The opportunity to participate in an exchange semester in Dublin through the Erasmus program has been very positive from my perspective. The initial reason to apply for such an opportunity was related to my personal interest in traveling and discovering new cultures and people. The fact that my university is located in Molde, Norway has also motivated my choice since the range of choices available to students is obviously more limited in a town of roughly 25,000 inhabitants than in a European hub like Dublin, Ireland.
Once my application was successfully approved to UCD (University College Dublin), I started to prepare myself for this trip, focusing on the most important elements such as housing and transportation. I quickly found out that the Irish capital was one of the most expensive places to live in Europe. The housing market is extremely competitive and it took me almost three months to find an accomodation during my stay. The latter was secured only one week before my arrival, at the beginning of September 2019, and the least I can say is that the Erasmus grant turned out to be a very helpful contribution for the rent associated with the latter.
In order to balance the high cost of my accomodation, I decided to go with the most economic option for my transportation within the city. Being French and having previously lived in big cities like Paris and London, I knew beforehand that acquiring a bicycle would turn out to be a convenient option and the secondhand mountainbike that I bought for 20€ did not disappoint.
The house I stayed in was owned by an Irish family, the McKenna family. The mother, Elene, lived with her daughter, Hilary, who was also a student at UCD. The rest of the children moved out before my arrival since they were done with their studies. The location of the house couldn’t have been more ideal since it was within walking distance from both the university and the city centre of Dublin. Two friendly dogs also lived in the house and contributed to the positive experience I had during the four months of my stay.
When it comes to the main reason why I went to Dublin, pursuing my Sport Management Master studies through the Top-50 globally ranked program offered at UCD, the experience was also positive. If I had to compare the program with the one offered at Molde University College, I would say that, although both are quality programs, the one in Dublin is more developed and benefits from a more qualitative pool of students who, for the most part, already had some extensive professional experience that was used for the benefits of the entire group of students.
The facilities of the university also highlighted the developed state of UCD and its historic background. Several buildings contain a large number of classes which host approximately 35,000 students every year. Every student has the opportunity to join a Society or a Sport club of their choice. I personally joined the Swimming team of the university so I could make the most out of the Olympic swimming pool located within the campus. I also joined the radio society in order to develop more skills related to the media world, in which I had some previous experience.
Overall, the experience was, once again, very positive. On top of studying and getting involved in extra-curriculum activities, I also worked two jobs, namely in an independent and community-driven Deli where I could be close to the local population every day and in a luxury hotel where I developed more skills related to the food industry, an area for which I also have a passion. Finally, I managed to visit the country of Ireland in a bit more depth with a short stay in Galway, located at the opposite side of Ireland and I also travelled to Belfast in Northern Ireland, in order to increase my knowledge of the cultural background of both countries.
