Comments about the Quinn Semester Program from Past Participants

for more complete comments, please check out the binders in the student lounge, 215b DKH

Useful Advice

"My overall experience in Ireland was incredible, and I'm glad that I picked there to study. I was the only person from U of I there but I want future study abroad students to know that it is definitely worth it to go there. Even if you don't know anyone else going, you will meet a bunch of other American students so you won't feel completely out of place. It's also a good place to go because they speak English, well most of the time. Also, I would let future study abroad students know that it's a great place to go if you want to travel to Europe. You can fly to pretty much every European country and it is not very expensive at all."
-Alex Lipnisky, Spring 07

"I wish I would have planned out my spring break a little bit better, because it was 3 weeks long and I think I could have gone more places than I did."
-Alex Lipnisky, Spring 07

"The most valuable thing I learned is that you can't restrict yourself. You have to experience as many new things as possible, becaue the semester goes by really fast. If you feel uncomfortable about something, or if you have to spend a little extra money, then you should try and go for it. You'll be glad that you did it, and you won't have any regrets."
-Alex Lipnisky, Spring 07

Location

"Dublin, Ireland was a great place to study abroad. The people are very nice for the most part and the program they have there for study abroad students is a great experience. My dorm was located in Blackrock, which is a southern suburb of Dublin. It's a good location, because it's close to the city, but it has a bit of a smaller town atmosphere. There is plenty of public transportation. The buses are good for going to campus, and the train is good for going to the city centre. Blackrock was also a good place to live because there were grocery stores pretty close to the dorm, which was important because dining is not provided in the dorm. The program that they have there for study abroad students was very enjoyable because they usually had a field trip or something planned on the weekends, which really lets you see different sides of Ireland. Being close to the city centre was also advantageous because there are buses that leave there at all times of the day to go to most places throughout Ireland. The only thing that was bad about the location is that it is a little far from the main campus. There are public buses that go there pretty frequently, but that got kind of expensive. Once the weather got better, however, I would walk there and it wasn't too bad. It would take between 35 and 40 minutes."
-Alex Lipnisky, Spring 07

Courses

"The courses were definitely different than at Illinois. The good thing about them is that you only go to a particular class once a week. Class was a great experience because you had classes with a mix of Irish and international students. Also, being in a business school, you don't feel like you're falling a semester behind with your coursework, because a lot of the classes can be ransferred back to U of I for credit for more than just electives. The coursework is much more focused on the final exam, so during the semester I had a lot more free time to explore Dublin and the surrounding areas. The only thing bad about the courses were thta they are all 3 hours long, which can be a little tough to sit through, even with the breaks they give you. Also, it took them a very long time to set up the finals schedule, so it was hard to plan a date for when I was going to go home."
-Alex Lipnisky, Spring 07

Housing

"My dorm was where most of the international students lived, so you are able to meet students from all over Europe as well as Irish students. The rooms are singles, so you don't have to share a room, which I liked. There is a fiarly large shared kitchen, so there was usually enough room to make your meal. The dorm in general, including the bathrooms, was almost always kept clean. Also, it is located on the graduate business school campus, so there is a cafeteria close by in case I didn't want to go shopping. The best part about the dorm was meeting people from Europe, as well as the U.S. which I will still keep in touch with. The housing was solid for the most part. The showers were a little cramped, but they would be in most dorm halls. Also, the kitchens didn't have ovens, so cooking frozen pizzas, which is a college essential, was difficult."
-Alex Lipnisky, Spring 07

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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