Well, this is different! On the first day, I arrived at my class 10 minutes early, chose a seat in the fourth fourth row (out of about 10). I figured this wouldn't put me in the front, and I could find a better seat next time. In class I took complete notes, writing down most of what the professor said, and had done the reading to be prepared for class. Apparently I did EVERYTHING wrong. So here's what I've learned (as told to me by one of my Irish roommates):
1. Arrive at class on time at the earliest. If it's a 9 am class, show up at 9 am or preferably around 9:03-9:05. Apparently it can be considered disrespectful to be too early to a class, and it immediately identifies me as a foreigner.
2. When I sat in the fourth row, when the class did fill, the fourth row became the first row, as the back filled up completely and nobody sat in the first 3 rows. Apparently this is in an attempt to not participate in class.
3. While taking notes furiously, I looked around and noticed that I was the only one in the entire class doing so. In fact, few other students even had notebooks out, and a couple of them were sound asleep by a few minutes into class. This was more than slightly confusing, but I continued.
4. When asked who did the reading for this class, not a single student raised their hand. Not wanting to be "that guy", I followed suit and hid my reading. The professor's reaction surprised me, as he calmly just said, "okay, that's fine maybe just look it over if you get a chance". I had all I could do not to laugh. After talking to my roommate, he said that no Irish students do readings or work until the last two weeks of classes. I think I'm going to continue doing the readings, but keeping it quiet!
I certainly hope that I don't get used to this system, I would get killed if I returned to Siena for senior year with this attitude! Sure, it is more relaxing right now, but those last weeks would be so rough!
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