Arcadia Ireland

Arcadia’s Dublin center has been bustling over the last few weeks with students arriving and settling in to their new lives. As part of this, members from our Dublin team traveled near and far to catch up with our students at their welcome meals.  Excitement was the common denominator, with students across the country already sharing laughter filled stories from the adventures (and misadventures!) that had taken place over the first few weeks.

The National University of Galway students were the first to be visited and Mary hopped over to Galway to meet them. The Harbour Hotel hosted a delicious meal that warmed the bodies of the students who had realized quite quickly how cold Ireland can be.

Next up was Tom who traveled to Cork to see how the students were getting on in University College Cork. The Imperial Hotel was the location of choice and again, a delicious meal was devoured. The biggest laugh of the evening came about with the discussion of Cork accents. Cork is infamous in Ireland for having a very strong accent. Not only this, but Corkonians speak incredibly quickly and are known to throw in a few words here and there that even people from the rest of the country can’t decipher.  It took a while, and some awkward ‘smile and nod’ moments where people literally hadn’t a clue what was being said, but slowly but surely our students’ ears have been tuned in and each encounter becomes a little easier.

Jodi traveled down to meet our University of Limerick students in Castletroy. The Castletroy Park Hotel is situated a stone’s throw away from UL’s campus and the students were delighted to head over to enjoy a lovely meal with her. Two points of conversation that had everyone talking were UL’s iconic ‘Stables’ bar, and the beautiful housing that everyone was enjoying. Arcadia students are staying in Cappavilla Student Village. Nobody could believe that they each got a double bed and an en-suite *all to themselves.* It sounded like it was a welcome change to sharing dorms at their home universities! The Stables, and specifically Fridays’ international night at the Stables has been a hit with almost everyone. Cheesy tunes and a mix of people from all over the world (plus lots of die-hard Irish fans) seem to be the right ingredients for a very enjoyable night out.

All our Dublin based students at University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin and the Dublin Parliamentary Interns met with Jessica and Stephen at The Brazen Head in Dublin. This evening was one with a twist as, along with a three course meal, they were treated to a performance throughout. The meal started with a short history lesson on the Irish famine. An amusing addition to this was the inclusion of students in the story. ‘Farmer Tim’ didn’t have a moment of hesitation when he was asked what his only worldly possession- a cow- would be called. An enthusiastic ‘Bess’ was decided upon and Bess and Farmer Tim were important assets throughout the story.  Some Irish folklore followed and, as the main meal arrived, the students enjoyed traditional Irish music played on guitars. More stories and laughing ensued and at the end, students signed up to receive more information about Ireland’s diverse history.

Although we don’t have many students in Queens University Belfast this year, Sophie caught up with Allison and Abigail in Made restaurant in Belfast. The girls had a good catch up and all shared knowledge about where the best spots in Belfast are. They’re all looking forward to the Belfast and Antrim Coast weekend trip that is fast approaching as they’ll have the least travelling to do- for once!

Next week Jodi will make the short trip to Maynooth University to see the newest arrivals. They’ll be meeting in Picaderos and should be looking forward to it as word on the street is that it’s the best restaurant in Maynooth.

Overall the feedback from students was similar; registering for classes seemed to add a bit of stress but it was made a lot easier by the overriding excitement of Clubs and Societies sign ups and the most important assignment- making new friends. Mixes of Irish and International friends are trickling in to everyone’s lives and students are really settling in well to their new environments. Here’s to a lot more laughter before the semester is out- exciting times ahead.