Finding a rhythm

Seth and I have been living here in Northern Ireland for several weeks now, and it seems like just recently that life has started to seem normal again.  But with the rate that things are changing, it's only a matter of time until that's thrown off again.

This semester I only have two classes - or modules, as they're called here - and the semester lasts through January.  The weird thing is that even though winter break is over at the beginning of January, I really don't have any obligations except for turning in one paper.  A lot of that time is for final exams, and my modules are graded only on coursework.  It may sound nice, but for one module, I'm only graded on two essays.  That means each essay is worth 50% of my grade, and when I'm writing for a new professor at a new school in a new country, it's a little nerve-wracking.  I'm counting on my English Lit & Writing background to save me in that field, so hopefully everything will work out.

On Tuesdays, I have one class - The Northern Ireland Conflict - from 10:15-12:05 and then 1:15-3:05.  We've started out learning a lot of Irish history and history of the Northern Ireland conflict and we'll be using it as a kind of case study as to how negotiation and peace process work in a conflict. 

On Thursday, I have Peace and Conflict Research from 9:30am-1:05pm with a few short breaks throughout.  That class is focused on learning the basic theories and ideas in the academic field of peace studies, how the study has developed, and some of the problems and advantages of peace studies as professional discipline.

I've been doing a lot of reading outside of class, most of which is self-directed.  My first essays will be due the first week in November, so I'll have to start working on those pretty soon.

Seth and I also started going to the Christian Union here on campus, both to expand our social life and to find a good young adult group to encourage us in our faith.  It meets every Tuesday night and focuses on Bible study, prayer, worship, developing friendships, and evangelism.  We also joined small groups that meet on Wednesday nights; I just got back from my first meeting and Seth is still out at his.  I'm encouraged by the faith and sincerity of the people involved at CU, so hopefully good things will happen this year.

One of our biggest struggles in these first few weeks has been a lack of money.  Once I arrived on campus, I had to get a form from the international office, fill it out, bring it back to them so they could write an official letter to a UK bank, bring the letter to the bank, set up an account, and send my account information to the financial office so that my US loans could be transferred to my UK bank account.  Until today, we still had no money in that account and were looking at maxed out credit cards and about $500 in each of our checking accounts.  It wasn't so low that we couldn't buy food, but it was low enough that we had to be really frugal on what we were buying.  (This was a result of paying $1,700 each for accommodation in August, our wedding, our honeymoon in London, and buying a lot of necessary things we were not able to bring with us in our suitcases.)

But - thanks be to God - the money was in the account today!  We still have to work out a budget, but we can at least afford the luxury of a coffeemaker, which we bought today as a celebration.  (A whole £15, woohoo!)

We've also improved our relationship with our flatmates.  Last Wednesday, instead of leaving the kitchen after we cooked dinner, we sat around and talked with them and actually got to know them.  We still haven't spent a lot of time together, but at least we're past the awkwardness where we only say "hi" in the kitchen and that's it.  They were all curious about Thanksgiving, so we're planning to have a Thanksgiving dinner together as a flat.  It won't be the same as a family Thanksgiving, but it should still be a lot of fun.

The next big hurdle we have is jobs.  I was lucky enough to get a job at a coffee house really close to campus - just a 10 minute walk from Duncreggan.  I start training for a couple hours Friday morning and then start working on Saturday and Sunday, and hopefully I can work that into my weekly rhythm.  So far weekends have been quiet, low-key, and quite relaxing, but now I'll have 18 hours of work to smoosh in there.  It'll be a couple long days - 8am-6pm on Saturday and 10am-5pm on Sunday, but that means work will not be a concern for the rest of the week.  I'm legally capped at 20 hours anyway, so it's a pretty good situation.

Keep praying that Seth will be able to find work, though.  We're not exactly certain on the status of his visa since it doesn't give him a number of work hours like mine does, so we don't know if he has to apply for some sort of work permit (or how to do that if he does) or if it's just assumed that he can do 40 hours since it's an 18-month visa.  It's confusing.

So now that the loans are dispersed, the classes have started, and our social life is picking up, I think we're finally starting to settle in to our life here in Derry. It's almost starting to feel like home, even.  Not quite - since I have no kittens to cuddle - but almost.