The Irish are Manly

Irishmen are very masculine, more so than British men and lots of American men. During my homestay in Tipperary I seemed to have experienced more fights than I have in years in America. Our host father Micael (pronounced Me-hall or something close to that) practically got into a physical fight with this one guy over an incident on the road where he got cut off. The guy came over, completely overlooking three young women in the car, and screaming at Micael “I’m going to fucking kick your ass” even though he was the one who almost got in the accident. This was right after experiencing my first hurling match. Micael LOVES all sorts of Gaelic sport, including hurling, which is probably one of the scariest sports to watch. I was frightened for all those young men in such a contact sport. Imagine a bunch of men running after each other and trampling on each other with sticks, only some wearing helmets. Fighting, blood, and grown men curling up into the fetal position ensue. It is funny though, when I was at the pub afterward, I recognized one of the hurling players and had a chat with him. He didn’t seem all too upset that his team lost. They might feel the need to prove their masculinity more than men in other countries, but at least they aren’t sore losers like American men.

The Irish are Disorganized

Six months ago everyone I know at home had the satisfaction of knowing what they were taking this term. Unfortunately, three days before courses begin, I still do not know what I am taking for sure, and I don’t even need to turn in an official registration form until October 17th. Yikes. I went to all my departments and was able to sort of sign up for some History classes, but there are still other departments that I have no idea how to read the timetables and no one really showed me. This is learning self-sufficiency in an almost extreme way; I don’t know how to do this on my own! In a few weeks I’ll probably look back on this time and think “why was I so anxious about all of this” but for now I have no idea how this is going to go. It’s a stressful process and all the professors say about it is “It is a silly process but we don’t know any other way!” IT’S CALLED THE INTERNET!