Cody here:
I have been drafting and redrafting a "beginning at UCC" post for a while now and been left disappointed in each endeavor. Now that I am at least a little bit out from it, I hope I can say something worthwhile.
Orientations were a little overwhelming but for the most part easy. I spent Thursday and Friday of last week attempting the awkward forced mingling of a bunch of people with little in common apart from occupying the same space. All of the international students went through the process at the same time and this did give me a chance to talk to quite a few people from around the world and to hear a variety of stories for why these students had decided to pack up to study in Ireland. I had a particularly interesting conversation with a Law student from New York who asked me a variety of (I would think somewhat obvious) questions about the South. I did particularly appreciate that he associated southerners with Waffle House (apparently the only times he has been at Waffle House have been in Alabama). As far as associations to have with the South, Waffle House is one of the best.
I also took particular interest in a presentation the International Office gave about the expectations and attitudes of different cultures. In particular, they said that, compared to the Irish, Americans have a low tolerance of uncertainty. This actually explains a lot of the things that have made me uncomfortable in the whole process of settling in Ireland. Madilyn and I explained finer points of our lease to our landlords because they had printed it off the internet and hadn't read the whole thing, there was no line or specific system as I went through registration at UCC, and, probably the most shocking to me, the one lane road outside my house is not one way (if two cars come down it head on, they simply wiggle around until they squeeze past each other. This can take quite a while).
What is particularly interesting about this is, while things aren't specifically spelled out here the way they are in the U.S., they still get done. It remains to me, however, to get used to this more laid back way of doing things (I'm the first to admit I probably have a lower tolerance of uncertainty than many Americans).
The week following orientation I had my first course meeting for the MA in Irish Writing & Film. I'm really pretty excited about the program. The instructors I have met so far seem quite nice, friendly, and approachable, and my fellow students are much the same. We have ten students going through the MA this year (including three Americans and a Brit) and we pretty much run the full range on age, background and interests. The program seems quite flexible, and they even told us they reworked the reading list because of how many students had an interest in Theatre (myself being one of them). All in all I am excited about the program. I've already read my first assigned short story. "Castle Leixlip," and am looking forward to giving it another skim before things really get busy next week, and I've volunteered to be a "Course Representative." Alongside our other rep., it'll be my job to compile student reactions to the coursework and discuss with the faculty how to improve it for the future.
I've also had a chance to start getting involved here and there outside my MA program. I attended the first meeting of UCC's Theatre Society and am planning to audition for their run of student directed plays coming up soon. I was very impressed with the group. They put on as many as seven productions a year, simply as an extra-curricular. I don't know if I really anticipate getting a part in a play, but I certainly hope I can get involved.
I've also signed up to audit some introductory Irish courses offered by the University. I am particularly excited about these (not the least because they waived the auditing fee, saying that if I was getting an MA in Irish Literature I really probably ought to take an Irish Language course. I wasn't going to argue).
I am very optimistic about the more overtly school-centric aspects of my time here and am hoping that they'll grow into more opportunities to be involved with the campus and the community.
I have been drafting and redrafting a "beginning at UCC" post for a while now and been left disappointed in each endeavor. Now that I am at least a little bit out from it, I hope I can say something worthwhile.
Orientations were a little overwhelming but for the most part easy. I spent Thursday and Friday of last week attempting the awkward forced mingling of a bunch of people with little in common apart from occupying the same space. All of the international students went through the process at the same time and this did give me a chance to talk to quite a few people from around the world and to hear a variety of stories for why these students had decided to pack up to study in Ireland. I had a particularly interesting conversation with a Law student from New York who asked me a variety of (I would think somewhat obvious) questions about the South. I did particularly appreciate that he associated southerners with Waffle House (apparently the only times he has been at Waffle House have been in Alabama). As far as associations to have with the South, Waffle House is one of the best.
I also took particular interest in a presentation the International Office gave about the expectations and attitudes of different cultures. In particular, they said that, compared to the Irish, Americans have a low tolerance of uncertainty. This actually explains a lot of the things that have made me uncomfortable in the whole process of settling in Ireland. Madilyn and I explained finer points of our lease to our landlords because they had printed it off the internet and hadn't read the whole thing, there was no line or specific system as I went through registration at UCC, and, probably the most shocking to me, the one lane road outside my house is not one way (if two cars come down it head on, they simply wiggle around until they squeeze past each other. This can take quite a while).
What is particularly interesting about this is, while things aren't specifically spelled out here the way they are in the U.S., they still get done. It remains to me, however, to get used to this more laid back way of doing things (I'm the first to admit I probably have a lower tolerance of uncertainty than many Americans).
The week following orientation I had my first course meeting for the MA in Irish Writing & Film. I'm really pretty excited about the program. The instructors I have met so far seem quite nice, friendly, and approachable, and my fellow students are much the same. We have ten students going through the MA this year (including three Americans and a Brit) and we pretty much run the full range on age, background and interests. The program seems quite flexible, and they even told us they reworked the reading list because of how many students had an interest in Theatre (myself being one of them). All in all I am excited about the program. I've already read my first assigned short story. "Castle Leixlip," and am looking forward to giving it another skim before things really get busy next week, and I've volunteered to be a "Course Representative." Alongside our other rep., it'll be my job to compile student reactions to the coursework and discuss with the faculty how to improve it for the future.
I've also had a chance to start getting involved here and there outside my MA program. I attended the first meeting of UCC's Theatre Society and am planning to audition for their run of student directed plays coming up soon. I was very impressed with the group. They put on as many as seven productions a year, simply as an extra-curricular. I don't know if I really anticipate getting a part in a play, but I certainly hope I can get involved.
I've also signed up to audit some introductory Irish courses offered by the University. I am particularly excited about these (not the least because they waived the auditing fee, saying that if I was getting an MA in Irish Literature I really probably ought to take an Irish Language course. I wasn't going to argue).
I am very optimistic about the more overtly school-centric aspects of my time here and am hoping that they'll grow into more opportunities to be involved with the campus and the community.