What are classes like?

All of the IES classes (to my knowledge) are with other citizens of the United States. When I studied abroad via IES, the students enrolled in the program were from all throughout the nation.

Hi Emma! When I did the IES Irish Studies program, my classes were taught by Irish professors with all IES American students. This was wonderful because we were all relatively on the same level in terms of our knowledge of Irish culture and history. My professors were so incredibly intelligent and taught us things beyond the course. I would frequently walk down to the IES center when I didn't have class to chat with one of my professors about the literature, where I should travel, and life in general. We'd just sit and have tea in the office, which was an awesome because Irish tea is amazing. I took a class on Celtic Myths and Legends and one on Irish Literature, and I learned so much. The workload was extremely manageable even with my travels every weekend, and my professors made sure that we had time to get everything done. We also did field trips to museums and plays to supplement what was learned in class.

My classes each met once a week for about 2.5 hours. They were very small, about 10-14 kids in a class. I really enjoyed them because we got to know our teachers and the other students very well. There were a lot of papers but very few exams. I would say they were the perfect level of difficult that you could still enjoy being abroad. Hope this helps.

The Irish Studies program was only with students in IES. IES has programs through Trinity and Gaiety School of Acting where you would go to school at those colleges with students directly enrolled there. I was in the Irish Studies program, and I appreciated the background and the insights learning about the culture, history, and politics gave me while I was there. Even though I wasn't with Irish students in class, I found, after the initial adjustment period, that meeting Irish people was easily done.

All of our classes for the Irish Studies program were taught in the IES Center with the other American students in the program. The teachers are either staff at the center or professors at other universities in the area. They're all brilliant and creative, and I loved attending classes. All of my professors were Irish or had been living in Ireland for many years, so it gives you a different perspective. Classes were once a week and fairly long, about 2.5 hours, but we almost always took a 5 minute break in the middle to grab a snack or a cup of tea. They weren't so difficult that you needed to spend most of your time on homework and were unable to enjoy being abroad, but we all definitely learned a lot.