My dad came to Dublin, Ireland to visit me during the second weekend of November. We stayed in Dublin for the weekend but I brought him to Limerick to show him around the city. We went to the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. Guinness has a rich history. We took a self-guided tour of the storehouse and it was an interesting tour because we were able to see how the beer was made. It was a short weekend but I enjoyed the visit from my dad. I had a fun time showing him around Limerick.
On October 30th, I turned 21 and two weeks later my good friend Rachel turned 20! My friends and I celebrated my birthday by ordering out food and hanging out at my house. It was relaxing to spend time with friends. At the end of the night, I received my care package from my parents which made it even better because I wasn’t expecting it to come until later in the week. I Skyped with my niece, sister, and brother-in-law before I went to bed so my birthday was pretty amazing. We celebrated my friend Rachel’s birthday by going out to one the university’s pub(Scholars) on campus. It was relaxing to talk with her and see how her day went. Rachel is a sophomore in college and I met her through one of the education modules I am taking at the university. I feel so blessed to have made so many new friends over here during my experience. Definitely recommend study abroad to anyone who is interested because you have the opportunity to meet many new people.
Sarah’s Blog:
Our excursions for our study abroad program wrapped up at the end of November so I have had some free time to spend time with my friends. Many events have happened within the past month and Halloween was one big event. Halloween came from Ireland which is really interesting. My friends and I celebrated the holiday by dressing up and going out to the university’s pub. The pub we went to is called Stables and every Friday there is a DJ inside and outside. It is a great time to spend with your friends and have a blast. Every Friday is International Night hosted by the International Society which is really awesome so you are able to meet me other study abroad students. Also, we went to a haunted house to celebrate the spooky season.
Hello everyone! It’s been about 2 months since we’ve been living in Athens, and we feel a little bad about not posting yet! We thought it’d be good to talk about the beginning of our time here anyways! I’m (Ella) gonna be talking about the first couple of weeks and initial beginning of school.
The best part about studying abroad in Europe is the fact that it is cheap, quick, and easy to travel around the rest of the EU. Myself, another girl from my ISA group, and two other friends I’ve made here at UL spent the weekend in London, England! We were only there for a total of 48 hours, but we filled that time with everything touristy possible!
London is only a quick hour flight from Shannon Airport and of course due to delays; we arrived in London at 4 am with the intentions of starting our day at 8 am. Our hostel was a quick 15-minute tube ride to the London Eye. We began our morning going up and around the London Eye to see the stunning views of the city. Then we walked to see Westminster Palace and Abbey which both had amazing gothic architecture. The girls and I also took a boat ride down the famous Thames River to see even more of the city and the famous Tower Bridge. Then we made our way to Leicester Square where we ran into a red carpet movie premiere of A Beautiful Boy! We saw Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell! It’s easy to say that this made our trip.
Day two we began our morning bright and early to catch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Sad to say we didn’t get to see the Queen, but we were in awe of the palace beauty. After this, we found ourselves a cute coffee shop where we ended up hanging out for a few hours before we made our way to the Tower of London. Let’s just say we were so excited to see the crown jewels! We then ended our trip by seeing a production of the School of Rock, which was awesome. I cannot wait for more weekend trips in the near future!
It’s sights like these that make you forget how much work you’ll have to do with you get back to campus. Right now, Sarah and I are in the midst of the most stressful time in being abroad. Classes here typically do not have daily work, which sounds nice and all until you reach those later weeks in the semester where everything is due. At the moment, Sarah and I are working on assignments that are worth half or more of our final grade. In classes, you will typically have a paper worth about 50% and then either a presentation or group project or maybe even both. We are taking a total of five classes over here, but only have two exams to take during the two week exam period. So we are looking forward to traveling most of December!
Our weekend excursions with ISA make us forget about all of our school work. These excursions allow us to see the beautiful western country of Ireland. On this excursion, we saw the stunning Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs of Moher are one of the biggest sites to see while visiting Ireland. So a trip to Ireland is not complete until you have seen the famous cliffs!
