Sickness

Hey guys.

Sorry I haven't done this regularly since I got back from Dublin. However, I have come down with some type of a head cold. Everyone has it here. It's going around. I had a teacher cancel class at 9 yesterday morning because he was also sick. However, he didn't let us know until we showed up and an aide came in and told us we didn't have class. So I lost an hour of sleep due to that. Wasn't too happy.

Anyway, the past two days have been pretty boring because I have been sick. I've been going straight from class back to my room and staying in all night. Usually watching tv online. I have no work to keep me busy since there is no homework here, and going to the gym while your sick is a big no no, so online tv has consumed me.

Like I said, yesterday I woke up early,went to class and then didn't have class. So I went to the building that my next class was in and hung out in Starbucks with some friends I have in my first class. Then I went to Irish society where I sat next to a guy I met from Boston, Jessie, who plays for the Syracuse mens hockey team. He's a real cool guy. We chatted about hockey a little bit. A subject I'm always more than willing to discuss. After class I went back to my apartment to eat lunch, and then got ready for my tutorial I had in about 40 minutes.

A quick side note. I've noticed here that Irish construction is highly efficient. They've been repaving, bricking crosswalks, bricking sidewalks, etc. since I've been here. When they start a job, it's usually done by the time I get past that spot in the afternoon. Where as in America, it would probably take them all semester to complete such a simple project. The labor work ethic seems a little more efficient and fast.

Anyway, so I went to Irish Folklore which was a bore. Then I decided to skip music and go back home. Before I did though I walked with my friend Katie from Michigan to the farmers market. I picked up some eggs and some chicken breasts for dinner. Katie's a real nice girl, I met her on like the first day of orientation. She used to be my neighbor, but her Irish roommates were so loud that she got switched all the way across campus. Now she lives with a bunch of Canadian med students. I have the same problem that she was having. Right when I'm about to go to sleep at like 1 or 2, the chicks right next door to me start carrying on. It's like clockwork. I don't know what they do from 8 until 2, but at 2 all hell breaks loose. Thank God my computer works and I can put tv on and drown out the sound of their annoying voices. Can't stand it.

So last night I sat on my computer and then made dinner. I pan cooked one of my chicken breasts with garlic and onions, and then made some spaghetti buttered noodles. But instead of me usually straining the noodles and then just putting butter on top of them once they're on the plate, I put the noodles back in the pot with the butter and mixed it that way. They tasted so much better than doing it the wrong way.

As I ate dinner I watched coverage of the Olympics. It's weird here because it's a British news channel, so the American team isn't in the spotlight. They are also very critical of the American team. They hate Bode Miller, they constantly bash the US mens hockey team, and they kiss Canada's ass like crazy. It's kinda sickening. For example, last night I was watching the US mens hockey team play Switzerland. We didn't overly dominate the first period, but we had control and pace of the game. However, the commentators completely bashed the US team, saying they looked sluggish and Switzerland could easily win this game, and the US team wasn't destined for anything this year. It was annoying. Then they cut away from that coverage and went to the Biathlon pursuit. This is where the winner of the sprint from the day before starts and then depending on what time you finished behind him, that's when you can go. Well, an American and a Canadian were let go 20 seconds too early by their gate keeper. However, the announcers made it seem like it was the Americans fault but in the case of the Canadian, it was the time keepers. It was unbelievable. They were like, "Oh, Legurlec(Canada) is in the top 5. It's really actually ashame though, I mean it wasn't his fault. You almost have to pity him. It's the gate keepers responsibility." However, when talking about the American they said something along the lines of, "Yeah, he really should have been aware of his time. He's gonna be docked time no doubt, but that's what happens in this sport." The Canadian dude got docked time too and ended up 11th so it wasn't a huge deal. It just pissed me off though. I haven't really got to watch a whole lot of Olympics though just because A. No one cares about them over here, B. They are on at like 2am. I don't feel like watching a heat of mens figure skating at 2:30 in the morning. Sorry. All I know is that Germany just took over the lead in the medal count. Oh and that's another thing. In the states, when we show a medal lead graphic, it's by total number of medals. Over here, whoever has the most gold's is first. So Germany is still winning, but that bumps us to 4th or 5th. It's odd.

On the coin collection front there is some big news. I got a Finland 2 Euro coin this weekend, so that's my first from the Scandinavian states. Jeremie told me it is very rare to get those coins on the main land or anywhere that isn't a Scandinavian country. So I'm happy about that. Also, there are a lot of mumblings going on right now in the European Union about the state of Greece's economy. Greece's economy is in the crapper. It's tanked. Basically, it's pulling everyone else down now too. It looks bad on the EU, and it hurts other nations. So, there are serious talks going on right now about whether or not Greece should continue to use the Euro. Many are urging them to form their own currency again because it's not worth it have the Euro right now. That'd be cool if they did switch eventually since I have a bunch of Greek Euro coins. Not only that, but people are starting to talk about Ireland getting rid of the Euro too because it isn't benefiting them. That'd be crazy if that happened.

I was pissed last night because I wanted to watch American Idol, so I stayed up until 2 since Fox.com said new idol tonight at 9. Yeah, thanks for not having your facts right on the website idol. I missed the first hour and then said screw it. Thankfully there's a website I visit that updates new tv shows every night so I was able to watch the full two hours tonight. I thought it was dumb how they even had it 2 hours long last night. They did two hours and then had to stop halfway through decisions for the top 24. It was dumb. Just do an hour of which rooms made it through, and then tonight do two hours of who got in the top 24. That would make more sense.

Anyway, today I woke up with a sore throat again. I was debating skipping my first class but it was with idiot so I couldn't. So I went to class, and this old woman walks in. She walks up to the computer at the podium, logs in, puts down the projector, turns on the lights over us (thank god) and then looks at us and says, "You're not my class are you?" Haha, nope. She was in the wrong place. It was pretty funny. Thank God for that woman though, we could actually see what we were writing today. So then idiot shows up, goes through her terrible presentation, and that was the class. After that I came back home, made a sandwich and then went to my tutorial for idiots class. Like I said last week, it was a different woman today. I can't even remember her name, definitely either Spanish or Italian. Couldn't understand a word she was saying because her accent was so thick. So she gave us an article to read and then gave us a question to discuss in groups. The question was, "How did the crisis of the 1960's in Europe affect integration? How important was the crisis to the way the EU is today?" So we read it and I got into a group with the two closest people to me. My group was me, Sean from San Diego and Aileen from South Dakota. Haha, 3 American's who had no clue what the EU was like today. So when she asked us for our answer, we tried to answer the first part. That was at least in the article. However when it came to how has it affected the EU today, I laughed and said, "We honestly know nothing about the EU." Then she consoled us and told us, "Oh, it's okay. Don't worry you're fine. It's okay, don't worry. Trust me. You'll get it." Then for the rest of the class she focused all her attention on us like she pitied us. On a side note, idiot struck again even when she wasn't in class. The teacher started talking about our essay and said this is what your professor wants: A definitive argument, and she wants you to answer the question. The prompt I was going to pick for my essay was: "Discuss the integration process in Europe between 1945 and 1957." How exactly do I answer the question on that one moron? What's my argument? She's so dumb I can't stand it. When you're not enthusiastic and you give your students the sense that you don't care, why should we care? So I don't.

After that class I had music. Totally pointless. As usual.

Then I came back here, grabbed a hot chicken roll for dinner, had some pasta with it, and that's about been my night. Ugh, I'm just bored. I have nothing to do since I'm under the weather. I'd like to go to the gym but I don't want to feel even worse and I don't want to infect everyone else. So this is my life for the next however many days.

Oh and Lent started today. I decided I'm going to give up soda for Lent. This will be the second year in a row I give up soda. I did pretty good last year. I know I cheated once for my 21st birthday when I had a coke and rum, but other than that I was pretty good. I gave up bacon two years ago and I did a phenomenal job. However, bacon isn't bacon here, and I'm gonna eat rashers as much as possible so screw giving that up.

And pitchers and catchers reported today. Siked.

That's it for now. Hopefully I start feeling better so I can do things and my days aren't as boring. It's not that bad, I don't need to see a doctor or anything. It's just a head cold. Probably allergies. After all, it was like 55 and sunny here for most of the day. Trees are starting to bud and flowers are coming up in patches all over campus so, it's probably my body adjusting for the change.

Have a good night!

Peace.