Academics-- The Reason I'm Here

The Campanile in the Front Square of Trinity, classic symbol of academics. You'll have to forgive the construction barricades, but I thought the shadow was really cool.

So you might be wondering if I'm ever going to get to the actual STUDY part of the study abroad experience. Well, my schedule is finally set, so if you're interested, you can take a peek at my class list. I'm doing things European-style-- meaning, taking all one subject and focusing intensely on it. In my case, this is English Literature.

The Arts Block, the building where I have most of my classes (not my picture). Unfortunately, also the ugliest building on campus-- it honestly looks like a nuclear bomb shelter.

Non-Realist Writing

This course covers things like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, Brave New World, The Time Machine, and other novels that push the boundaries of reality. The idea is to look at the reasons behind the author's move beyond the real-- it reminds me of my strange fiction class from a year ago, except these novels are the classic forerunners to that course.

Introduction to Modernism

This course deals with poetry, prose, and plays in the 1900's to post-war era. The writing of this time was unique in being experimental as it tried to deal with the rapid changes taking place in society at the moment.

Irish Writing

A must for the study abroad student. It includes classics like Yeats, Joyce, Shaw, and Beckett, as well as some I was unfamiliar with, and some more modern writers near the end of the course.

Home on the Stage

This is my only Sophister level course (meaning upper-level seminar). It is a class on the realist movement in theatre and specifically the representation of the home. Middle class domestic life had no place on stage until this point, and letting audiences watch a version of themselves on stage was a real change.

My favorite library, the Usher. It is 5 stories of book stacks, with a solid wall of windows facing on to the cricket pitch. Given how much I love a library with a view, it's no surprise I should prefer this, but my alternatives are:

The Lecky (aka The Icebox): concrete walls, wide open floor plan, so impossible to heat that students wear their coats in doors

The Berkeley (aka The Berkeley Bunker): classic nuclear bunker architecture and claustrophobic feel that really lends to the study atmosphere