Great Craic in Dublin

This trip was great craic (an Irish slang term for fun)! Not only did we get to become a part of the beautiful city of Dublin, but we also as a group got to take a secondary trip to Ireland's medieval capital of Kilkenny, which was probably my favorite part! Kilkenny was just a super cool little town, with a beautiful castle and incredible nightlife. While in Dublin, I was studying the Shaping of Modern Ireland, which was a history class outlining Ireland from 1800 up through 1949. Dublin City University was a nice school that was just far enough outside of the city center, and I had a great professor who cared deeply about the topic and made sure that the class was understanding him. This class was great for me, as I finally got to learn the history of my Irish ancestors and about the land that they came from. Outside of the classroom, Dublin was an incredible city to call home for a month. The beautiful churches were probably my favorite thing to explore. That and the pubs of course! I cannot recommend this study abroad experience enough; if you have any desire to learn anything about Ireland, you have to do it!
For me, one of the reasons this trip was so great was that I really was able to get in touch with my Irish roots; I got to visit the same churches my ancestors went to, I learned about their experiences and how they lived back then, and I was able to explore the city that they called home! I feel that it also really helped with my world outlook, because although Ireland is very similar to the United States, it is simultaneously completely different. It was super convenient for me that there was no language barrier to overcome here, but there were still a few cultural differences, which I found to be more fun than annoying.
While here, I would highly recommend trying to take in as much of the local culture as possible, especially the sports! Before coming here, I had no clue what Hurling or Gaelic Football were, but I can say that going to those matches were some of the most fun that I had while on this trip!
As I stated earlier, I cannot recommend this trip enough! Dublin is a fantastic city, and I cannot wait to come back in the future!