Name: Chelsea Stowell Email: chelsea.e.stowell@vanderbilt.edu City Studied Abroad In: Galway, Ireland Program: Institute for Study Abroad (IFSA) – Butler University Program Details:

• Can stay one semester or a full academic year • See National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) website for course offerings,

but keep in mind that “visiting students” can only take courses listed in the booklet published by the International Office – www.nuigalway.ie

• Engineering courses are available that transfer for VU elective and/or core credit! This program is especially recommended by the VU School of Engineering for biomedical engineers.

• There is no on-campus housing at NUIG, so all the Irish and international students live in apartments. IFSA-Butler places all its American students studying in Galway in student apartments about 15 min. walk from campus. You may or may not have Irish flatmates. IFSA handles all rent and housing contracts.

• Housing was nicer than anything I’ve seen at Vanderbilt. • No homestay comes with the IFSA program, but some classes designed for

visiting students take weekend trips into the Irish countryside. • IFSA has about 40 American students in Galway and about 100 across Ireland

and Northern Ireland. These come from all over the U.S. • There are a lot of international students at NUIG. Most are American, but some

are European. The Irish make jokes about “spotting the Americans” on campus (key tipoffs: rain boots and Northfaces.) Some classes are more frequented by international students than others.

• IFSA-Butler organizes two or three events for all of its students in Ireland. We visited an outdoor adventure center in the boglands of Connemara one weekend and Belfast another. They were very fun. Occasionally, IFSA staff will also host dinners or events for your specific university group.

• IFSA is incredibly well organized, helpful, and kind. They will give advice on anything (really, anything) you need. If you are having a problem, they will even drive out to take you to coffee.

• You receive a transcript from Butler University with your Irish numeric grades converted into American letter grades. (In the Irish system, a 70 is an A; these conversions are vital.)

Courses Taken:

• Ireland, Europe, and the Global Economy (frequented by international students) • Nazi Germany (frequented by international students) • Human Body Function (mostly Irish students) • Polymer Technologies w/Lab (mostly Irish students) • Biomedical Production and Environmental Services (mostly Irish students)

Other Courses Offered: • Too many to name, across nearly all departments. NUIG’s International Office

publishes a list of courses visiting students are allowed to take. The new year’s one is usually not available until late in the summer, so work off of the old one when getting courses approved, and check with professors (call them “lecturers”, though) or departments to make sure the course will still be offered in the semester that you will be at NUIG. Then verify when the new list is available.

• Classes available in Irish culture, music, literature, etc. • Note: there are classes in Gaelic (call it “Irish”) for beginners. Only international

students take these, since all Irish learn Irish in primary and secondary school. Favorite Parts of the Program:

• Galway is small—about 100,000—and it’s very compact, so it’s easy to get around by walking or the occasional cab. Lots of Irish students take cabs to places and split the fares between large groups.

• If you like nightlife, there’s both a traditional Irish pub scene and a club scene in Galway. The pubs are a relaxed, friendly, social way to hang out with friends over a pint or two and have the craic (“fun”). Students usually show up in them around 10 on weeknights (not weekends—Irish students go out on weeknights because they go home for the weekends). The clubs are, well, clubs, and there’s many.

• Galway is hundreds of years old. Some buildings have been standing for 800 years. Some of the families that founded it are still around. There’s more history and tradition there than anywhere I’ve ever been, and the people are proud of it.

• Check out the pedestrian area in Shop Street, Eyre Square, and the Latin Quarter. There are tons of local Irish businesses, pubs, and lunch spots there. At night, there’s usually a few people playing traditional (“trad”) music in the streets for change, although I did hear someone do an incredible Adele cover once too.

• By the way, the Irish have great taste in music. They listen to a lot of American and British pop, especially the students, but they also the love classic and soft rock our parents grew up with.

• You can get everywhere in the country on Bus Eireann for a decent price. • Galway has a farmer’s market every Saturday and Sunday in the fall, and a

Christmas market in December. Both are a lot of fun. Be sure to try some of the food, especially Irish wheaten soda bread!

• Galway is in an incredibly beautiful part of Ireland, and it’s not far from either the prehistoric ruins on the Aran Islands or the famous Cliffs of Moher

• Knowing students at other Irish universities through IFSA means they can give you recommendations on what to do if you visit their cities

• There is so much to see in Ireland! And the country is drop-dead gorgeous. • You can get lots of places on a rented bike, and there are lots of bike lanes.

Least Favorite Parts of the Program:

• Irish drivers and pedestrians are insane. They literally do not look where they are going. This can be dangerous if you’re still getting used to cars coming at you on the left side of the road.

• Ireland is way out on the corner of Europe. If you want to visit the continent, it will take you a while to fly out there. And you’ll probably have to take a 3 h bus ride to Dublin to catch your flight.

• It’s hard to get around the Irish countryside without a car. Coach tours are a good option, but they do get old.

• Things, especially touristy things, are not as reliably open as in the States. If you want to visit somewhere, make absolutely sure before going that the attractions are open, that you have transportation once you get there, and that you know what you want to do when you’re there.

• Ireland has a slower pace of life than Americans are used to. On the one hand, this means taking a day off or sitting in a pub at 3 PM is much more socially acceptable. On the other, it may mean it could take 2 weeks for your Internet to be fixed. Be prepared for small delays, and don’t sweat them.

• Nearly all of your grade in every class is set by the final exam or paper (70-100%.) There’s practically never homework. Some people preferred this, but I thought it was very stressful, especially for engineering classes.

• With the dollar-euro exchange rate and the value-added tax (21% on some goods), the cost of living in Ireland can add up pretty quickly. Check out Penney’s and Dunnes for cheap consumer goods.

• When Irish students pick their major (“course,”) they are given an automatic set of classes to take each semester. They call this their timetable. Everyone in a course has the same timetable except for maybe one or two electives. Because visiting students pick classes from all over the university, we often get left out of the loop. Lecturers will schedule labs or extra sessions based on the class members’ timetables and forget to ask if visiting students have classes during that time. You have to be proactive to make sure you don’t slip through the cracks.

• It is a little hard to meet Irish students unless you have some as flatmates. Galway gets dark very early in the winter, and most club meetings happen at night. Even though Ireland has a very low crime rate, I’m always nervous about walking in cities alone at night, so I could not attend many meetings. Also, since there are so many Americans from IFSA-Butler, and you all live so close together, it’s easy to hang out with them most of the time. So you will not have much trouble meeting some phenomenal Americans, but expect it to take a little effort to meet some phenomenal Irish.

• Ireland’s climate takes a bit of getting used to. It’s not nearly as bad as they say…but you will need a raincoat, not an umbrella, and a good winter coat for about mid-November on. And stuff does not stop for the rain. I don’t know how many Irish I saw out running in the pouring rain and wind.

Best Restaurants in Galway: • Heads-up: it’s a little hard to eat out in Galway. Usually you’re either talking

about 5 euro for a sandwich (sambo) at a convenience store, or you’re talking about 13+ euro at a pub or restaurant. You can get some delivery (“takeaway”) for more reasonable prices: about 7-8 euro. But unless you really, really like sandwiches or you have a ton of money, it’s worth it to learn to cook for most of the time.

• Know this too: it’s hard to eat out as a vegetarian in Ireland. Most restaurants in the U.S. offer at least one salad or vegetable entrée. Not so in Ireland. Your most reliable bet is pureed vegetable soup and brown bread (as long as you don’t mind that the bread is made with buttermilk.)

• Buon Appetito: off of Shop St. A reasonably priced (10 euro) sit-down restaurant with both Italian and Irish dishes. Great for a dinner or a full Irish breakfast on a Saturday morning!

• I can’t remember the name of the Chinese takeaway on Headford Rd. by Menlo Apartments, but it’s right by where you’ll be living, and it’s great.

• McDonagh’s: generally agreed to have the best fish and chips in Galway. In the Quay St. area.

• Pick a pub, any pub, and go there for dinner and a pint, just once. (Just not the Quays, its food is too expensive. I think the Skeff was reasonable.)

• By the way, I don’t know who said Irish food is boring. Yes, potatoes do tend to pop up in unexpected places (in a salad? Really?)—but a lot of it is great, and much of it is locally produced. Be adventurous. The only thing that might weird some people out is black pudding: it’s a type of blood sausage. But white pudding has no blood and tastes very similar.

I Would Recommend This Program Because: • Ireland is a warm, generous place. Its people have both feet on the ground, don’t

sweat the small stuff, and have a viciously hilarious sense of humor. • Irish traditional culture is really fun, and normal Irish people are still interested in

it. It is not geeky to play trad or do Irish dance. (Hint, though: no one really believes in leprechauns. Do not ask. It’s offensive.)

• You’re close to the rest of Europe. • You learn a lot about how Europe works as a whole. I never understood why there

was an EU before I visited Ireland. • Galway is the cultural heart of Ireland…and everyone I talked to liked it better

than Dublin • I didn’t think the engineering was very rigorous, but I learned a ton in my

economics and history classes. Other Things I Think You Should Know About Studying Abroad in Ireland:

• Flying Ryanair is really not that bad. Just know that they will always fly you into a small airport an hour’s drive outside the city they say you’re flying to. You will spend another 10-15 euro and 1-2 h on the bus getting where you meant to go.

• Check out hostelworld.com . They give good recommendations. And, if you’re hostelling, check if you need to bring your own sheets/pillow, towel, and/or lock, or if you can rent some there. If you pick the better-rated hostels, it is not as sketchy as they say.

• Do NOT try to outdrink the Irish unless you are an alcoholic already or mean to become one. And if you’re in a pub and someone asks you to do rounds, only say yes if you’re really sure of yourself. Rounds are when you take turns buying drinks for the whole table.

• Ireland shuts down on Sunday mornings, and things tend to close earlier on weekdays than we’re used to. There is a 24-hour grocery store near the student apartments, though.

• They will know you’re an American. I don’t know how they do it, but they do. Don’t bother trying to hide it.

• Visit the Cliffs of Moher, the Aran Islands, and the Giant’s Causeway, at least. Try to get to the Aran Islands in the warmer months, because you have to take a ferry there. And go on all the IFSA trips for sure.

• In Ireland, it is completely acceptable to roast a complete stranger. Play along and don’t take it personally. It’s all in good fun.

• Never go anywhere for more than about 20 min without an umbrella or raincoat. • Sheep smell. • Have a wonderful time!