Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

So my immune system has finally been compromised a wee bit, and the sore throat is starting to kick in. Thankfully, I don't have class on Fridays, so I survived all of my labs and lectures this week without feeling too terrible. That being said, all of my classes went pretty smoothly so far.

The first thing I have to do is explain this UK university system. All of the students who study here long term are in certain courses (what we call a major). From their first year of study, they are assigned 3 modules (classes) each semester. Everyone in the course attends the same modules with the same professors. This seems more like an elementary way of doing things to me... but what do I know? There are also no class size limitations, and often, more than one module attends the same lecture. For example, my anatomy and physiology module contained Biomedical course students as well as Pharmacy students. We will all go to the same lectures, but take different exams and attend different seminars.

Two of my modules are second year and one is first year. I was allowed to pick my courses because I am an international student, but I had a strange experience registering for my modules. On the University's website, they have a timetable with ALL of the module's lecture, seminar and practical (lab) times. I looked up the modules I thought I would need, and then I had to get the department heads to sign off on them. Since everyone else takes the same courses, this was a rather confusing process for them. Two of my modules overlap on Mondays, but the Biomedical chair looked me in the eye and said "You can go to one lecture one week, and the other the next week."  ..... I'm sorry, WHAT?

To this comment, I actually had to reply, "Um, really? In America, that would never be okay, but if you look me in the eye and say that's what I can do, then I will do it."

This is why my quote for the week has been “Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” - Alice in Wonderland

So he said I could do it, and I am still a bit confused as to how that would have worked. Thankfully, it worked out that the conflicting lecture on the timetable is only for pharmacy students and I don't have to attend it. But still, WHY IS IT ON THE TIMETABLE IF IT ISN'T FOR EVERYONE TAKING THE CLASS?! I have been asking these kinds of questions in all caps for the past week, but I am finally just coming to terms with these culture differences. 

My first lecture this week was Genetics. I have a very soft spoken woman of a professor with a pixie cut, and at first I thought she might be a little tough. Now I think she is more afraid of us than we are of her. Her first lecture was a review of cell biology. Before she began, she asked the class if we had all had cell biology last year. I have not had cell biology, but everyone else in the room already had, of course, because they are all on exactly the same track. As she began, I was a little worried, but I need to say a big thank you to Dr. Gillespie and Dr. Gilliam, who did a fantastic job teaching me more than the basics of cell bio in intro bio. I am light years ahead of everyone else in that lecture! (Of course it is only their second year and I am in my third...)

I got the same basic review of biology and chemistry in all of my other modules as well. In physiology we started out with the basics in the nervous system, so thank you to Dr. Mewaldt and Dr. Gilliam for introducing me to the Na/K pump and dendrites and axons well in advance. The Psychobiology professor also had to teach the class what an ion is and that ions with different charges will attract. He said that's how they get together to form a salt within a neuron... For the sake of the lecture, that's all the sophomores needed to know. However, I still sat there cringing, playing all of those ionic bond lectures from chem 211 over again in my mind. 

Just today I had a lecture in Genetics on agarose gel electrophoresis, which is what I spent the last half of my summer doing! Most people in the class were thoroughly confused on the process, but I can tell you right now, I will be the first one done with that lab on Tuesday. Thank you Dr. Day!

I truly felt bad for the first year students in my anatomy and physiology class. I wasn't taking notes because I already knew the information on the powerpoint slides. When we went on break, however, I found out the girls in the bathroom had to stop taking notes because they couldn't understand the slightest bit what he was talking about. The only time I have experienced utter confusion in a university class was in Organic Chemistry, but I think that is justified. Thanks to my wonderful high school teachers, I have never sat in a college classroom and felt completely turned around. So this is when I have to ask, are American students really behind the rest of the world? Or is that just some popular myth we have in the states to make us all feel horrible about ourselves and want to improve things?

Anyway... here are my six impossible things before breakfast for this week:

1. The University of Ulster says it is no problem at all to be in two places at once.

2. Ulster doctors don't prescribe antibiotics until you have had flaming, dying, cold symptoms for 3 WEEKS.

3. "You's" is an acceptable plural form for "you all".

4. All 4 seasons can happen within 20 minutes.

5. A 63 can be an A grade.

6. The American dream lives

Time is a funny thing.

I have now been in Northern Ireland for exactly two weeks. But time is a funny thing, because I feel as if I have been here for more than a month already! So many trips and parties and new friends have been compacted into such a short time period, it makes my life feel dense. It’s as if before now, my life’s surface area to volume ratio was much larger than it is now.

My modules (classes) just started on Monday, but my learning experience definitely started awhile ago. If you want me to expand on anything on this list, let me know and I will, but here is what I have learned so far:

1.       The grass really is greener in Ireland

2.       Sheep really are EVERYWHERE

3.       Windmills are beautiful things and we need more of them in America

4.       Making new friends is not difficult if you smile and make a joke

5.       Tea time is constant

6.       Rain is constant and the sun should never be taken for granted!

7.       Curse words are much funnier when used by old Irish men

8.       School buildings are called blocks, and that makes getting directions around campus very confusing when they tell you to go toward the “Tar Block”

9.       Speed bumps are called speed humps

10.   30 kilometers per hour is VERY different than 30 miles per hour

11.   European boys know how to dress  ;D

12.   Kelly’s is a wonderful place on Wednesday night

13.   Alcohol is allowed just about everywhere in Northern Ireland

14.   The University bus drivers are excellent tour guides

15.   The Giant’s Causeway should be one of the wonders of the world

16.   The Germans probably speak the best English (even above some of the Irish with their accents)

17.   Germans are also better at drinking than the Irish

18.   The strand is the beach

19.   Guinness is just okay, but the ciders are excellent

20.   The market in Coleraine’s city center is fabulous! America would be a better place if all of our small towns did something similar. Support your local businesses!

21.   Thrift stores are the same everywhere you go

22.   The Queys Pub is pronounced Keys Pub

23.   Surfing is so much fun!

24.   A wetsuit is the hardest piece of clothing I have EVER tried to put on, yet it kept me unexpectedly warm

25.   James Nesbit (an actor in the Hobbit) is the Chancellor of the University of Ulster and he is very nice to talk to

26.   Belfast is a fabulous city with lots of charm and surprisingly, a big city feel

27.   When your genetics and anatomy modules overlap, they don’t care if you attend them every other week

28.   Cleats are called studs

29.   Dandelion and Burdock is a disgusting grape drink

30.   The kindness of strangers here gives me hope for humanity. So far, I have always been able to rely on them for assistance

31.   Poundland is like Dollar General… Except not, because it is more expensive. 50 cents more expensive, which adds up

32.   Bringing the movie We Are Marshall was a good decision. I love having a glimpse of home

33.   Irish food is good, but bland. I could really go for some Rio Grande on 5^th Ave right now!

34.   Karte nummer 10 bedeutet oberbegriff

35.   Card number 10 means category, now formally known as oberbegriff

36.   Chocolate cake is very good when shared at midnight on the street corner without utensils

37.   Kaesespaetzle is absolutely fantastic

38.   Real caramel lattes do not come pre-stirred

39.   The mention of America still puts a sparkle in people’s eyes

40.   Shampoo will hold posters on the wall

41.   And I didn’t just learn this, but rather it has been reinforced, that God must truly love us an awful lot to give us such a grand place to live

I don't think we are in Kansas anymore, Todo

It's been a while since I've posted here, but honestly this is the first true time I have had to sit down with good wifi and type. So this post is about London and my adventures with Mom.

First off, we spent all day in the Atlanta airport on Thursday (Sep. 5th). Our flight from Charleston to Atlanta was fine, but for whatever reason, ALL of the flights to NYC from ATL were very oversold. So with our standby tickets, we didn't stand a chance of getting on. We waited for 5 flights all together before calling it quits and getting a rental car and hotel.

Were you discouraged, you say? Why no! Not at all! Marji and Teresa are professionals at keeping it cool when we need to, and we did. We rented the cutest, blue Fiat 500 and zipped around Atlanta just like we were in Europe anyway. We did, however, have a few inside jokes to keep us sane over the next couple of days of flying.

The first one was Hug a Male Model Day. I believe it started when we were in the airport and I swore I saw Hayden Spaeth standing across the way. It wasn't him when he looked up, unfortunately, but I told Mom I almost went up and hugged him! Since that's what Hayden does, he hugs people, for those of you who don't know. But we laughed and said I would have had to come up with an excuse for hugging a stranger, and we said I could have told him it was Hug a Male Model Day! (Since he was VERY attractive.)

From that point on, when we would pass an especially good looking guy, we would say, "It's Hug a Male Model Day!" But we never actually followed through on that...

The second thing we laughed about was a failure by Siri. On Friday morning we wanted to find a CVS before heading back to the airport. So Siri got directions and took us there... Except he didn't. We drove way out into some undeveloped neighborhood, and if we had turned left where he wanted us to, we would have been in a field! Mom asked Siri again about another CVS, but he said "I've found several CVS locations, but they are all pretty far from ONTARIO, CANADA!" How he got that idea, we will never know, but we laughed about it regardless. :D And we never did find the CVS.

But back at the airport, we got on the direct flight to Dublin. Which was worth it in the end because Jedward was on our flight!!! ....Yeah, I didn't know who they were either, but other people on the plane definitely knew they were famous. Apparently they were on the X Factor in Britain a few years ago?? I don't know. They didn't seem THAT cool.

Once we got to Dublin, we had another funny experience because suddenly, we had to work to understand people! We needed to store our big luggage in long term storage while we went to London, so people kept telling us to go left here, and go right here, and look for the green cups. So we walked around and never saw any green cups! We thought maybe they meant the luggage place was next to some decoration with green cups or something, but No! They were all saying Green CAPS! It was just the name of the luggage booth! So we laughed about that too, and easily made our way to London afterwards.

That first night in London was great. We saw the Lion King on the West End, with magnificent costumes and little British lion actors. Then we walked around looking in stores and pubs. We walked across the Thames River and saw the infamous London Eye Ferris Wheel. Then had a fabulous strawberry tart in a wine and pastry shop.

The next day...we meant to get up by 11 or so and attend Evensong at Westminster Abbey...but...we may or may not have slept until 2:30 pm... That's jet lag for you!

We still got to the organ recital there at 5:45, which was very magnificent. That evening we just walked around and took pictures in the different squares around London, like Piccadilly, Leicester, and Trafalgar. It was similar to being in Times Square. We had a wonderful dinner in Chinatown of crispy duck, and blended right in with all of the other foreigners in London. But Mom could pick out the Italians by their extremely slow walking pace, which was funny once I could start picking them out of the crowd too.

Another inside joke, (say it in a British accent and imagine two incredibly frustrated old people on the sidewalk): "Shut up." "No, YOOO shut up!"

Overall, we had a great two nights in London. It was obvious, however, that I am not going to live in Kansas anymore!