Getting Settled In...

This past weekend was pretty quiet. Kristina and I spent a good part of Saturday just wandering around Cork. We had bagel sandwiches for lunch at a cute little restaurant, which were delicious. We also found a very beautiful cathedral, which might have been St. Finnbarr's, but I'm not sure of the name. There are actually several cathedrals around Cork, but this was the first one we had been inside. It was mostly wooden, with carvings of angels along the sides. There was a lot of stained glass, and some old-fashioned confessionals. At the back, there was a statue of Mary, Mary Magdalene, and St. John at the foot of Jesus' cross. It had been roped off and put rather high up, out of reach, but the feet of Jesus were dark, as if at one time, people kissed His feet the way we sometimes do at home with our crucifix. I really loved the whole church. I hope I can find it again one of these days.

Sunday was church at the small chapel on campus. It was nice; the problem was that the acoustics of the stone building produced nothing but echoes if anyone spoke quietly - and both lectors and both deacons had soft voices - even using the microphone. Kristina and I are planning on scouting out a different church every week for a while. There really are a ton of Catholic churches around. Anyway, it proceeded to rain for the rest of the day. I helped Kristina in the apartment's kitchen, and she made teriyaki chicken and fried rice for lunch. Unfortunately the chicken was extremely fatty - but the rice was really good!

Today I was on my own. I had 2 classes, each one 2 hours long. The first one, Philosophy of Mind, promises to be very interesting and spark a great deal of class debate. The second, Human Sexuality, is kind of awkward to sit through, given the subject matter, but it's still quite interesting, and it's the highest-level class I'm taking this semester.

Now I've been to all my classes at least once, except for my Irish Language class, which won't begin for another week. It's looking like a promising semester!