Class

This semester in Ireland, I did not have to purchase any books.  The majority of them have several copies available in the library for students if they need to access them, and some of them are also online.  Back home, the total cost of books could cost around 200 dollars or more, and that is if I rented the used books out of the bookstore.  Even for the Irish Experience class, which has a required book for the second half of the class, we were given enough books to use and share with someone else.  Because we have to pay everything (food, personal items, transportation), not having to buy all of my books has definitely helped me financially. 
The first week of class was very interesting.  During orientation we learned that in the beginning of class we are given an essay question and a date that essay will be due.  Besides reading, I have not yet been given any other assignments to do outside of class.  Classes are usually two hours long, with a break after the first hour, and the class sizes are bigger compared to the class sizes at Carlow.  Overall the teaching styles are generally the same; teachers have lecture notes or a power point they read from.  Sometimes it is difficult trying to understand the teacher's accent, especially when they begin to talk fast, but it gets easier to understand everyday.