the best 5 months of my life - Queen's University Belfast Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

It was a mixed blessing of sorts. engineering at queeens was not the best fit for a one semester engineer. the majority of their modules were year long so i was not able to register for the classes i needed. instead, i was taking a mix of architecture and urban planning and design which were very soft options. this was good because i had more time to travel and experience Belfast - which i loved, bit it has put me behind. I did however sit in on a lot of the engineering classes and from what i did see i really enjoyed the professors. they seemed knowledgeable and very helpful. finals are weighted as most of your grade except for classes in planning etc where they were relatively project oriented.

On-site administration of your program

My in country support was fantastic as well as my host country support (back in the states). In Ireland I had someone just a few hours away that i could call for anything. If i needed to i knew i could, and felt comfortable with calling him. Interstudy had a system inplace so it would not cost me anyt hing. He was also familiar with the area i was studying in so on a number of occasions i as

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

"Feel free to include information on how you arranged housing": this was set up through interstudy. it was nice not to have to worry about this as i was finishing my last semester before leaving my home country. "neighborhood’s safety,aesthetics, and proximity to class and nightlife" was perfectly fine. I was on a strip of a major road with all sorts of university accommodation. there was never a time i did not feel safe. i enjoyed it for running because it was just ten minutes from my favorite set of trails and paths around the river. It was not terribly far from night life. on many occasions everyone walked to the city center without any complaints - and that was as far as you needed to go to find more activities than you knew what to do with. my accommodation was about a 10 minute walk from campus. during the international student welcome week there were trips to ikea where i bought a heavier blanket. cookware was bought between 3 other people i met and we shared them throughout the semester. living with a mix of international and local students was perfect. the locals went home on the weekends so there were international students to hang out with, but it was great to live with people from the area as well

i made friends with 5 other people and we bought and shared all of our groceries. this included making nightly dinners so we did not eat out much or purchase any sort of campus meal plan. it was a lot cheaper this way and we could cater more to what people were used to/ wanted to eat for health reasons etc. the grocery store had a good verity of food. there were also weekend markets with fresh local produce

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

the interstudy program had a few activities it organized. I went to the big one down in cork which was great because we got to do some outdoor activities (biking, kayaking etc). it was just too bad that we had a rainy day. we also go to see some points of interest (Blarney Castle). There was another venture to Dublin for a theater weekend but i could not attend. My favorite arrangement via interstudy however was the black cab tour i took in my first week. it really helped me get a feel for the history of belfast and put dad to day sights into context (murals etc)

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

i never needed health care so i really cant comment on that. as for the city safety i was just as comfortable in belfast as i have ever been here in my home country

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

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• Dorm

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• Local Students
• International Students