Just about everybody at Northeastern knows at least one person who lived in Dublin while on NU in during their freshman year. While I am not an NU in alum, I could likely name about half of the program from my year and can attest to how much each of them loved the city. Needless to say, I was thrilled to finally be there myself.
I and a few of my fellow Hansard scholars booked this trip to Dublin at the very beginning of the program, knowing that it would be the last excursion we could squeeze in before the end of the semester. We’d been looking forward to it for the entirety of the program and I am happy to say that it far surpassed expectations.
Just about everyone I’ve met in London (and in Scotland, for that matter) has mentioned that Dublin would be the absolute best place for me to travel to as a visiting university student. Like everyone who’s recommended I make the trek, the words were said with a lilt of fond nostalgia. Little did they know, I had long been sold on the idea.
As our trip approached, we all hunkered down to work on our policy drafts, the second assignment in the Politics and Public Policy class for which I discussed unaccompanied child refugees in the EU. Between work and classes, the past few weeks have been hectic, but before I knew it my paper was turned in and I was on my way to the airport for the treat of a trip we’d been anticipating since September.
Though it can be grueling at times, there’s something special about traveling with a large group. While our trip originated as a group of four, more and more Hansard scholars joined us to the point where we managed to corral nine of us onto this one trip. Given that this was one of our last weekends together, it was particularly heartwarming to be able to share it with my friends and flatmates.
After being welcomed by a freezing cold Thursday night, we spent the morning wandering the south side of the city near the famous Grafton Street. Dublin feels quite a lot like Boston in that it is relatively small and manageable but still maintains a well-deserved global reputation. Dublin does also haveits own unique sense of place– with live music everywhere you look as well as lots of water (rivers and coastline), quirky architecture (visit the Temple Bar area), the city is decidedly lively. When doing some travel research I found a quote by Brendan Behan which states that “Dublin is a city where there’s familiarity without friendship, loneliness without solitude.” Needless to say, this sums up the feel of the city quite nicely.
No visit to Dublin is complete without seeing the Trinity College Dublin campus and I was lucky enough to have my own personal tour guide– a friend from high school who is a second year there. The campus itself is beautiful. Much like Oxford, everything seems enchanted.
I couldn’t leave Dublin without trying some real corned beef and cabbage, a dish I grew up with. While it certainly wasn’t the best meal I’ve eaten, the atmosphere of the restaurant, the Oliver St John Gogarty which is a traditional Irish restaurant. For context: just about everywhere we ate in Dublin had live music, often with a fiddle.
One thing that surprised me, though I should have known better, was the Irish sense of humor. I was warned over and over and over again about British humor when I arrived in London but found it to be not all that different from my own. For this reason, I brushed off warnings about the Irish sarcasm and their good natured banter only to find that it is much more prevalent and much more noticeable than I expected.
If the British are sarcastic, the Irish are cut-throat and witty in the absolute best way possible. And while they will certainly strike up a good natured argument just for fun, every Irish person we met was also incredibly polite.
Having traveled extensively, I find it odd that these small cultural differences sometimes still take me by surprise but they’re also one of my favorite parts to traveling.
As I look toward the end of this semester I am also facing the end of my year abroad– in 2017 I visited 12 new countries completed two fantastic internships through Northeastern and have grown more than I ever thought possible.
The ability to move to a new place for a few short months is one that does not come around often which is why I feel it so important that students who are interested in going abroad pursue these opportunities. Once you graduate, there are tons of things tying you down to wherever you decide to live and you lose the ability to drop everything for a quick six months and then pick it back up when you get home.
As with most things, different programs are best for different people, but I believe that everyone can learn something by going abroad on a study abroad, global co-op or dialogue. A global co-op is a fantastic opportunity to diversify your resume and grow professionally. A study abroad allows you to immerse yourself entirely into a new place for a few months; and a dialogue is a fantastic way to spend your summer learning first hand about a place or specific issue. Having done all three of these things, I can firmly say that each experience has taught me more than I could have hoped for.
However, as I start to plan my return to Boston (housing and classes are secured!) I am only getting more excited to be back on campus. While the prospect of returning after bing gone a full year is daunting, it is a comfort to know that all of my fellow Northeastern students have also been all over Boston, the US and the whole world this year and I cannot wait to catch up.
This is the final week of my internship with Hansard so check back next week for a quick reflection on my time in the House of Commons!
