When you think about studying abroad, you visualize pictures of college students standing atop a cliff or in front of an ancient temple, posing next to the seven wonders of the world, and interacting with exotic animals – or at least that’s what I always imagined. One of the reasons I chose to attend GWU was because there is such a focus on providing students with the opportunity to do those things. As a Civil Engineering major, it seemed like GW was one of the only schools that made it possible for engineering students to study abroad while still graduating in four years. Therefore, I made sure to talk to my academic and faculty advisors early to know how to plan my schedule around spending a semester at a different university.
For Civil Engineering majors, the only option to study abroad and graduate on time is to go to University College Dublin (UCD) during sophomore spring since it’s such a stringent major with specific requirements and curriculum plan. Although I was extremely excited to go to Dublin and very grateful to have the opportunity to study abroad, I started to realize that while in Ireland, I might not find those ancient temples, exotic animals, and foreign cuisines that I had always imagined. Although I never expected to spend four months living in Ireland, I found myself applying to UCD, signing up for housing, and booking flights. I started researching Dublin and getting excited to be studying in the heart of Ireland.
Having been here in Dublin for over a month, I have been swept off my feet by the beauty of Ireland, from the cliffs to the parks and hikes to the beaches, not to mention the bustling city with the uniquely European architecture feel found throughout Dublin. Preparing for this semester, the culture shock I expected to feel was the likes of cars driving on the left side of the road and trying to understand Irish accents. However, the main culture shock I have felt has come from academics.
Studying STEM at GW, I am used to late nights in SEH, constantly being overwhelmed by homework, and frequent quizzes and exams. Here at UCD, homework is practically nonexistent. Although at first this was amazing and gave me more downtime to explore Dublin, after a couple weeks, I realized that it is hard to reinforce my learning without frequent exercises. Furthermore, without the constant grading, not only do I not know how I am doing in a class and how much I’ve learned, but also the grade distribution is heavily weighted and hinged upon the final exam. For example, the final exam is worth 75% of my total grade in one of my classes since we only have two assignments that make up the other 25%. Professors here are also more open to answering questions. Although most lecturers do not have office hours, one can email or talk to them after class for help. Just this past week, a friend from GW and I were strategizing how to phrase a question about an upcoming major assignment. Many engineering professors at GW will point you in the right direction, but are very, very wary of providing explicit help in solving problems. However, this professor at UCD was very informative and even helped us solve the entire problem, something that is likely to never happen with a professor in the US in my experience. He even encouraged us to come back with other questions if they came up and told us to not wait so long before asking next time! As ordinary as that may sound, in the US, professors want you to try to solve a problem as much as you can before asking for pointers, so it was amazing to hear that we can ask for help before spending a couple hours working the problem first.
Another big difference between UCD and GWU is the physical campus. GW prides itself on being a city school fully integrated in DC, and that is a major draw for many students, including myself. UCD has a big college campus that is more typical of higher education and similar to one you might see in a movie. It takes around thirty minutes to walk from one side of campus to another and there is not one, but two lakes within the main part of campus. I do love getting the typical college campus for a semester, although I do not love leaving my dorm at 8:30 to walk to a 9 am class. UCD’s campus is beautiful and is just a twenty minute walk to a beach on the Dublin Bay. It has definitely been an adjustment to get used to being a forty minute bus ride away from the city center. At GW, you don’t need to walk much to be in main downtown, but UCD is in the suburbs of Dublin, so it takes around thirty minutes to get into the main city and about an hour to get to the airport. That being said, there is no shortage of food, grocery stores, hikes, busstops, and views on and close to campus.
Studying abroad in Dublin, while not what I envisioned, has been a great experience so far! There have been some major adjustments, but I am slowly getting the hang of attending a different university in a different country.
Two major benefits of studying abroad at UCD have been not worrying about a language barrier and so many connections to Europe since Ryanair, a cheap European budget airline, is based in Dublin. Ireland is a beautiful country with amazingly friendly people that I am so grateful to be living in for four months. I’m excited for the coming experiences!
Emilia "Emma" Schmidt
GW Exchange - University College Dublin
Spring 2023
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Civil Engineering Major