I’ve been in Belfast for a little over a week now. Things are going really well. I am finally registered for classes, and am now anxiously awaiting their commencement. I have been in vacation for about three months now, which has been lovely (I really can’t complain), but I also feel weird about it since everyone I know started classes about a month ago.
I was not expecting much of a culture shock. Studying abroad in an English-speaking country has definitely made the transition easier. Nevertheless, there have been certain things that have been interesting and have taken some time to get used to. Main of all is the driving. I don’t drive, so I had never given it much thought, but driving on the opposite side of the road doesn’t only affect drivers. Consider this: we are conditioned look left and right before crossing a street looking for cars driving on the right side of the street. Now suddenly I have to do the exact opposite. It might not seem like a big deal, but it is surprisingly confusing to get out of a habit that is screwed into our brains from a very young age. I also realized after a couple days that people walk on the left side of sidewalks. It’s not something that I often think about, but we tend to walk on the right side because we grow up watching people do the same. I felt so out of place when I realized that the reason I felt like I was walking against a current was because I was.
Another thing that has been interesting is the drinking culture in Northern Ireland. It is not unusual to see young children at pubs. There’s about a gazillion pubs in the city, and social life mostly revolves around them. Pub crawls are quite common here. They are very well organized, with shirts and different colored bracelets to separate people from the crowd and into groups. For Welcome Week the Student Union organizes a pub crawl for freshers (first years). People that want to attend buy a white shirt where they can write their names, course (major), and such other information. I didn’t attend, but it seemed really interesting. The shirts are conversation starters, and I assume a great way to meet and bond with new people.
I am taking four courses, two of them political, one anthropology, and a criminology one. The first two weeks of classes are “shopping weeks,” not unlike the add/drop period back at Wellesley. I will be able to switch courses if I realize the classes are not what I expect or wanted. I will tell you more about the courses I picked and how my first couple days of classes went in my next blog!