Spring Break Plans & A Visit to the Immigration Office

Two more classes down, two more classes until the weekend. In Contemporary Society, we talked about the origin of the Gaelic language. (The terms Gaelic and Irish are used interchangeably. If you ask an Irish person, they'll tell you they speak 'Irish.') While English is now the main language in Ireland, many parts of the country (i.e. the west coast and least populated areas) still speak the country's native language. Most classes at Irish colleges and universities are in English, although there are a selective few (including DCU) that offer courses in Gaelic/Irish.
An interesting side note too: We also talked about why a baby's first word is usually "mother." When infants are teething, their mother may repeat the word 'mother' in some variation. The baby then repeats the sound, the mother beams, and the child continues to make the sound after receiving a positive response from its mother. Regardless of what language the mother speaks, this word is usually a child's first spoken word.

In history, we discussed the part of Irish history we were all most familiar with: the Great Famine. Interestingly enough, the British were hit just as hard with the famine as the Irish between 1845-1851. But at that time, even the poorest social class in Britain could affair other foods besides the potato. It's estimated that around one million Irish died as a result of the famine, and another million immigrated to the United States.

I booked my flight to Rome for spring break today! We're planning to fly into and spend several days in Rome, before heading north to Florence, Venice, and ending our 10-day break from the books in Paris. We're still working out the logistics for traveling between the cities, but for not I'm excited about the trip!

Tonight, our group was scheduled to have a meeting with the National Immigration Bureau. When we arrived here almost two weeks ago and went through customs, they stamped our passports to approve our stay in the country for one month. We were told to follow up with the Immigration Bureau to have the remaining three months of our program approved as well. While the idea of making this process run as smoothly as possible might have been the intention, we wound up spending two hours in the office waiting in a long line behind one another. Nevertheless, we each received a certificate of registration card that we'll present to customs when traveling outside of the country. Some of the girls stopped to get milkshakes on the way home; it made the trip into the city to the bureau a little sweeter!