Hey - Alan here again.
While Nathan seems to be doing a great job of letting you know about the night-life and general "to do" around Ireland, I'm going to take a moment and go over the classes you take while over here.
The eLaw Summer program consists of six classes:
1) EU Legal and Political Overview
2) Comparative Intellectual Property in the Information Age
3) Comparative eCommerce Law
4) Current Issues in Cyberlaw
5) Protecting the Information Age Consumer
6) Internet Regulation
As of today, we're done with three of the six, and have started the Cyberlaw class. Each of the classes have been really good - we have been taught by an equal balance of both US (Pierce Law) and Irish (UCC) professors, which leads to a very balanced view of the subject.
The EU and Irish side of things are very interesting - after you learn exactly how the Irish parliament (the Oireachtas [pronounced oh-ROCK-tas]) passes laws and runs the government with the aid of the Prime Minister (the Taoiseach [pronounce TEA-shuck), you start to understand how similar, yet completely different things are compared to the United States.
The intellectual property found in Ireland, and regulated by the EU is very similar to the IP found in the United States, so if you've taken any classes that deal with copyrights, trademarks or patents, you're going to do fairly well. However, learning how Ireland has to balance their own wishes for intellectual property with European Union directives is really what makes Comparative Intellectual Property as interesting as it is.
Comparative eCommerce law has given us, once again, a clear view of the similarities and differences between Ireland and the US with regards to digital signatures, electronic contracts, liability for electronic matters, and all things about commerce and electronics - and not just on the Internet, either.
The test we took this past Tuesday was, as Nathan mentioned, was exactly what everyone expected. These classes are not easy - but the professors have been very understanding and accommodating to the fact that, for most of us, its our first time in Ireland, and may be staying out later or sleeping less than we would at home. :)
That's all for now - we're planning on visiting the Jameson Whiskey Distillery today, but we're driving there in a rented car and none of us have ever driven on the left hand side of the road before. We're also hitting up the Dingle peninsula and the Ring of Kerry, so we'll have quite a few pictures to put up as well!