STUDY Abroad

I guess since I am technically here to study I should talk a bit about the classes.  Though I didn't expect things to be very different from the States, I was wrong.  I am only taking three classes here, as opposed to the five I was taking back home, but these three classes transfer as five credit hours each, so I am taking 15 hours.  My expectation is that these classes would require more work because they hold more credit, but the opposite is true.  There is very little coursework to do here.  I am taking 2 final level psychology classes (Peace and Conflict Psychology and Health Psychology) and a middle year history class (The Irishman at War with an added emphasis on the religious aspects of those wars).  Each class consists of one essay and one exam (or another essay).  I may have one added presentation for each class, but that is it!  No sweat.  I am ahead working on my coursework and I still feel like I haven't done much of anything.  The trick, however, comes with the classes themselves.  I am lucky enough to only have class 2 days a week (Thursday and Friday).  This leaves me plenty of time to travel and explore, but t also makes for long days seeing as I have to sit in each class for 3 hours.  Thursdays consist of a 2 hour lecture on Peace and Conflict, an hour break, then an hour seminar for Peace and Conflict, then another hour break and a 2 hour history lecture on war where names are thrown around that make no sense (especially since everyone seems to have the same last name!) then an hour break followed by an hour of seminar where the previous week is reviewed in a more concrete details.  It makes for a long day and a conscientious lengthening of my attention span, but if that is the price I pay for getting to be in Ireland, then it is worth it!