Arcadia Ireland

This past weekend, all Arcadia students studying across the various programs in Ireland and Northern Ireland ventured out to County Clare on Ireland’s west coast for our signature Éalú weekend.

Éalú (Pronunciation: ay-loo) is the Irish word for escape and the idea behind this co-curricular weekend is to provide students with the opportunity to “escape” from the stress of academic life into the one of the more rural parts of Ireland and connect both with the beautiful nature of Ireland and each other as a part of the Arcadia community.

For the weekend, we were based in the small town of Ennis. Ennis is the perfect representation of old and new Ireland combined as the town has a mixture of elements that can be found in the cities of Ireland and those found in the most rural and traditional villages. Ennis allowed our students to experience life in countryside Ireland with small family owned businesses, bright and colourful architecture, traditional Irish pubs with live music and narrow bustling streets, while also having the level of activity found in a big city or town.

On the Friday night, we began proceedings with a trivia quiz based on Irish geography, history, culture and famous faces. Pub quizzes are a long standing Irish tradition for centuries and acted as the inspiration behind our trivia quiz. It provides an interesting insight into the difference between Irish and American culture for our students as with community quizzes in Ireland, the aim is to have fun and enjoy yourself with not much emphasis on winning, while in the US, winning is possibly the most important part of participating in a quiz! We encouraged  our students to take more of the Irish approach to the quiz, but that did not stop the strong sense of competitive nature between the teams, eager to show off all their knowledge about Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Saturday started with a choice of activities. Some of our students had the opportunity to take a beginners surfing lesson at Lahinch, a famous beach among the surfers of the world. Some students were surprised to learn that Ireland is one of the top surfing destinations, but after surfing on the glorious waves at Lahinch (while being lucky enough to have some sun and no rain!), they quickly understood why Ireland is known for its surfing.

Our other students were able to visit Aillwee Caves, one of the oldest cave systems in all of Europe and located within the Burren, a unique and enchanting limestone pavement that is famous for its beauty and rare flora and fauna.With this in mind, the students were thrilled that while in the caves, they were able to spot rare species of bats that can only be found along the west coast of Ireland and the west coast of the United Kingdom. The students also had the chance to see the Poulnabrone Dolmen, one of the oldest burial tombs in the world, dating back to the early Neolithic period.

On Saturday evening, our students enjoyed a céilí with traditional Irish music and a lesson in Irish set dancing. Céilís have acted an important part of community building throughout Irish history, so it was amazing to see our students connect with each other and start new friendships in a very traditional Irish manner. After the céilí, we ended the night by hosting an open mic and we were blessed with many incredible performances by our talented students, including original songs and poetry, as well as a tin whistle performance. The tin whistle was particularly special as the tin whistle is a traditional Irish instrument that the students just started to learn to play a few weeks through lessons with Arcadia.

Sunday was our last day before all returning to our respective Irish and Northern Irish cities and we concluded on a high note with a visit to the stunning Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are always one of the key highlights for students in Ireland due to their beauty, amazing cliff walks and importance in Irish Celtic mythology. The visitor centre with its lovely gift shop is also a point of excitement among students!

The Éalú weekend aims to give students the chance to experience something that is uniquely Irish while also bonding and connecting with each other as a part of the greater Arcadia community in Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is often described by students as their favorite moment from study abroad and it is safe to say that this Éalú was definitely one for the books!