Day 2: Welcome to DIT

Today marked our first visit to DIT (Dublin Institute of Technology). It was on this day that we all began to feel more comfortable with our bearings. Everything is so laid back here. We first viewed the senior projects to learn that in American football, 85% of the game is spent walking. And, when the DIT students learned of the research projects their fellow students were doing at Purdue, they laughed when they heard that their friends were working on research projects with rats. Apparently, they don't do rat experiments in Ireland. My roommates and I could not help but laugh at their reason for laughing.

The scheduling is very different at DIT. There is little room for flexibility. If you are in Year 3 of school, every single student takes the exact same classes at the exact time of day. The DIT students are in class from 9 - 5 pm typically everyday (a full work day!) We (Jeanine, Monica, Elizabeth, and I) only have to take four classes, so we are not in class nearly as much as the other students. Some of us will have class at St. James Hospital which apparently is an hour walk away from our house (this is normal since every walk to get to city centre is nearly an hour). Instead of being worried about reserving too many calories with too little expenditure, I am worried about losing too many calories and whittling down to nothing. Needless to say, I feel no remorse for consuming fish and chips instead of chicken vegetables.

I think we walked 20 miles today, and this probably an over-statement, but our legs felt like immobile bricks. I am still trying to figure out if I will have the available energy to engage in my daily five mile power-walk. (I'm still keeping that up, Ger!) Hellloooo, Pilate's! School will be cool. We've got a lot to prepare for, but I think we are all excited.