Ireland - Maynooth (University)
Original Post: October 5, 2018
Did she actually go to school in Ireland, or did she just use it as an excuse to travel all over the U.K. and Europe?
Yes, and yes.
I’m sure all of my readers are dying to hear about the most enjoyable aspect of studying abroad: attending classes.
The first week of classes began Monday, September 24 - and because I had no Monday classes, for me it began on Tuesday, September 25. At Maynooth University, the structure of registering for and going to classes shares little similarities to the structure I was used to at the University of Dayton. At Maynooth, international students did not officially register as students - and therefore did not officially register for classes - until Friday, September 28, after their first week of classes. Confusing, I know.
Prior to my arrival, my Dean at UD had approved five classes offered at Maynooth for me to take while abroad. However, at Maynooth, each class was held twice a week at set times and dates.
For example, my Theorizing Literature class was only held on Wednesday at 11AM and Thursday at 1PM. The professor did not have other sections of the class at other dates or times, and no other professor taught the course at all.
Because of this, it was common for classes that were approved by someone’s Dean before they arrived on campus to overlap with one another. The timeline for classes did not get released until students arrived for their first day on Monday, meaning that students then had to - while in Ireland - contact their Dean at their home university and request to get more classes approved that both fit into their schedule at Maynooth, and fulfilled requirements for courses at their home university. And this was to be done all before officially registering on Friday. I was off to the same easy, carefree start to my semester abroad that I experienced on my first day at the airport - nonexistent.
On Monday, I had emailed my Dean concerns about my approved classes overlapping with one another, stressing the urgency for his approval of other classes I had found and believed would fulfill requirements at UD. By Wednesday, I had still received no response.
The clock was ticking down to registration Friday at 12:30PM (7:30AM EST), so I decided to take matters into my own hands and call my advisor at UD to weigh my worry. She helped me figure out what classes would likely fit into my plan for the next two years, and told me she would contact my Dean directly for confirmation.
The following day, I received the ‘OK’ from my Dean to officially register for the classes I had requested.
All the while, I had been going to all of the classes that had earlier been approved for me. At Maynooth, since international students were not technically registered as students during the first week of classes, that week was seen as a trial week. International students were encouraged to go to all of their approved classes, along with any other classes they thought may be interesting, so that on Friday they could officially register for the classes that met at the intersection of their best schedule and passion.
By the time Friday and registration had rolled around, I had made my list of classes I hoped to sign up for. After waiting in the registration line for two hours - the reason being “We didn’t think all of you would show up at your appointment times, so we didn’t plan for a lot of our employees to come into work today” - I was finally officially a student at Maynooth University!
I was accepted into all five of the classes I had requested - Reality & Television, Social Media, Music & Identity, Theorizing Literature and Moral Philosophy.
And I had no Monday classes - which takes me back to the question of using study abroad as an excuse to travel all over the U.K. and Europe.
At this point, I had made it through two weeks of classes, and almost three weeks of being in Ireland. It was proving already to be an unforgettable experience which would allow me to return to the United States with an advanced portfolio to show for my studies abroad.