Day Fourteen - 24/9/2012 - Cork

     Today was the first day of school.  I attended a computer science class at 9:00, and quickly realized that I was going to drop it as I would not receive any UC credit for it.  Immediately after, at 10:00, I had a structural biochemistry lecture but arrived late, as there is no passing period time here.  Irish students must choose a major when they enroll in college, and they begin taking classes in their major from year one.  Therefore, a third year student in Ireland has already taken two full years of coursework in their major.  Most Irish students have all of their classes in the same building, so the lack of a passing period does not really affect them.  This also means that each department makes their timetables without regard to the other departments.  As an international student, picking classes from different departments becomes a scheduling nightmare.
     Punctuality seems to be more important during lecture here than in the US.  When I entered the lecture hall late, the whole room stared at me.  Luckily, I'll be dropping the class before this one.  Lecture was fairly typical, and I was amused by the way my structural biochemistry professor pronounced "amino" (a-mine-o) and "methyl" (mee-thill).
     After class, Meng and I explored some of the greenery around campus, discovering Mardyke walk, which featured a small bridge spanning the River Lee.  It seemed to be a dog park of sorts, and as we were wandering along the banks, we realized that this very scenic route led straight to our building.  Future morning walks to school will be much nicer.
     Along the trail was a sign that explained the history of some of the nearby buildings.  There is a massive stone building built directly on the banks of the Lee that we pass by every morning that used to be a flour mill.  It is now used to brew malt.  Mercy University Hospital, which we pass by every morning as well, has two main buildings, a modern one, and an older, historical one.  The historical one, which, viewed from across the river, revealed itself as quite large, used to be the Lord Mayor's house in Cork, but was donated for use by the hospital.