Being a part of Connect-123’s internship program was one of my best decisions I have ever made. I had always wanted to travel to Europe, so to be able to do so while pursuing my career path was an incredible opportunity for me. Soon enough, I found myself in Dublin taking in the Irish culture and taking full advantage of my journey.
In Dublin, I got a fantastic internship at Systems Biology Ireland, which helps to design therapeutic and personalized approaches to cancer. I got to be a part of truly integral and prestigious research. I worked in a top-notch facility, both in a wet lab and in an office performing analyses on breast cancer cells. It was one of the greatest learning experiences of my life so far. My supervisors were incredibly patient and kind when it came to my experiences working with them and learning from them.
Yet, besides my internship, I was fortunate enough to have the weekends to take full advantage of all that Ireland had to offer. I was blessed to be able to travel around the country, seeing castles, cliffs, and countryside, while taking in the history of this magnificent place. I got to be fully immersed in the culture, which is something that was so important to me, especially being of Irish descent myself. This only added to my incredible time spent here. I am grateful for my summer internship with Connect-123, and it has been a wonderful life-changing experience that I will be forever grateful for.

My internship at Trinity College Dublin gave me exactly what I wanted to know: what it what like to be an astrophysics graduate student. Connect-123 operates on a desirable platform: you give them your resume, cover letter, and required forms, and they go out to the city of your choice to find you an internship that matches best with your requests. When they get an offer, you can choose to either accept or pass on that specific opportunity. It's a low stress procedure, but remember that (even though I got exactly what I was looking for), it's, always possible that you don't match with a perfect internship.
Once I arrived in Dublin, I quickly made friends with my likeminded roommates, decided to go biking around Dublin, go to a traditional Irish pub that night, and tour the Old Jameson Distillery the morning after. There is so much to do in Dublin, and you can bus from one side of the city to the other painfully easily. Whether it's walking along the River Liffey, touring the Guinness Factory or hiking in the Wicklow Mountains, you will leave Dublin wanting to do more.

I decided last minute I wanted to do an internship in Dublin and luckily, as fate would have it, I ended up applying for it in Connect 123. Lea in Barcelona just found the perfect internship for me that matched my career goals in just a matter of weeks. Next, I went to Ireland, my adoptive country for two months. Liat and Sarah were extremely helpful and crucial to make the most of my stay.

All my goals have been fully accomplished. First, I've gained a valuable experience in the field of education development and research in the NGO sector where I found a friendly work environment. second, I enjoyed again the opportunity to travel to an English-speaking country which is always my dream, and getting a better understanding of the world from first hand.Third, I learnt about myself and grew on a personal level.

Moreover, Dublin is a vibrant city with many interesting things to do and places to visit. What I liked most was that Dublin was easy to get around. You could easily do one-day trip to visit the Giants of causeway or Cliffs of Moher or whatever of its breathtaking landscapes in its surroundings. In a nutshell, it has been a memorable life changing experience.

My summer in Dublin was absolutely incredible! I volunteered at a community resource centre helping with the planning and facilitating of a summer project, which provides a fun and safe environment for at-risk youth during their summer holiday. Connect-123 understood what type of opportunity I was looking for and worked with me every step of the way! Dublin is a beautiful city and it's relatively small size allowed for me to become acquainted to it in a short amount of time. I recommend to anyone to take an opportunity like this because the learning experience is unforgettable!!!

My 8 weeks in Dublin were truly memorable. I had a lot of fun and learnt a lot during my internship as an executive intern. Dublin is just full of friendly and helpful people and it was easy to make friends and feel at home.

The process of applying for the internship, arriving in Ireland and settling down in my accommodation was very smooth and working with Connect-123 made my life much easier. For someone who was travelling away from home for the 1st time, and that too more than 13 hours away, applying with Connect-123 was comfortable and safe. I also got to live with and meet other interns from the programme, so I didn't feel alone.

I learnt a lot during my internship.The great thing about Connect-123 is that they monitor your progress at your internship and discuss with you your goals before and mid-way your internship, so that you have a clear picture on what you want to gain at the end of the experience. They are also very willing to help us during our stay there. I am glad that I cam to Dublin for my internship. I am definitely going to a plan a trip back!

I can honestly say that living and working in Ireland for 2 months was the greatest, most rewarding experience of my life so far. I had a great place to stay at University College Dublin, a fantastic internship at Trinity, and was able to travel to new and exciting places every weekend. I could feel myself growing as a person every day--becoming more independent, developing my skills as a researcher, making new friends and long-lasting connections, and seeing sights that have been on my bucket list for a while (e.g. Giant's Causeway and Blarney Castle). By the end of the summer, I'd gotten to know Dublin so well I was giving Irish people directions! I'd highly recommend this experience to any college student--especially if, like me, it's your first time going abroad.

Living abroad in Dublin was an incredible, life-changing experience. I spent three months there, but it was so hard to leave at the end, that I wish I could have stayed longer. The whole experience was very smooth right from the beginning. Connect-123 found me the perfect internship, performing research on the childhood cancer neuroblastoma at the University College Dublin. I didn’t have a whole lot of research experience before arriving, but everyone there was so friendly and willing to teach me, that I learned so much more than I could have imagined and feel more prepared for a future career in medicine.

In addition to exploring Dublin, I was able to travel around Ireland and other European countries. The scenery was so spectacular that I literally had to pinch myself to know it was real. Coming from Chicago, Dublin was a smaller city, but its charm and friendly people made me feel so at home. It has a rich history, great nightlife, and there was always something new to do and see. The Connect-123 events helped me get acclimated to the city as well as meet some great, life-long friends that I still keep in touch with. This was absolutely the experience of a lifetime, and I can’t wait to go back. I would recommend this internship and the opportunity to travel to Dublin to anyone and everyone!

I had a great experience in Dublin! It was nice to be picked up at the airport and have an orientation of the vital information that is needed when traveling abroad! It was also great to get to know people that were traveling to the same place. We first connected over Facebook and than we planned activities when we got to Dublin.