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Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I was in the School of English & I also took an art history class. Truthfully, I attend one of the most rigorous colleges in America so it's not fair to compare. That said, I thought the art history class was the right amount of challenging & stimulating. The School of English was a JOKE. I came here for the Lit program & was not allowed to take many upper-level classes. The ones that I did were awful. They don't prioritize study abroaders obviously, and there weren't many options. The resources at the library are a sham (so few books & can't even take them out of the library if they are there), the professors are inexperienced and not the deepest thinkers, and worst of all, the students are there to do nothing. It's so sad.

On-site administration of your program

Trinity College Dublin doesn't really care that much about you.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

They were good enough. A cinder-block single in Goldsmith Hall. Typical dorm. You're expected to keep it clean yourself. The Trinity housing admin are awful though. They don't care at all about you. My dorm was a mess when arrived and they wanted to charge me for the crap that people had left behind the semester prior, which is really unfair. They took forever to reply to my emails and when things broke, they never showed up to fix them. And this happened to a lot of my friends there too. I suggest doing an outside program if you want to study in Dublin/at Trinity. My friends who did Butler had really great living arrangements within walking distance. They lived across from St. Stephen's Green in a big house and they had a nice sense of community. Goldsmith is a jail compared to that and everyone can see and hear what you're doing without having the space to create a commune. Security guards were really nice though, if you weren't an insane partyer.

Trinity's food is overpriced and awful. There's no meal plan. Dublin's food sucks compared to LA and NY; everything closes early and is expensive. But you're coming to a small European city that's not as bustling as Paris or as rich as London. There are some gems if you know where to look. The budget thing, you'll have to get over if you're used to getting yummy (and diverse) food at a good price.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Dublin is struggling to define its culture right now. Their historic culture is beautiful so get involved in that. Avoid the drinking. It's really gross and unhealthy after awhile. But do experiment with craft beers. It's Ireland! Authenticity is hard to find here at first. It's all very trite, a prostitution of culture. I found it very hard to integrate at Trinity. The students see a lot of study abroaders each year and mostly live off campus, so it's hard for them to connect with us.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

LOL European system. I had to wait hours just to get some po-dunk medicine. On the bright side, birth control is pretty accessible. You can just go to a pharmacy and pay $15 for an emergency pack of birth control pills.

Dublin's pretty safe. Lots of homeless people. It's a poor city. The homeless culture is pretty strange. Really well-dressed, clean people would just ask me for money in suburban areas bc they could tell I wasn't from Dublin (I'm a dark-skinned half-Asian and most of their minority populace is Indian or Polish.) So that was weird. But I never felt unsafe. EXCEPT at bars and clubs. Sexual harassment is prevalent wherever I go but I've experienced the most sexual harassment in Dublin, especially at 2 a.m. walking home (sober and fully dressed usually) because there's a pub full of drunk men on every corner. Additionally, they're a lot cooler about letting homeless people into the bars at night so if that bothers you, be careful about where you go. They don't really do much; they keep to themselves but sometimes they'd stare at me too long or they'd be crazy and old and hang on to my hands, which was disrespectful but whatever.

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

EU is expensive. Ireland is expensive and has low-quality. Cook your own food.

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• Dorm

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

• SO MUCH TIME TO TRAVEL!!! They give a lot of time off
• Irish sense of humor

• The education could be more challenging
• There should be MUCH BETTER programs to connect students
• Communications & treatment from Trinity admin