Comments about the Quinn Summer Program from Past Participants

for more complete comments, please check out the binders in 1055 BIF

Useful Advice

"The most valuable thing I learned was about international relations within business. The company I worked for employed people from around the world and I learned about their customs and how different countries work." - Maureen O'Connor, Summer 08

"Bring 'rain' clothes, including a nice raincoat. You will get used to the rain, after awhile it won’t bother you. When you get a cellphone there, get Vodafone. Irish people dress very similar to Americans. Bring fall/spring type clothes. Bring very comfortable gym shoes. Get used to pregaming with wine/liquor and drinking beer when you are out. Irish people are very sarcastic and like to poke fun at you, but they are not being serious most of the time. Take as many day trips as you can, especially to Howth and Bray (take the DART from Connolly Station). Travel throughout Ireland as much as possible. At most, you will be able to travel on the weekends about 3 different weekends. Fly Ryanair. Eat fish every time it is offered. The clam chowder is usually really good. It will be two of the best months of your life. Take as much out of it as you can. Go out and travel every single weekend. " - Daniel Kline, Summer 08

"The opportunity to intern at an Irish company allowed for interaction on a professional and personal basis. I had a great time just socializing and also learning about the Irish way of doing things. At the same time, living and breathing in the same environment with my co-workers for two months allowed for me to learn so many things about myself and has allowed for growth. I loved my whole experience in Dublin. I met great people and learned so many different things. Having a study abroad/work experience allowed for so many different amazing experiences. I was able to work 30 hours a week and also fit in time to do traveling around Europe as well. I want future study abroad students to take advantage of everything they have. I would meet everyone I possibly could, travel as much as I can, and just challenge myself everyday while living in the country. It really challenges your way of thinking and opens you up to many different opportunities." - Joseph Lee, Summer 08

"I would evaluate my experience in Ireland as priceless. Living, studying, and working abroad is something I would never take back. Almost all of the people in Ireland were fun, interesting people who treated tourists well. One piece of advice I would give to students studying abroad is to get one or two really good travel books and read them before you leave. This will help you decide the places you want to go and things you want to see the most." - Caitlin French, Summer 08

"Considering I once told a friend I would absolutely never study abroad, my summer in Ireland turned out to be one of the best experiences of my college career. If you don't feel comfortable spending an entire semester abroad, I highly recommend a summer program. the program I did involved taking a class and doing an internship, and the internship was unvelievable. I learned a lot about how human resource consulting firms and got to participate in a lot of the marketing design for the company. Overall, my summer in Ireland was an amazing summer, and I highly recommend studying abroad to students interested in broadening their horizons and learning about different cultures."
-Joy Zuanella, Summer 07

“I would say it was probably the best experience of my lifetime and definitely something I would recommend to anyone who was thinking about studying abroad. Make sure to just walk around the city as much as you can because it’s really interesting. Even if you get lost, it will just be easier to find your way the next time. Make sure you go out on your own, too, because if you go walking with other people all the time, you will never get a feel for what the city is really like.” – Eric Biltgen, Summer 06

"I learned how to be self-sufficient, and comfortable experiencing things on my own. I gained a lot of independence and left behind a lot of my shyness. I loved studying abroad and being able to experience another culture. I found it exciting to learn about a different way of life, and to view the American way of life from a new perspective. I'm especially glad I studied in Dublin because of its friendly residents, rich culture, and size."
-Monica Hebel, Summer 07

“I would rate this experience very highly. I enjoyed every moment I was in Ireland. I feel that studying abroad is something that everyone should do before they go into their professions. It will be one of the most rewarding things you ever do for yourself.” – Rebecca Neumayer, Summer 06

“I would say that overall I had a great experience. I really learned a lot about a different culture and a different economy. I really enjoyed meeting all the new people that I met and would love to go back to Dublin.” – Tim Treacy, Summer 06

Location

"Dublin, Ireland was a greaat place to study abroad. It is currently the fastest growing city in Europe and is a modern city with an old-town feel. Traveling around the country was easy to do since Dublin is a major transportation hub, so I was really able to see a lot of Ireland. There is always something to do in a bustling city like Dublin. The weather was probably the thing I disliked the most about Dublin. Even though it was sumertime, we only had 8 days of sun the entire 2 months I was abroad; it was perpecually rainy, windy, and cold (in the 50s-60s the whole time.) I will say that you adapt quickly, and the rain does not stop you from doing anything."
-Joy Zuanella, Summer 07

"Dublin is a smaller city than most European capitals, so it was easy to get to know the city and easy to get around. Public transportation is easy to use and efficient."
-Monica Hebel, Summer 07

“The location was great because there was no language barrier, and there was very easy access to all of Europe with cheap airline flights.” – Eric Biltgen, Summer 06

“I enjoyed being in the city atmosphere in Dublin. I was able to see people that were professionals in business. Dublin is a very friendly place and I never felt like I was in danger of anything. The people were very helpful and the public transportation was easy to figure out. The social scene in Dublin was also very enjoyable. Irish people are very active and fun.”

“The weather in Ireland during the summer is cooler than the Midwest, and the sun rarely comes out for more than an hour a day. It is rainy and chilly most of the time. I wish it would have been a little bit warmer just so it felt like summer.” – Rebecca Neumayer, Summer 06

“We had a very nice location. We were about ten minutes walk south of the main city center in Dublin. Also, we had a bus stop right outside of our house, so that was nice because it took us anywhere around the city for less than a euro.” – Tim Treacy, Summer 06

Courses

"The Irish History course was a little slow at times but it was very interesting. I enjoyed learning about my ancestors and I really enjoyed the field trips that we went on every afternoon. The work for the internship course was minimal and it was interesting to hear about everyone else’s internship at the end. Grading was a little harder than I expected and I did not get my grades for 10 weeks after I finished the program. " - Maureen O'Connor, Summer 08

"The history course in this program was very interesting. I learned so many things about the Irish history that I never learned in the States. The professor worked hard integrating field trips within Ireland to tie in the material we learned in class." - Joseph Lee, Summer 08

"The course was informative and the field trips were fun and well organized.  There was a lot of information squeezed into 1 week. However, the shortness of the course left more time for the internship or sightseeing." - Caitlin French, Summer 08

"The class on Irish history was very interesting, and a good way to get to know a new country. Overall, I really liked the class. The class was only a week long, and we were given a lot of material very quickly, which made it difficult to remember everything and fully digest the material."
-Monica Hebel, Summer 07

"I took a one-week long intensive Irish history class. It was very interesting as we covered Irish history from the Viking founders of Dublin up through the final peace treaty between Northern Ireland the the Republic of Ireland. The best part of the class was that each day after class, we went on field trips that corresponded with that day's lesson. For instance, we learned about the Irish founders that helped the country get freedom from Briatin and how the Irish are very proud of their culture; that day we went on a tour of Croke Park - the national stadium for all of the Gaelic games. Although the course was very interesting, sometimes it was kind of hard to follow since I had no previous experience with Irish history. The teacher tried her best to relate some of the Irish history to US history (a lot of Irish immigrants came to the US after the potato famine in the 1800's), but it could still be a bit hard to take it all in."
-Joy Zuanella, Summer 07

“The courses were OK. The Irish history course was nice because it was only four days long. The other part of the program was the internship, which was a great experience and will hopefully be a solid resume booster.”

“The Irish course was cursory at best, nothing was delved into deeply; however, it was only four days long so it did the best it could.” – Eric Biltgen, Summer 06

“I only took one course with the University College Dublin, and it was an Irish history course. We only met four times and went on 5 field trips. It was a very interesting course, and I learned a lot about Irish history. I like the professor that we had;  she was always willing to help us out when we were confused. The paper we had to write was ten pages but we had plenty of sources so it was not a problem to write. The classrooms at UCD were all really nice and there was wireless Internet access at the Quinn building which was nice when we were writing our papers.” – Rebecca Neumayer, Summer 06

Housing

"The best part of housing is the location. Some of the places are newly furnished, some aren’t. The landlords are a pain to deal with and you will have issues with your place. However, from a college perspective, it more than suffices. Housing is about 700 euro a month per person. I lived in a townhouse in Rathmines, and it was big but many of the things promised in the lease were either not there or broken." - Daniel Kline, Summer 08

"The apartment was nice and I had great roommates. It was extremely spacious for five people and was located near grocery stores/restaurants. We had a horrible landlord who kicked us out a day early from the original lease date. Also, the different components of the house were so fragile that many things like the laundry/dryer didn’t work." - Joseph Lee, Summer 08

“Housing was decent. We had a great location, with relatively easy access to the City Centre, bus stops and grocery stores.”

“It was EXTREMELY expensive, especially for the quality of house we rented. We had no cable or Internet, and the house was absolutely filthy when we moved in.” – Eric Biltgen, Summer 06

“I stayed in Monkstown Co. Dublin which was just a 20-minute train ride outside of the city. I was in a house with two other girls from the program. We stayed in the garden flat. The landlady was extremely nice and helpful making sure we knew where everything was when we first arrived in the city. It was right on the seaside and had shopping near by. The neighborhood was really nice and safe and everyone was very friendly.”

“I didn’t enjoy the location very much. Everyone else in the program was actually staying in Dublin. We had to take a 20-minute train ride into the city.” – Rebecca Neumayer, Summer 06

Costs

"I think I spent about 60 euros on food a week.  I didn’t have to buy any textbooks." - Maureen O'Connor, Summer 08

"I spent around 100 euros on food and drinks a week." - Caitlin French, Summer 08

"I spent about 40-50 euros a week on food. However, I split the costs with my roommates, so that made things so much easier." - Joseph Lee, Summer 08

"I spent about 50 euro on food a week, I think.... We didn't spend any money on textbooks, because we didn't use them. For our papers we used online databases and the college library, as well as textbooks left at our house by previous students."
-Monica Hebel, Summer 07

"I spent 150 euro (or US $200) every ten days or so for spending money. Eating at home was cheaper than eating out, and would cost roughly 5 euro for simple food meals (grilled cheese, pizza, soup, salad). Breakfast out was typically 6-8 euro, lunch would be 8-10 euro, and dinner at a pub would be 10-15 euro; eating at a nicer restaurant obviously costs more, as did having alcohol with the meal. A pint of Guinness was around 5 euro, so drinking can quickly add up. We didn't have to buy a textbook for the class, so I didn't have to really spend any money on books. In order to do the reports for class I would just go to the library and check books out for free. The main cost for school was getting to and from UCD; it was 1.40 euro each way and the school was out of walking distance, so you had to take the bus back and forth."
-Joy Zuanella, Summer 07

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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