CIS Abroad - Summer in Ireland

I had so much fun. This program allowed me to have fun whilst earning credit toward my degree. It is also low commitment, since it is only for two weeks, opposed to a full semester. This is perfect for any student, like me, whose major cannot be completed at other universities or those who are in their upper level courses. I was able to take a culturally focused course that taught me so much about my heritage. They were also incredibly supportive of the students with disabilities that were traveling with us.

I did the CISabroad Semester in Limerick program during the Fall 2019 semester. It was an incredible experience and I loved it so much that I am hoping to go back for graduate school. Some of the positive aspects of going to the University of Limerick through CISabroad was the assistance with pre-departure stuff, advising throughout the semester and after, and having a separate orientation with just CISabroad students. CISabroad made preparing to leave for Ireland so easy. They emailed you many times with detailed instructions and made sure you understood everything that was required before leaving to study abroad. They gave you specific times to book flights, took care of health insurance, paid your deposit, and got on campus housing for you. This was all so helpful and I felt like it made departure a lot less stressful and allowed me to worry less about leaving my home country. They even arranged for a bus to pick us up from Shannon airport and drop us off at our accommodation. I am thankful that we had CISabroad staff available for help throughout the semester as well to help with any questions. It was nice to know I always had a point of contact. The separate orientation was helpful as well, because although it felt like we had learned most of the information at University of Limerick's orientation, it was nice to hear it again in a smaller group setting. Meeting with other CISabroad students also allowed me to quickly find friends and to have more people to contact if I had questions. Where I felt CISabroad fell flat was with the planned excursions. Although the program did provide us with a few free meals and CISabroad dinners, the students in my program were under the impression that CISabroad would plan trips for us. We were told that there were 2 students in Dublin who would come on these trips with us, but that never happened. Granted, our on site advisor got another job, and we can't blame her for accepting a great opportunity, we felt that CISabroad didn't offer a good solution to this. We were provided a new advisor, however, they did not work for CISabroad and were instead a member of the University of Limerick staff. There solution for providing trips for us, was to cover the cost of any trips we went on through the University of Limerick's Student Life. While it was nice that these costs were being covered, it didn't add up to much. Trips typically were around 30 euros and we usually had to pay for our own meals while on these trips. The cost of food wasn't covered so, overall, we didn't feel we got our money's worth. Plus, these trips were open to the entire school, so we didn't feel like CISabroad followed through with planning trips just for us. Aside from the planned excursions, I feel CISabroad did their best in trying to come up with a solution to a problem that arose so quickly. It was an unfortunate situation, and we felt a little cheated out of excursions. That being said, I still was able to travel a lot and saw plenty of places on my own. The planned excursions would've been nice, but sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and adapt. Me and a few CISabroad students ended up planning trips amongst ourselves. It wasn't ideal but it turned out to be very fun. I will always be grateful for my time abroad and I have found a new love for travel. There are so many more countries I want to go to and I don't think I'll want to ever want to stop seeing new places. I didn't get everything I wanted out of CISabroad, but I do think it is a great program. They help a lot with advising, planning, and answering questions. I felt much more comfortable using a third party program than planning on my own. I'm sure excursions have been better in the past and will be better in the future. CISabroad did what they could given the challenges of trying to find a new advisor last minute. Things happen and they tried to offer a solution. I would recommend CISabroad for someone looking to study abroad because of how helpful they were and how easy they made transitioning into life in Ireland. Overall, whatever way you end up studying abroad, you'll have an amazing experience regardless.

I remember the first day I suggested to my friend Amanda about wanting to study abroad and we made a trip to the International Study Abroad Office at the University of Michigan-Flint in order to see the possibilities. Our education abroad office was going through a change over of employees so we were passed through many different advisers. After doing our research and selecting the Summer Abroad in Ireland we could start preparing.

I can honestly say that I have never experienced anything more beautiful than Ireland. We were lucky enough to have amazing weather while we were there, and everything was the best shade of green. I enjoyed Ireland the most because everything was so authentic. You really got to experience the country entirely. As shown in one of my photos, during our tour of the Ring of Kerry I actually got to climb into the Torc Waterfall. Feeling the fresh water splash on my arms as it bounced of the rocks I was standing on was an experience I will never forget. It amazed me that every tour we took you could climb right out on the scenery and get to touch the landmarks. This is highly different than many other countries, especially the United States as we have gates and fences preventing us from getting to actually get close to any of the scenery and causing the photos to look like they were taken behind a prison fence.

A tip of advice for future participants would be “there is more to do than the bars.” Even though you may be excited to experience the local pubs and it may be the first time you can legally drink, Ireland offers more than whiskey and beer. Plan extra excursions on top of what is offered. There is so much more of Ireland to see and there are many travel agencies that offer great deals on tours. What is even better than a great deal is that the tour guides often make stops on the campus or a few miles down the road. Amanda and I were able to travel all across Ireland in the short time we were there compared to our roommates who went into town to drink almost every night. Because I spent my money and time traveling around Ireland I got the best out of my trip. Don’t get me wrong, I do suggest going out to a bar with your friends at least once to get the experience. Another thing worth noting is that the apartments you stay in are co-ed. Not that it is a problem because you each have your own separate room but it was a shock to go in not knowing this.
You will be wishing that you had more than a month to explore and experience this amazingly beautiful country!