Tomfoolery

Yesterday I went to my first class called "From Viking Raiders to Warrior Crusaders." We didn't do much but explore the prof's bibliography, then got an assignment to define what is meant by the word "Viking." I had time between classes so I went to the library to do this assignment, and to my dismay found out that Wikipedia had shut down for the day. Aside from my frustrations with having to plagiarize elsewhere (Encyclopedia Britannica), I actually thought this was a brilliant protest. Everybody uses Wikipedia, and yesterday I heard a lot of people talking about its Blackout. That's definitely one great display of power.

Next class was called "Irish Writing 1890-1945." It's unclear whether we will actually be reading books for this class or just listen to lectures about the authors themselves. The lecturer was very interesting though.There were many theories during this time period concerning the lifestyle of writers. For example, Bernard Shaw and some others felt that it was necessary to not be a citizen of one place, but to have a "metropolitan domicile," so many of them left Dublin for London and never returned, though they maintained their Irish culture and wrote about Ireland throughout their careers. Others, like Yeats, thought that the writer belonged on an island that lacked the civilization that London and Paris had, in order to give a voice to the voiceless. Sounds lofty enough. In any case, this class is very interesting--at least I think so.

After class I went back to the gym again, trying to get back to my routine from the end of last semester.

Last night was really fun. About 20 people went to this girls dorm for a pre-party, freshman style. Then we all went back to MssRs Maguire (where I lost my coat that one time) and were there for a few hours. In the middle of the hubbub these two Irish (I'd call them gentlemen, but they weren't) tried hitting on every girl in the group. It made them fairly uncomfortable but it was mildly entertaining. At one point, one of the guys feel on top of his friend and he showed plumbers crack (ultimate douchey faux-pas), and tried redeeming himself by head-butting my friend in the face. Tensions got high and we started to leave. My friend got all riled up in a way wholly similar to a raging dog. As we left the place, the two Irishmen followed our group for a while but finally gave up. I then had a lovely conversation with my friend who got head-butted on the wonderful primitive instincts that come along with fighting, unless of course this happens.

I came back home and Skyped with a few different people, sent out some semi-important emails I probably should have waited to send this morning, and finally went to sleep around 4, waking up five hours later with a massive headache and a buzz. I have two classes today and am then getting on the train for Galway. It should be an excellent weekend.