Blog- Week 12

Kelli Monheiser

Blog- Week 12

Ireland Study Abroad 2015 is quickly coming to an end. As I reflect back on it, there are some good things and some bad things. There are some things that I wouldn’t change for the world, but some that seem to have been a waist of time. Things that I am very thankful for, and some things that have been less than necessary, however, the trip as a whole was something that I will continue to look back on at every stage of my life and both be thankful, and changed by. I have said it several times before, but the three months that you spend in Ireland offer more than simply education and adventure. They give you an opportunity to grow as an individual and learn on your own. They teach you how to handle situations without the constant help from others and that to me was what I found to be the most rewarding. But there are stipulations. If you are one that can’t go weeks without talking to your parents, then studying abroad may not be for you. If you are one that needs WIFI to function in everyday life, then Ireland Study Abroad is not for you. If you constantly need a friend or family member to help you make decisions, then Ireland Study Abroad is not for you. If a hot shower is a deal-breaker, then well, Ireland Study Abroad is definitalyyyyy not for you. If you are a very routine person, well then there may be better choices than Ireland Study abroad. If you are a family person, and leaving your family is a scary thought to you, then leaving them behind for three months will be hard and Ireland Study Abroad may not be for you.

With that being said, if you feel like you are able to leave those things behind then Ireland Study Abroad will be the most rewarding thing that you have ever done. It is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen- especially as it gets warm toward the beginning of summer. It has a great deal of history and there is never enough to talk about. It is a country with great nightlife, and I can tell you now, you’ll never be thirsty. It is fairly cheap compared to other places in Europe. It is definitely worth it if you decide it is something you could do.

Since I have been here, there are a few things that I wish that I had done differently. So I share them with you in hopes that you may not make the same mistakes. First off, it is cold. Plan for a Nebraska winter and then a little colder. It is wet and a lot of the tours that you are on will be outside so it gets pretty chilly. Also, bring several different coats because you wear them all the time and then pretty soon, people will begin to wonder if you even change clothes from your pictures. Secondly, don’t plan to dress so nice because you will dress up rarely. In fact, for most classes, we wore our sweats and t-shirts. Next, do your research. Try and plan the things that you want to see before coming here because time flies when you’re here and tickets may be more expensive. Try and bring something that you do for yourself. If painting is your hobby, bring something to do for yourself to keep you sane during all your free time, because there is pleantyyyyy of that and lets be honest, you will need to get away from people. Bring a bottle of ranch because it is nowhere to be found in this country. Try to get your student advising and classes figured before you come in February if possible, because if not, it is a lot of work on your part. Don’t eat out a lot because that is where the trip begins to get expensive. If you do have to, get the soup and bread. They love their soup over here, but don’t forget to treat yourself sometimes. Those are just a few of the tips that I have for someone planning to do the study abroad experience. Just remember it will be one of the best things that you will ever do. Simply life changing, but there is a lot more to take into consideration than just seeing the world. You have to give up your car, endless electricity, showers on demand, family, cell phones, friends, work, WIFI, boyfriends, Qdobas, Walmart, TV, and about a million other things. It is a decision that takes big commitment and you should know what you’re getting yourself into.

Blog- Week 11

Kelli Monheiser

Blog- Week 11

Northern Ireland Field Trip

Over the past two and a half months, we have sat through many hours of history class where our History Teacher, Dr. Marley, has explained to us the copious amount of turmoil between the Protestants and the Catholics. He went through all the history from way back to the beginning of Irish history to the division of the Ulster Plantation and a bunch of other information that you and even I don’t really care to discuss right now. However, moral of both my story and my blog this week is Northern Ireland. There has been a great amount of troubles between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Many of which has made Northern Ireland very threatening to a Catholic girl. For this reason, I have been very nervous for this trip since the beginning. However, after coming on this trip and experiencing it for myself, I have come to conclusion that it is a very historic, as well as cultural place. Neither of which made me feel uncomfortable or threatened. In fact, it may even have to be my favorite place that I have visited on our fieldtrips. There is so much history, and for me, was remarkable to see first hand.

As much as I want to pick a favorite piece about our trip, I find that to be a very troubling to do. I enjoyed every thing that we did in Northern Ireland. The Giants Causeway was a very neat, natural landmark and I found the structure to be very unique as well as question provoking. I also enjoyed the town of Derry where we visited the Free Derry Museum and were able to get a one-on-one showcase of the museum by a Bloody Sunday victim’s sister. I enjoyed the many murals on building sides throughout both Derry and Belfast that the people use to tell their stories. I also enjoyed the Titanic museum where we were able to see where the Titanic launched as well as learn a lot of the building process and searching for the lost ship. But most of all, I enjoyed seeing the remaining division of Protestants and Catholics by different forms of boundaries. This was very neat to me because it gave us students the opportunity to both see the history that we were being taught as well as get great insight from a guide who experienced it all.

Although this blog consisted of a great deal of information that one may learn upon getting here, my point is that traveling through the field trips is a great way to learn as well as see things that may not be so appealing to a person. Overall, I have enjoyed all group field trips, but I must say, Northern Ireland is something to see.   

    

Blog- Week 10

Kelli Monheiser

Blog- Week 10

Scotland Trip

With Thursday off, this last weekend was a great opportunity to do a little bit of traveling. With our days off, Rachel and I booked a flight to Scotland where we traveled the city of Edinburgh. With our trip, we mainly used Hop-on-Hop-off Tour busses to see a lot of the city. It was a good way to see the historical pieces of the area as well as a great mode of transportation to get to main areas around town. To plan for the trip, we simply went to a Scotland tourist website where we saw that there was a Good Friday Horse Race in a town near ours. The horse race was very new to me as well as something I could now see myself getting a little more into. To get around we walked to keep from spending money on taxis. My only fit to pick with traveling to big cities is that it doesn’t allow for one to see much of the country, but instead history attractions, which isn’t really my cup of tea. Overall, the trip was a great time and we even made it back by Saturday night so that I could go to Church on Easter Sunday. Which brings me to my next point.

We are a very big Catholic family, and Easter Sunday is an important, if not the most important, holiday in our eyes. So, being away was very hard for me. However, because the weather was so nice, it helped with the mood a little bit. To get a little feel for home, Rachel and I went to church and then to lunch where we tried to get as “close to home” meals as we could- filled with meat and potatoes, as well as gravy and cake. We then went back to the Lodge. Because the day was so beautiful, we walked into Spiddal where we searched all over the town for some fishing poles but had no luck. We resorted to the bar where we enjoyed an Easter Beer before walking back home. I was able to talk to my family a little which made me feel a little more at home. For the most part, the week was a good one, and I have the warm weather to thank for that. Heading off to Northern Ireland this weekend, I am a little nervous yet very interested in seeing the history in which we have learned so much about. However, this week was very neat, and took me back home to the hot summer weather that I will soon see.      

Blog- Week 9

Kelli Monheiser

Blog- Week 9

Dublin Field Trip

Ireland is quickly coming to an end as we head into our last month of the trip. With two more field trips left and Dublin now behind us, I believe that I have definitely been able to get a feel for Irish History first hand. This weekend in Dublin was a great way to understand a lot of the history as we visited the Clonmacnoise monastery, the Farmleigh house, the Dublin Castle, Parliament building, Botanic Gardens, and Dublin County Jail, as well as receiving a great deal of time to discover the New Dublin City on our own. My personal favorite was the Dublin County Jail. It was a great way to understand a lot of the history, and it is also nice to go on a guided tour where someone can explain to you what you are looking at.

With our free time, a large group of us went to the Guinness Storehouse where we walked through the very large building and learned how the stout was made. Guinness is a large contributor to the economy of Ireland, and it was very neat to see the process that it takes to put the fine drink in the pubs. And to top it of, we were given a free Guinness after our tour. I would recommend the storehouse in Dublin to those looking to get a feel for Dublin City.

I believe, however, this is a good point to talk about missing home. Being away for three months is a commitment, and even though it may only seem like 90 very fast days away from your family that you probably wouldn’t have seen if you were at UNK anyway, it is more than just your family you will miss. In my situation, I had to work every other weekend, and would probably only end up going home once a month, and in three months, that is only three times. In that sense, I figured, what is three times that I wouldn’t see my family; no big deal. However, I didn’t consider that I would also be missing my friends, my car, my bed, my cellphone, my job, my nieces and nephews, my music and more. I am not trying to discourage anyone from coming on his life changing trip, simply because that is what it is; life changing, but there is more to it than just saying goodbye for a small period of time. I am also not saying that I wish I wouldn’t have come here, because I easily learned more this semester abroad than I learned in class at UNK. It is simply things that cannot be taught in a book, and it is for that reason that I am so very glad that I chose to study abroad.

I have mixed feelings about this point in my trip. I wish I would have seen more, and I wish I could stay longer to fulfill that empty feeling, however it is a challenge to be away from home where everything one needs may be at the touch of a finger. I look forward to what the last month has in store for me, because in 27 short days, I will leave it all behind.  

Blog- Week 8

Kelli Monheiser

Blog- Week 8

Social Life

Arriving back from a stressful, but extraordinary spring break, I believe that a majority of us can agree that we are happy to be back to our home away from home in Spiddal, Ireland. For me, what made spring break so amazing was not that I got to travel all of Europe in a week and a half, but the fact that I got to travel all of Europe in a week and a half with my dad. On our adventure, we rented a car and drove through Ireland; an adventure in itself. We began by driving to a small town of Ennis, where we visited a sale barn and then began our four-day journey through the country stopping at about every Catholic Church in Ireland. It was a neat opportunity to see a lot of Ireland that may be missed on a bus to major cities. Only to find ourselves driving the wrong way down the right side of the street more often than not, we finally made it to Dublin the night before we got on a plane and flew to Paris. From here, we visited the Eifel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral before we left for a tour of Normandy, and the battlefields of World War II. As for transportation, to avoid big cities and large masses of people, we traveled by train. After several transfers and many useless conversations from people who didn’t know a spit of English, we got the hang of the train station. Although the trains took a lot of our traveling time, and didn’t allow for us to stay long in one place, it was a great way for an old farmer from Crook, Colorado to see farmland in France, Switzerland, and Italy.  Although I enjoyed all the places that we saw, I would have to say that one of my favorite places was Rome, Italy and the Vatican City where we took a tour of the Vatican and New Saint Peters Church, saw the Rome Coliseum, and the amazing work of the worlds most famous artists in the museum, cathedral, and Sistine Chapel. We even got to see the Pope speak from the window of his apartment, which was a truly rewarding experience.

Buttttt, enough about my amazing adventures of Europe, and back to the potential one of those considering Ireland. I believe that this would be a good time to talk about the social life. Living with strangers is something that we all must do at some point. Whether it is moving into a new dorm, or going on a three-month abroad trip to Ireland, it may happen. The only difference between a semester together in a dorm and a semester together in Ireland, is that in Ireland, there is no getting away. If something were to go wrong close to home, you can take the weekend and go home, or join a club and meet new people, but in Ireland, it is different. There are fifteen of us and we are together no matter what. Here, I have found it very hard to get away and find time alone. Something that one should consider before coming here. Traveling is another factor. When coming overseas, it was important to me to travel, and I have, for the most part, held up to this standard as I have been to France, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Ireland, and potentially Scotland and Poland. Although I got to see a majority of it with my dad, it is important to know that some of the best things that you see in you life are with people that you may never talk to again.  Because of these circumstances, it is important to prepare yourself, because that has been hard for me. The simple fact that I am unable to share these great memories with people I know and love, but instead people who feel the same way about the ones that they love. However, I wont say that it is all that bad. From the experiences with new people, I have learned to adapt well with others and handle situations more selflessly. Definitely a golden rule as I get older and will encounter more people throughout my life. So even though three months doesn’t seem so long, it is a learning, and one of the most rewarding, experiences that one will ever embark on as you leave your old family and friends behind and make a new family with the ones surrounding you.