Student Bloggers

As of the 28th of September, it has been a month since I hopped on my first flight to start my adventures in Ireland. I still can’t believe that I am even here and that a month has already passed with three glorious months to go.

I loved the new school routine. To any curious about studying in Ireland: course is major, module is class, tutorials are in depth coverage of the lecture, Sulis is quite useful, and timetables are everything!! It was a bit chaotic learning about timetables and modules having a tendency to change on you. My Irish Literature module turned into Gothic literature which I was not exactly a fan of hearing. But on the plus side I could still work out my timetable and register for my modules before the end of the second week. I now take all the modules I needed (and wanted) and lucky for me I have no modules on Fridays which makes it easy to make travel plans. I found that overall there was more free time. Each of my modules are once a week for two hours. In terms of grading, you may be graded on two essays, or a project and a final exam. That’s it. So while attendance may not be graded, you might want to go anyway because whatever you miss may not be in review and may very well be on that exam!

As I have had the habit of getting lost around here, getting lost at school came naturally. The University is huge! I come from a small liberal arts university with about 3,000-4,000 students in a good year. The University of Limerick has 1200 International students alone and up to 15,000 undergrads. Lord help me! Needless to say that the school itself must be fairly large to accommodate all of us! What used to be a usual morning routine of getting up from my house and walking to class in about 5 minutes is now a nice 20 minute walk from my apartment to the main building. I have to say that it is pretty amazing walking across the bridge every morning which, fun fact, crossing the river Shannon to class, I leave county Clare and enter county Limerick. Who knew?

My apartment is great! I was fortunate to have 3 Irish girls, 1 American girl and 1 Japanese guy to live with, creating a unique household. I just appreciated the fact that my bedroom has its own bathroom. I share with no one!!! Also, my apartment is right by a farm so my view is of lots of land and cows. Yup, lots of cows. I can hear them moo-ing throughout the day it’s so cute. Last week one of the cows had a baby which was interesting and gross to witness but it just reminded me that I would NEVER see that at my school. I may possibly hear one of the chickens from the neighboring houses or the jets that fly overhead by the neighboring military base but not witness a calf’s birth.

You will be cooking your own food. I’ve heard many other American students say they miss their meal plans. Being a senior in college, I’ve had the opportunity of living in a house off campus my third year and adjusted to making my own food. Fresh groceries do not last here people! They have shorter expiration dates and from first time experience I have unfortunately had to throw a good deal of milk away. So grocery trips once a week are common to get the essentials. One thing I will recommend again and again if you are going to UL or UCC in Ireland: College Dinners!! For real cheap you can order a set of four meals they are featuring for the week and they provide you with most of the ingredients (proteins and veggies). It also gives recipes for those who have never cooked in their life.

“That’s grand.” “Thanks a million.” “Last night was a bit of craic!” “You going to the pub at half eight?” While I was prepared for new slang it still took quite an adjustment. I still tend to slip up and say “Thanks for the ride,” which people will laugh at you and your American-ness. FYI never say ride, say lift because ride means something totally different! Once in a while I’ll be brave enough to use grand in a sentence which completely excites all of the Irish friends I have made here.

You might be surprised at how many friends you can make if you just have the courage to go up to someone and say hello. There have been several times I would go to the local pub and meet many new friendly Irish or international folks. Just last week, the Scholar’s pub was having their weekly traditional music night or “Trad Night” and I met three girls from the county Clare area and talked with them until the pub closed. We even made plans to meet up again for the next Trad Night! One thing they always like to talk about is food. They are fascinated with Americans who like peanut butter and root beer floats. They nearly had a heart attack when I told them that marshmallow fluff exists…

A month has come and gone in the blink of an eye. All in all, month one has been a period of bonding and adjusting to a whole new lifestyle but I am very excited to see what the next three months brings for me. I just hope that time slows down just a little bit so this experience doesn’t slip away too quickly!