Fáilte go hÉirinn (Welcome to Ireland)

Hello and a very warm welcome to all! Months of preparation and work have led us up to this day. As our students and leaders assemble from all over the world to make the trip to Ireland we hope that it is with a sense of excitement (and maybe just a little bit of jitters).  The opportunity to study abroad is truly a special experience and we are so excited that our students made the decision to spend part of their summer exploring a litany of different topics.  It is our hope that while they are in the country they will learn not only about Ireland and entrepreneurship but also about themselves and what it means to be a global citizen. 

The journey for some started early in the morning as our West Coast friends boarded their flights to the East Coast while some of our more easterly friends got the opportunity to sleep in just a tad.  The same scene was repeated not only with our Ireland program but with countless other CIEE trips: goodbyes were said to parents, introductions were made with Program Leaders, and perhaps a couple of (healthy) snacks were purchased for the journey to their destination.  Two of our Leaders made the journey with our students, Nicole and Kristin, who share between them countless years of study abroad experience, 50+ countries visited, and all 7 continents.  Yours truly is currently is currently living in Madrid so he made the hop from the continent to the island fairly easily while also avoiding the dreaded scourge that is jet lag.

Moving into what will be home for the next 3 weeks was a process that was fairly streamlined; it helps when everyone involved is trying to find the nearest horizontal surface to get in a nap.  We are in dorm-style accommodations with either four or five students to an apartment as well as a shared common room and kitchen.  This writer can confidently say that it was nicer than what he had in college so hopefully all the students realize how nice it is to have their own personal bathroom. 

As our first day seemed to move by in the blink of an eye the remainder of our time was devoted to some basic orientation to the staff on the ground as well as a tour of campus.  The CIEE team here in Dublin consists of four of the nicest people you could ever come across.  But that’s just Irish hospitality for you. Dublin City University has been very welcoming to us, from the employees at the food hall to the smattering of students that are on campus for the summer.  After dinner in one of the on-campus restaurants, it was an early bed time for almost everyone.  All in all, a wonderful first day and ecstatic for things to come!