As of late

Over the past two weeks or so I've somewhat neglected this blog, but that's only because I've been rather busy.
Monday 15 September, I went to see Waiting for Godot with my class, and it was very good. I studied the play in my Existentialism course last fall, so I was especially excited to see it live. The actors were perfect, as they should be, for they've been playing the same parts for over twenty years, which adds another level to their wait...
The next day, we left for Inis Meain, which was an amazing experience. On the way, we stopped for lunch in Coole Park, once home of Lady Gregory and inspiration to Yeats. Michelle read his poetry as we wandered through the words, but I must say, his words don't appeal to me as much as other poets. He was obviously immensly talented, but I like others better. The park, however, was beautiful, but we didn't see any wild swans. Swans are to Ireland as Geese are to America; it's weird to see those white elegant birds as often as pigeons or sea gulls. Yet the magpies sound like pterodactyls....Or maybe the screeching comes from those other black birds that hide in the trees of campus. It's hard to tell, they are in the trees afterall.
My time spent on Inis Meain will be hard to rival. I wandered through the low stone walls scratching at my notebook. The entire island was covered in limestone: stone walls, stony beaches, ancient stone forts, stone cliffs. I was dissapointed by the amenities, as I was told it would be "uncivilized." It was far more civilized than I had hoped, but I shouldn't complain because the bed and breakfast was very cozy. I just thought I'd escape for a while, but it wasn't as far off as I had pre-supposed.
After the island trip, Michelle, Mary and I stayed on in Galway. Sarah, Eowyn and Sussanna were there too. We had a traditional Irish dinner on our first night. Michelle, Mary and I ventured to Sligo the next day, specifically to Drumcliffe to see Yeats' grave. We also went to Carrowmore, a Megalithic burial tomb site. It was really interesting, and reminded me of the Rick Steves DVD I watched with Mom and Nonnie before leaving for Ireland. So I pretended to be Nick Steves instead and gave my friends a tour while fabricating stories about the ancient people. But alas I did not have a fanny pack!
Back in Galway, we ran into a really neat market on Saturday morning, where I purchased a few gifts for people back home. There was also an amazing crepe stand.
I'm currently dividing my time between finishing my papers for my early start course and beginning work on my autumn semester courses. I've only had Latin and Jazz so far. I'm absolutely in love with Latin; I really enjoy going to the class and doing the translation homework. Learning new languages is fun and Latin is so similar to French, which is exciting! I'm slightly worried that I'm in over my head in the jazz ensemble. I practiced my part on piano for 2.5 hours on Friday and it's not quite there yet. Also, I didn't end up going to the music department this weekend to practice, but I will be going everyday until that ensemble meets again on Thursday! Plus my Early Music Ensemble begins on Wednesday...I hope playing in two ensembles isn't too much to practice.
As of right now my schedule stands as: Latin, 18th Century Literature, Critical Literary Theory, Early Music and Jazz Ensemble. This doesn't seem like much, but I already got credit for 2 courses from the early start semester and I can't go over 18 credits in total. I'm also going to audit a course called The Classical Tradition which studies literature, art and architecture that is rooted in the classics. I want to sit in on a French language course so I don't loose that. I wasn't too thrilled to learn I couldn't take French for credit, but if I were taking it, I wouldn't be learning Latin!
I've officially booked two weekend trips. In mid October, after our Early Start Semester in Irish Literature final exam, Michelle and I are off to Paris. Then around 13 November, Michelle, Mary, Sarah and I are going to Milan, which I'm really excited for because I haven't been there.