The Dubliners

Dia dhuit!

Three weeks of lectures are past now and still everything goes in a calm, nice and relaxed way everything here, so I feel more or less that I’m still having a holiday break (which is not the case of course, because I really have to do some work and readings for my study, but just the feeling). Besides that, in my spare time I do a lot of great things, which intensify my holiday-feeling. In short, I love it to be here! :)

My study is also nice! I am still taking the same courses as I mentioned in my last blog. This is quite uncommon, because many other student are changing their courses all time. On average, I have 16 hours of lectures each week, both lectures and tutorials. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I spend a lot of time at university, because my first lecture on that days starts at 9 or 10 o’clock and my last lecture ends at 7 pm. I have also some long breaks between the lectures, sometimes even a break of 3 or 4 hours, but that time is still a bit too short to go home, so I spend my time in the swimming pool (really really nice, besides the fact that everybody has to wear a swimsuit and a bathing cap –but you get used to it ;)), shopping, drinking tea/hot chocolate and I also try to read something for my courses. Most reading, except the case studies, is not compulsory, but it is good to have some background information, especially because most courses take the Irish economy and Irish companies as an example and I didn’t know much about that before I arrived here. I don’t have any exam here, but for every course I have to write 1 or more essays, do a group presentation and/or make a poster. Everything is about work in groups and teams, which is not an ideal situation, because the groups I have to work with consist of 3-6 students, so quite big groups, but on the other hand it’s a perfect way to get to know many others. All deadlines for the assignment are at the end of November/ beginning of December, so that will be a very busy period for me. Besides all business and economics courses I decided to take a course in Elementary Irish (last time I was still doubting about it), which is a big challenge for me! We have 2 hours of lectures each week and during the lectures we get to know the basics of Irish. It’s really basic, for instance we learn how to introduce ourselves, order a drink and count from 1-10. But it’s nice and it is something totally different than my others courses. Probably we will go to a Gaelic speaking area with our class as well, but that is not sure yet.

Besides my study, I also spend a lot of time with international friends! Often we go to the gym or swimming pool together, cook and eat together at someone’s place (last week we had a French crêpe party and a dinner with German food), shopping or to a party! Very nice! :) Last Thursday for instance, we had a meeting with our buddies. My buddy couldn’t come, but there were many others and I had a great evening! Last Friday I want to a party of a friend of a housemate of a friend of mine (very close connection, haha), but I knew some others on beforehand, but only a small part of them. In the end, it turned out to be one of my best night so far! On Saturday I went to some museums (the Leprechaun Museum and the Wax Museum) together with three other Dutch students from Tilburg University. I didn’t know them before, but it was also a nice day! There are not many Dutch students here in Dublin. So far, I met 8 other Dutchies, and 4 of them are from Tilburg as well.

The weekend before last weekend my boyfriend was in Dublin! We haven’t seen each other for more than 4 weeks and the days we spend together in Dublin were lovely! He arrived on Thursday afternoon and stayed till Tuesday afternoon. We went to some touristic places and highlights and one of them was the Jameson Destillery, were we have a glass of delicious Whiskey. We also made a cliff walk at Howth (island at the north side of Dublin). It was really nice to be together again for some days and I was not very happy when he left, but fortunately I have many great things to do here and I can look forward to November 11, because he will be he again on that date.

This weekend, I am going on the trip organized by the International Society of Trinity. We are going to Killarney. Some friends of me are going as well, so I am really looking forward to it! :) One of the other upcoming weekends I will go to Mourne Grange, a village community of more than 130 people, where mainly mentally disadvantaged adults live and work together with coworkers and families. A friend of mine has worked there as a coworker some years ago and I wanted to see everything there!

As you can read, I am really enjoying my time here! Going on an exchange is one of the best decisions I have made so far!

Slán go feill! (Goodbye for now!)

Charlotte

PS: For pictures, visit http://picasaweb.google.nl/110111446223550966554 !

First lectures and my brothers in Dublin!

Hi everyone!

It’s already Tuesday now and last week was my very first week of lectures. In fact, last week was not really serious yet, because we only had lectures (and no tutorials yet) and were allowed to enter each lecture hall to see whether we like the course or not. By the end of this week we have to hand in our final choice, so we have plenty of time to get an impression of all courses, which was very informative and nice. It may sound a bit strange, but after my very long holiday break, I was really looking forward to do something and have a kind of a schedule again. This week, my tutorials are started as well, which is nice, because there’s a lot of interaction in there. The courses I am going to take at Trinity are Human Resource Management, Organisation Theory and Change, Economics of Less Developed Countries, Managing Nonprofit Organisations, and International Business. Besides all the economical and business courses, I will also take a course in Irish. I am looking forward to it, but it should be very difficult (and not so useful, since the language is only spoken in a couple of small Irish cities in the west of Ireland), but I was just curious about the Irish and their language. Cultural aspects are also involved in that course, so I think it will be nice! I don’t have exams at all here, but instead I have to write many many essays.. Most deadlines will be in the beginning of December, so that is about to be a busy period!

Last week I met many other students during the lectures, both International students and Irish students. Very nice! Together we do many nice things and participate in activities organized by the International Society (DUISS), play sports, go shopping, partying, et cetera. Sports are very an very important part of student life and the sport centre is very big and there are many sport courses offered. Last week I attended a lesson in Irish Dancercise. It was a kind of aerobic lesson, but with influences from the Irish dances. After an hour, I was exhausted, but it was fun and really good for my condition! ;)

On Thursday I met my buddy. Trinity runs a buddy system, in which all international students (who signed up themselves) are matched to an Irish student. The buddies are supposed to organize activities for ‘their’ students and in case something is wrong, you as an international student, can ask them for help. My buddy is very nice! He has studied in Tilburg University last semester, so he knows all the ins and outs of being an international student and so we had many things to talk about.

Last weekend my brothers were here for the weekend. They were only here for 1,5 day, but it was great to show them around Dublin and give them an impression of my life here! Together we went to some touristic attractions. We went to the Guinness Storehouse, Dublin Castle, where I also had not been yet, because I didn’t feel like going there every time again. Besides that, I also showed them around in the Temple Bar district, Grafton Street, O’Connellstreet, and Trinity College of course! We also met some fellow students at the Pav (= bar on the campus) and we had a nice evening together!

I am here now for exactly four weeks and Dublin feels more and more like home! De people, Dublin City, the university and even the weather (yeah, the weather is still good most of the time!) makes Dublin really ‘my city’!

Next Thursday my boyfriend is coming and I am really looking forward to it! He will stay here for 6 days! J Also some friends from Tilburg and the MAKwomen booked their tickets to visit me in November, so many great things coming up!

Love, Charlotte

PS: For pictures, visit: http://picasaweb.google.nl/110111446223550966554/ !

Go West & Introduction

Dear friends,

Time is going really fast here! I am now in Dublin for almost three weeks and next Monday my classes are about to start. Last week was the Orientation Week and the week before I made a trip to the west.

First something about my trip. Wednesday, September 15, early in the morning I left for Limerick, together with two other students from Tilburg University (Thomas and Eduard). We wanted to see something of the Irish countryside before the lectures were starting. We traveled by bus, which is by far the cheapest way of traveling in Ireland. There are also many trains, but they are quite expensive to travel with and the bus network is more extended than the train network. In the afternoon we arrived in Limerick, which is located at the west. Our expectations about the city were high, because Limerick is one of the bigger cities in Ireland. We didn’t book a hostel in advance, but it turned out that Limerick was not what we expected at all and there were even no hostels (any more). We ended up in a hotel, which was a good solution. After we had checked in the hotel, we went to the city centre to discover. The city centre was quite small and industrial, but it was nice to see some other ‘more Irish’ city than Dublin. After we had a lovely Irish meal in a pub (stew!), we went to our room.

The next day, we wanted to do ‘something cultural’. We went to the Hunt museum. We expected it to be a museum about hunt, but in fact it was a private collection of arts and utilities from many many years ago. It was collected by some family called Hunt, so that’s how the museum got its name. It may sound a bit annoying, but we had a lovely guide and so it turned out to be an interesting morning. We skipped the famous castle in Limerick, because there are so many castles in Ireland and we wanted to go to our next destination: Cork.

Thomas and I took the bus to Cork, while Eduard went back to Dublin, because some friends of his were coming that day. When we arrived in Cork, we inmediately noticed how friendly the city looked like! It looked a bit mediterranian, and we had a perfect blue sky at that moment. Perfect! After we checked in our hostel, we went to the city centre to do some sightseeing (again!). Like Limerick, Cork also doesn’t have some main attraction, but the atmosphere was great and there were many lovely churches and pub. We also went to see University College Cork (UCC), which is located in a kind of forest, a bit outside the city centre. Really, UCC has the most beautiful campus I have ever seen! After that, we walked along the riverside and had dinner in a nice pub with live music. Later that night, many international students from UCC came to the same pub and we had a nice evening together with them.

Initially, our plan was to stay in Cork for a couple of days, but after 1,5 day we had seen everything and had a good impression about the city. There are many things to do in the county around Cork, but we didn’t had transport to get there unfortunately. I recommend everyone who’s thinking about traveling to Ireland: rent a car! I myself will rent a car later on during my stay here, I first want to get used a bit to driving at the ‘wrong’ side of the road. We took the bus and 4,5 hours later, we arrived in Dublin.

Back in Dublin, I went to some parties and watched a movie together with my roommate. On Sunday, the final of the Gaelic Football cup took place. Gaelic football is the national sport in Ireland and is a kind of combination between soccer, football, rugby and some other sports. I still don’t understand its rules, but you can search for them on Google. ;) We went to watch the match in a pub, which was really nice!

Last Monday (September 20), the Orientation Week started. The orientation is totally different than at Tilburg University! There are no buddy groups and you really have to make your own friends. Which is also nice, but totally different. About 16% of all students at Trinity is international, so quite a lot! The introduction is mainly focused on the study itself and on all societies here. The introduction week consisted of many information sessions, which were usefull and not boring at all, since the Irish have a lot of humor and are really good speechers. Besides that, we also got many tours, like a campus tour, a library tour and a sports centre tour. I didn’t remember everything, but it was nice to see something of student life and the campus. Trinity has over 100 societies and you could meet and join them at an information market. I joined four societies (international, volleybal, business&economics and dance), but their activities will start in the upcoming weeks, so I don’t know many members of them yet. There were also a lot of parties last week, but since there are 5 (or more, don’t know how many exactly) universities in Dublin, it is sometimes a bit confusing, since they all have their own parties and activities, but all students are allowed to participated in the activities of most other universities as well. Most of them use facebook for communication, but it is still a bit confusing.

I met some nice other students and together with them I joined the societies and went to some parties and celebrated Arthur’s Day last Thursday. On Arthur’s Day, they celebrate the birthday of Arther Guinness with a world wide toast at 17.59 o’clock. This year was his 251^st birthday, so not so anything special at all, but there were many acts and it was a real happening! Very nice! :)

Next Monday, my lectures will start. Next week is still a kind of orientation week, because you can attend all classes you want and after that week, we have to hand in our final choices. It may sound a bit strange, but I am looking to have lectures again and of course to meeting my fellow students!

Take care!

Love, Charlotte

PS: I will upload my pictures to http://picasaweb.google.nl/110111446223550966554/

The first impressions

Hi all,

As you might know allready, this semester I will study at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. I arrived exactly one week ago, so time for an update with the first impressions!

Last Tuesday quite early in the morning I had my flight from Brussels Airport to Dublin. The flight wasn't really crowded, so I had three seats for myself, which was very nice. After a good trip, I arrived at Dublin airport at 11.00 o'clock. I already booked my appartment from home, so I knew where I had to go (university does not arrange any accomodation in Dublin, so you have to arrange everything yourself). I took a taxi to my appartment, because I didn't feel like walking around with all my back in a totally new city, and after half an hour, I arrived at my appartment. It's located in the south of the city centre, about 15 minutes walk from the main shopping street! The university is located in the city centre as well, so I don't have to get up too early when I have lectures! ;) I share my appartment with a German girl, who I hadn't met before, but she's very kind. We share a bedroom, a large livingroom, kitchen and bathroom with only the two of us. She is also a student in business, but at another university in Dublin. I don't know yet how many universities there exactly are in Dublin, but there are many of them!

During my first week, I first spent some days discovering the city centre and find a supermarket, buying stuff which I couldn't bring from home and being a tourist! On my first evening here I met some fellow students of my roommate and last few days we spent also a lot of time with the whole group. Most of them are from Germany as well. Together we went to some Erasmus parties, had dinner and drinks, and we also went on a trip to Glendalough. This beautiful monument is in the Wicklow Mountains and during our day we discovered some of Ireland's beautiful nature! I also made a trip on my own to Howth, which is a half-island at the north of Dublin. Also that was beautiful! Next few days I will travel to the west, together with another student from Tilburg University. Looking forward to it!

My introduction week starts next Monday. Trinity has the latest introduction period of all universities here, so we are the lucky ones! I haven't met many other Trinity students till now, except for the other student from Tilburg and one German guy. But that is about to change next week!

I'll keep you updated!

Love, Charlotte