Once In A Lifetime Experience!

We could be having some good coffee while meeting in a coffeehouse, where I would spend hours telling you stories about living in Athlone. Well, it's a pity we're not, so I will try to sum things up here instead. My name is Jeovan, and I spent 16 months studying both English and engineering at AIT.

My journey started when I was given the opportunity to study at AIT. Not many people know, but if it weren't for the great support provided by AIT International Office, I would probably never had left Brazil to study overseas (thanks to Mary and Karl). As it happens, I arrived at Dublin Airport in a typical, pale grey sky afternoon, from where AIT had provided a vehicle to drive new students like me straight to our accommodation in Athlone (which I loved, by the way). It doesn't seem to be much, but after nearly one day in a flight it helped a lot!

I felt very comfortable with my first impression of the on-campus high quality facilities. In particular, I couldn't expected to see more than I saw when I visited the engineering building. Additionally, sports facilities are remarkably well offered, including the impressive AIT International Athletic Arena and a soccer standard all weather pitch in which I particularly spent most of my after class time training soccer. Nevertheless, there was always plenty of time to grab a coffee before switching from the pitch to the volleyball training session :)

Although AIT is situated in a small town, the college atmosphere is surprisingly intense, and it is very unlikely that I had one single day with nothing to do. As a matter of fact, I found myself surrounded by a multicultural friendly environment of hundreds of students from more than 40 nationalities, which I thought very easy to get along with them. Yet, sometimes I had the impression that I already knew everyone who walked towards me, but I guess that's what they call living in small towns. Anyway...

Besides, the city's strategic central location offers a lot of ways to travel around and discover other charming towns in the countryside. In fact, I had the chance to enjoy some extra leisure time besides from on-campus activities during my trips to some of the top must visit places in the island, such as The Cliffs of Moher (the most famous and breathtaking place in Ireland with a view from 214 metre high cliffs) and the Giant's Causeway (the stunning rock formations at Northern Ireland's only UNESCO World Heritage Site), which were all organized by the International Office (often free of charge). Not to mention that Athlone itself offers a range of water activities, such as fishing and canoeing (thanks to Lough Ree lake and River Shannon, the longest river in the country which runs right through the town), which can be a nice getaway for the weekend. Unless, of course, if you're too afraid to get into the cold water :p

As we can clearly see by now, there are so many things to do while living in Athlone and studying at AIT. From my own knowledge, I can therefore assure that being an international student at AIT is nothing less than 'Once In A Lifetime Experience!'

Thanks for reading,
Jeovan