belfast for a night of shopping. We walked from there to Victoria Square where there is a huge outdoor mall that has a huge glass dome lit by blue and red lights covering the top (that really isn't the greatest description, but I don't know how else to explain it). I went looking for two things, and two things only - a bigger purse and a pair of jeans. Most of the stores were higher-priced than I was looking for, but we had fun trying things on and checking out the trendy selections. Bethany and I went into a denim store - Orange Clockwork - to look for some jeans and we ended up meeting a friend of Jane Brown, a girl from Belfast who is currently studying at Grove City...I get the sense the world is a lot smaller than we think it is sometimes! I did end up finding both a bigger purse and a pair of jeans, although I would have loved to find them at a cheaper price...oh well! Our group met at the food court and decided to grab dinner at T.G.I. Friday's - genuinely Irish, I know. I think a lot of us were craving a taste of home though, evidenced by the fact that the majority of us got hamburgers.

Thursday I had my third and final class of the week - Business Strategy. With this class, the seminar is scheduled for 11:15 but the lecture is not until 5:15 at night. I got up early enough to make it to the seminar because all my other classes had the seminars this week. I even walked up to the main academic building, but quickly discovered that there was no block 21 in that buidling, and that's where my seminar was to be held. I knew there was a seminar scheduled for later in the afternoon, so I gave up on trying to find it and came back to my room to email the professor asking where to go. Turns out my roommate Kara has the class with me and the classroom is in the building right outside my window. The professor also emailed me back and told me there would be no seminar this week. To kill time until class, Kari, Erin and I headed back to the main building and stopped by the chaplaincy. We met some lovely people there and enjoyed a cup of tea and pleasant conversation. We also found out about the Christian Union, ICafe and small groups. The Christian Union meets Thursday nights at 7:30 and since I didn't have my seminar that night, Kari and I decided to check it out with my roommate, Amanda. 5:15 rolled around, and Kara and I headed to our two-hour class. The professor was kind of intimidating and it sounds like this could be a challenging class, but I think I'm up for it. For this class we have to do another group project consisting of written analysis and a 20-25 minute presentation. The presentations will be during the seminar portion of the class, which I found out will be from 11:15-12:15 every Thursday. I was glad to have it at that time so I wouldn't have to miss Christian Union. We had a full lecture and then I ran back to grab a bite to eat before heading to CU with Kari and Amanda.

We had a great time at CU. They started out with a time of praise and worship, then had a speaker come up and talk to us about world missions and reaching the unreached, and then we had time to mingle and talk to representatives from about 30 different missions organizations. I'm so glad to have found this club, not only for the Christian fellowship and the opportunity to meet Irish students, but also because through this club I have plans for not only Thursday nights, but also Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Tuesday nights are when the small group I've joined meets in the chaplaincy. We'll be studying the book of Ephesians throughout the semester...I'm really excited! Wednesday nights the CU puts on ICafe at a local church. ICafe is a ministry for the international students - you go to the church, pay one pound and get a huge dinner and lots of Irish friends in return. I can't wait to check it out next week! Oh, and I 'll just mention that there are some attractive men in CU...

As soon as CU was done, we came back to the apartment to find that the other girls had been drinking and were waiting for us to get back so we could all go to a club, Box, in Belfast together. Clubs really aren't my thing, but I decided to go anyway. When we arrived, I felt completely underdressed - the Irish girls were all in crazy high heels, super short mini dresses and had pounds of make-up on and hairspray in their hair. There was no way I'd ever dress like them, so I just embraced my conservative style. While the girls waited in the long line to get in the club, Kari, Amanda and I stopped in a bar to get a couple of drinks in us. This was the best part of the night for me because we got into this conversation about faith and where we're at in our walks. I won't go into details, but I will say that Kari and Amanda have recently come back to their faith and they want to come to me with questions they might have. Each of us recognized that God brought us here for a reason, and I think part of mine might be to be an encouragement and possibly a mentor to Kari and Amanda. It was such a great conversation, although I had to laugh at the contrast between the subject and our setting! I would really appreciate your prayers and encouragement, for me and for Kari and Amanda, as we seek God together. God is certainly at work here and I get the feeling exciting things are about to happen!

I could have ended my night right there, but now it was time to head into the club. The other girls opted to go to The Beach Club instead of waiting and probably not getting into The Box so that's where we went. It was quite the experience - loud music, drunk people all around me, barely-there outfits, and public displays of affection. I made the best of it though. Amanda and I tried to check both our purses and our coats, but they wouldn't take our purses, so we had to hold on to them all night. Kari headed straight for the dance floor to join the rest of the girls, a few of which were pretty drunk by then, but Amanda didn't want to dance so I decided to stay with her and give her company. Aine joined us and we decided have a shot and another drink, both of which were delicious. Some guy grabbed my butt while we were standing at the bar - pervert. And the rest of the night I got hit on by this seventeen year-old drunk boy who kept trying to kiss me and even followed me out on the dance floor for a few minutes. I just laughed about all of it and made the best of the entire experience. I don't think that's something I'll do multiple nights of the week like most of the college students do, but I would be open to going a few more times during the semester. It was a drastic difference from the kinds of fun we have at Grove City, good, clean fun, which is what I prefer.

I didn't have class on Friday either, so it was another lazy day for me. A few of the girls headed to a market in Belfast, but I stayed behind and did some reading and watched a TV episode I found on You-Tube. When they got back we all decided that we should go exploring this weekend so we spent all afternoon throwing out ideas and trying to decide where to go, settling on taking the bus to Downpatrick...I'll save those details for the next blog. I headed to Bethany's apartment around 7 with two of my roommates to watch part of a movie and then we came back to our block for a delicious dinner of salad and pasta with gargonzola cheese sauce made for us by Bernie. We all get such a kick out of Bernie and his Austrian accent, so we had a lovely time at dinner! A few drinks followed dinner and then we headed across the hall to an international student party. Amanda, Bethany and I only stayed for a short while, met a few people, including a couple girls from Spain and Dia from Jordan. It was too hard to carry on a conversation with the music blaring so loudly, so we gave up and headed to bed for a good night's sleep before our adventures on Saturday.

Overall it was a great week, and I'm excited for the 18 more adventure-filled weeks I have here. Plans are already coming together to go to Austria, London, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Paris and Normandy, Holland, Belgium and hopefully Spain, as well as the many sites here in Northern Ireland. I hope you're not too jealous...