Meet our New (and Furry) Office Mate for the Week

Meet Interstudy‘s new employee for the week… Cove! Cove is the dog of Interstudy‘s Director of University Relations, Paul Pelan. Cove is a Border Collie who’s FIFTEEN years old! According to one dog age conversion online, Cove would be 83 years old in human years! Cove is from Cobh, Ireland and has lived in Ireland, England, and the US. Cobh, Ireland is a popular tourist seaport town in the County Cork of Ireland, and is actually very close to one of Interstudy‘s program sites in Cork!

Meet Your Match: Tips on Choosing a Program

Soon you’ll be headed back to school, and it will be time to start finalizing your plans for your time abroad. Whether you’re thinking about going to the bustling city of London, the beautiful wine region of Stellenbosch, or perhaps the historic town of Galway, Ireland, you’re in for a fresh perspective and wonderful memories.

You might think that coming to a conclusion on where to study is an easy decision. I mean, no matter where you decide to go it is going to be a life changing experience right? While this is not completely wrong, there are still key elements to consider before finalizing the decision of where you want to go abroad. To help, we’d like to share a list of factors to consider when choosing a study abroad program.

Home is Not Where You Live, but Where They Understand You.

It has been exactly three weeks since I have left Cork city to return to the United States and for me, coming home has been a very surreal experience. At first I felt like a stranger in my own home and almost as if I had returned to a foreign country. However, immediately upon my return I was welcomed by many of my friends and family making coming home a bit easier than I had anticipated. It took a bit of time to get used to the different smells and sounds surrounding me. I could hear the train that’s just down the road, smell the flowers that bloom every summer in the tree out front, and see all the cotton that releases from all the cottonwood trees in the neighborhood. As irritating as the train horn is, as overwhelming as the smell can be, and as aggravating as that cotton flies, it’s familiar things like that that make coming home feel nice.

Lessons come from the journey, not the destination!

Being abroad is much harder than I had ever anticipated. There are the logistics to work out, places to adjust to, and people to meet and befriend. For me, particularly in the beginning, it was hard to become accustomed to my new environment, mostly because change is almost always difficult for me. However, now I am approaching the halfway point of my experience and I feel that I have fully adjusted to the Irish culture and thing things it has to offer. Although, some days are still difficult; I often miss my family, friends, and home institution but the things that I have seen and the people that I have met make it all worth the few struggles! Since embarking on my journey in Ireland, and having had the opportunity to see and meet new people and places, I have attained a better appreciation for home, as well as an improved insight about my own self.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes, Turn and Face the Strain!

I have been in Ireland just about five weeks now and it feels as if I have stories that could last a life time! I always knew that studying in Ireland would be one of the greatest experiences of my life, and so far I’d say it is living up to my high expectations. I have considered myself very lucky to have encountered certain people on my journey, those including my housemates, their friends, and even my classmates. Through some of these people I have met many other students and they have exposed me to things that I could never find at home. And one of my new friends has even brought me to her home in Limerick where I have been treated with the utmost hospitality. I had assumed that the Irish were kind and welcoming people and the ones I have met so far a proving this assumption right! Not only have I met great people but I have already seen some magnificent locations in Ireland as well. In the first six weeks of my adventure abroad I have seen parts of Galway, the Aran Islands, Dublin, Limerick, Kerry, Clare, and obviously Cork as well. Each of these places held their own secrets, displayed their different histories, and presented their individual beauties. There were things that I saw and did that I will cherish forever in my heart and one day I hope to share some of the things I have seen with the people I love.

Ready to Revel in “Rebel County”

**I wanted to make a note of the “Rebel County” because through research, according to  goireland.com, Cork is known as the “Rebel County” due to the high level of rebel activity in the county during the War of Independence and the subsequent Civil War.

Hurling

Last Sunday saw the climax of this year’s All-Ireland Hurling Championship and pitted two of the country’s oldest and most bitter rivals against each other. Tipperary beat Kilkenny 4.17 (29 points) to 1.18 (21 points). What made this victory special is not only that fact that Tipperary, the county commonly known as ‘The Home of Hurling’, had not won the championship for nine years, but that Kilkenny were hoping to win their fifth straight title. A five-in-a-row had never been achieved before and Kilkenny are regularly referred to as the greatest team ever.