Weekend in London
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!
Cliffs of Moher
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!
The Ring of Kerry
From Sarah Hughes in Limerick:
ISA took the group on a bus tour of the Ring Kerry. The bus stopped along the way so we were able to take pictures. The Ring of Kerry is so beautiful. It is amazing to see what God has created and I stand in awe of His wonderful creation. Also, I touched the ocean for the first time! The water was really cold and it was the Atlantic Ocean. It was an incredible experience.
Adare-Rugby Game
From Sarah Hughes in Limerick:
In the last week of September, I went to a small village named Adare. This place is so cute and very small. ISA took the group on a small tour of the village and we went to a castle. The castle is very rich in history and I enjoyed to hear all of it. The streets are lined with different places to eat and different boutiques to go into. Most of the boutiques were very pricey but it was nice to walk in and look around.
After going to Adare, three friends and I went to a Rugby game. Since we are in the study abroad program, we were able to get free tickets and go to the game. It was very cold outside so it was a good thing I wore my jacket and hat. The team for Limerick is Munster and they won. Rugby is an interesting sport because it is somewhat like football but different in many ways. I was a little confused so the person sitting next to me explained what was happening to my friends and me. I have met so many amazing people here in Ireland and I am enjoying every second of it.
Limerick, IE: Weeks 2&3
Whew. Two weeks down and many more to go! These past weeks have been the shortest days but yet have been the longest days of our lives. I don’t think Sarah or I were expecting to take this much time to adjust to a new culture. Now that we have spent the last two weeks in Limerick, we are finally feeling settled into our new home.
I think the hardest part of adjusting to life in Ireland has been the class structures. Fortunately for international students, we get the first two weeks of classes for figure out our schedule. Now that the two week time period is over, we are feeling much more established. So far, we both are taking all of the same classes and feel so welcomed by the professors.
During the week, not much happens besides attending classes and figuring out how to cook for ourselves, so we look forward to the excursions ISA has planned for us!
On the 8th of September, ISA took us to Limerick city centre where we explored Limerick’s Milk Market, then toured St. Mary’s Cathedral and King John’s Castle.
St. Mary’s Cathedral is one of the oldest buildings in Limerick and was beautiful. I felt right at home when we heard their massive organ playing as we toured the place. Then we moved onto St. John’s Castle and climbed to the top of the tower where the views of Limerick were terrific!
On Saturday the 15th of September our ISA group toured Bunratty Castle, which so far was our favorite place ever! Not only is there the castle, but a whole village! It was the cutest thing you could ever see. We fed some goats and pigs, talked to the sweetest old man for 20 minutes, and saw Ireland’s beautiful countryside.
