Places you can go and things you can do beyond Dublin
By Maria Heines
I am writing this second blog while treating myself to a hot chocolate at a café across the river from Ireland’s immigration office. Today is the day I will (hopefully) officially be able to call Dublin my home away from home! Despite not having the official paperwork, yet, Dublin has certainty begun to feel like home as I have gotten into a rhythm of classes, sport practices, chilling at Binary Hub, and wandering around town with friends.
By Jessica Murphy, Summer Study Abroad Blogger
My name is Jessica Murphy and I am a rising sophomore at Brown University from New York City. I am still not sure what I am majoring in—or as we call it, “concentrating”—but I am interested in fields ranging from international relations to development studies. In fact, I was initially drawn to the Brown/Trinity summer study abroad programme in Dublin because of my interest in political science. The possibility of studying contemporary international politics, participating in an internship, and living in a completely new country sounded like a remarkable opportunity. I am so glad that I decided to sign up, because it has truly exceeded my (already high) expectations! Dublin is a fascinating city with a rich and layered past, and I have really enjoyed learning and exploring every single day.
By Jessica Murphy, Summer Study Abroad Blogger
My name is Jessica Murphy and I am a rising sophomore at Brown University from New York City. I am still not sure what I am majoring in—or as we call it, “concentrating”—but I am interested in fields ranging from international relations to development studies. In fact, I was initially drawn to the Brown/Trinity summer study abroad programme in Dublin because of my interest in political science. The possibility of studying contemporary international politics, participating in an internship, and living in a completely new country sounded like a remarkable opportunity. I am so glad that I decided to sign up, because it has truly exceeded my (already high) expectations! Dublin is a fascinating city with a rich and layered past, and I have really enjoyed learning and exploring every single day.
By Madison Tucky (Visiting Student, Study Abroad Blogger)
In Ireland there are a lot of different places that people told me I should visit, and the most frequently mentioned one was the Cliffs of Moher. The people that I talked to who had been to Ireland before said that I had to visit the Cliffs, that it would be an unbelievable experience I needed to have. I’ll admit, I was kind of skeptical. I’ve seen cliffs before. I’ve been to the Grand Canyon in America. I didn’t think that the Cliffs of Moher would be anything crazy special. They’d be really cool and I was definitely going to go, but to be honest I had very low expectations for my trip out there. While there are a few different companies that take tours to the Cliffs from Dublin, I actually took the bus to Galway and used a tour company there, as I have a friend studying there who wanted to go with me. It was a very nice, easy, and early bus ride to Galway, and then the bus for the tour left from the bus station that I’d been dropped off at, so it was a very easy start to the excursion.
By Viviana Lletget (Visiting Student – Department(s) at Trinity: English, Political Science, and Sociology – Home University: University of California Berkeley, Ethnic Studies)
Part of the reason I came to study in Ireland was to learn more about its political history, particularly Northern Ireland, which is one of the four countries that makes up the United Kingdom. British colonialism ended with the Irish Partition in 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, making Northern and Southern Ireland UK territories operating in different Home Rule fashions, but in 1922 with the War of Independence, Southern Ireland became independent as the Irish Free State. Belfast has always been a place to protest and voice your political position within the mainstream two factions of Irish Nationalism or Unionism. Belfast is saturated with social movement histories, and has been affected by violent pasts that seem to still plague the city besides its increasing social solidarity among citizens. People get along, though generally speaking, Catholics and Protestants don’t really hang out in each other’s neighborhoods, but no one is bombing or vandalizing a rival’s area as before. Things have changed in Belfast, though the city is definitely still segregated.
The World of Trinity 