Here are your answers (I wrote a paragraph about beers obviously). [emoji481]
So, let’s begin.
First things first, obviously I am not a native speaker by any means, so even though I believe that at least my written English should be clear enough to understand, if you think you can help me to improve, feel free to point out any mistake you notice here.
For those who do not already know, I have been living in the Republic of Ireland (not to be confused with Northern Ireland, which at the moment is part of the United Kingdom, and where The Dragoness is living) for a little more than a month, so I am starting to figure out how things work here. I am doing a Master Degree, which is more or less comparable to an Italian Laurea Specialistica… except the entire system is completely different!
I do not know how bachelor degrees, Erasmus programmes, or even the Italian Laurea Specialistica work, but here I just have a few classes per week. I suppose that the timetable for bachelor students here should not be too different from mine, even if I have even fewer classes compared to them.
Here is the catch: you have to write a lot about assigned subjects. I currently have like four different deadlines for four different essays, which must be completed before the end of the courses. In order to write anything, you need to read even more, and that is how you are supposed to spend your time outside classroom.
Something I did not expect to find was the complete, utter disorganisation of my course. I was told University here was handled perfectly and was generally easier, but it seems this is not always the case. Fortunately, professors and student offices here are much more helpful than their Italian counterparts are, they generally answer your questions fast and nicely, and they actually get things done for you without much hassle.
University life is great; you can enrol into sport clubs and society, which are basically clubs about everything that is not a sport: there is journalism club, tea club, harry potter club, mythology club, drama club, Chinese club, politics club, videogames club and many, many more. Even the University itself is grand compared to what I was used to in Italy. Here I have a campus with beautiful buildings and very well kept gardens. If only weather was a bit more reliable…
The city is generally an hit-or-miss with people, you will either love or hate it, there is no middle ground. Cork is the second biggest city in Ireland… not that it is saying much. It is a small city even by Italian standards; there are two or three main streets, which are not very long… if you are lucky enough to live close to city centre, you have all that you will ever need at walking distance.
For a city so small, there are many things to do here… well, if you like beer. As you may already know, Ireland is famous to be the Holy Land of stout beers, and this reputation is well deserved. I came here thinking I did not like beer, but it turned out I just needed to find the right one. Even more plenty than beers are pubs, and they are all very different to one another.
On the other hand, nightlife and clubs are not a thing here. I mean, you can always go and find some, but they will never be as popular as pubs, which are literally everywhere here, and they usually close way earlier than in Italy anyway. Or maybe I am just getting older…
I think I have covered all the main topics of my life here. If there is something particular you want to know, ask me (almost) anything!
Mella
Cork, 07.10.15