It has officially been one month since eight Temple students arrived in Dublin, Ireland to study abroad at Dublin City University (DCU).
Senior Public Relations major, Paige Kunkel, is one of those students embarking on this adventure. She says the process of adjusting to life in Dublin has had its difficulties.
“It’s been completely different and it’s been a very big trial and error process these past few weeks,” Kunkel said.
One way students have the opportunity to more easily acclimate to Irish culture is joining clubs and societies on campus, such as the Erasmus Student Network (ESN).
ESN is a non-profit international student organization, where the European Union is able to provide funding for international students to help engage in the culture of the country they are studying in.
The ESN DCU Chapter president, Mark Mc Gee says, it’s one of the best ways international students get to acclimate to the culture.
“We’re here to kind of like integrate all of the international students and Europeans into Irish society and we run events and trips throughout the year to really help with that integration,” Mc Gee said.
According to Senior International Officer, Caroline Magee, DCU is globally recognized for their international program, welcoming 1,400 non-Irish students, 500 of those being non-European students. And half of all study abroad students are American.
“We started off you know with very small numbers, but since this more structured approach, and working with Education in Ireland, building up partnerships and collaborations throughout the years, numbers have grown, you know, they’ve climbed steadily over the past fifteen years,” Magee said.
And even though Ireland and DCU have plenty to offer, it is still natural to get homesick sometimes. But just remember, home is just one phone call away.
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