Experience of Studying Abroad
- Amanda Oka
- Nov 30, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 21, 2019
To anyone who is considering studying abroad, I would say DO IT. Before even starting college, I knew that I wanted to study abroad. With my engineering major and an architecture minor, it was not the easiest process to do. My university had two common options for programs abroad, one of which stopped the semester I wanted to go. Neither really appealed to me, so I started doing my research and found a school abroad that would have the necessary classes I needed to stay on track to graduate on time. I made it known as a freshman to my adviser that this was something I wanted to do and we mapped out my courses to unsure that it would be possible. Once I found University College Dublin, which had a structural engineering program with a focus in architecture, I knew I had found my place.
University of New Hampshire (UNH) vs. University College Dublin (UCD)
Nothing could have prepared me for how drastically different the two school systems were. For one, my entire time at UNH, no matter how hard I tried, I never had a day without a class or a lab. I was shocked when I set up my course schedule that I managed to not have any classes on Thursday or Friday and this was with taking two engineering course, two architecture courses, and one "fun" elective.
Secondly, the distribution of course work was polar opposites. Like most US colleges, UNH spread your total grade between multiple quizzes, tests, labs, and homework. UCD had about 80% of your grade based on the final exam (ONE exam). For a girl who is terrible at taking exams, this made me a bit anxious. Because of this set up, it was mostly on the students to keep up with the course work and understanding it. This took some adjusting to as in I learned the week going into finals how much information I needed to cram into my head.
Weekend Travels
With not being on main land Europe, Ryainair became my best friend. It gave my friends and I the opportunity to travel for cheap to many different locations. I was able to explore cities like London, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Brussels. Not only did I want to balance travels with school work, but I also wanted to make sure I got to spend enough time exploring Ireland itself. Looking back, I do not believe that I got to explore Ireland enough, as I revisited the country after graduating college.
Below is the photo project I brought on myself. As my parents supported me through college and starting showing me at a young age the thrills of traveling, I got inspired to do a collage of photos in each city I traveled to.
Click here for my weekly blog posts that I kept up while studying abroad.
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