University: Griffith College Dublin

City: Dublin

Country: Ireland

Continent: Europe

Field of study: Business administration, acting, singing, journalism

Study type: semester abroad

Application:

I only discovered MicroEdu in June and I really wanted to get a place to study abroad for the coming winter semester. MicroEdu gave me great advice, answered all my small and big questions and after 2 weeks I had all the documents together and soon had the acceptance from the university. I’m still amazed that it all worked so quickly and without any problems. I didn’t have any problems in Dublin itself, so I didn’t need any more help. Check mcat-test-centers.com to see California State University Northridge.

The building itself is nice, reasonably central. It is easily accessible on foot or by bus from all parts of the city. You walk about 20 minutes to the city center, which is absolutely doable. The old main building is also quite nice, unfortunately my lessons often took place in containers around the university because there was probably a lack of space. The university is clean, the cafeteria is also ok and everything actually works quite well. Unfortunately, the library is very small and sometimes you have to fight for the books, but the staff are very friendly and they even bought books for me that were not yet available.
There are a lot of international students at the university. You have to know how to find it yourself. I was a little disappointed because I really missed contact with the locals, but it always depends on how you get around outside of the university. The university is very well organized. In some cases, we were even introduced in too much detail. But you always know who to contact and somehow everything works.

Courses:

I wanted to use the semester not only to collect points for my studies at home, but also to take other subjects that are not offered at home. In the end I attended 2 journalism courses: 1.) Video Production – was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. Each student in the course had to come up with their own idea for a film and then shoot it. In the beginning we had extra courses where we learned how to use the camera. My film was a small documentary about “international people in Dublin”. As I said, it was a lot of work, but it was great what opportunities the university offers. Computers and cameras were easy to get. 2.) Film Studies – the seminar was actually an introduction to film analysis. We always only have 1-2 hours. Theory was done and the backgrounds of the films were discussed and then a representative film for the respective epoch or genre was watched. I had to write 3 term papers for this seminar. Personally, I thought the seminar was great, the lecturer was good and a lot of content came across.

Then I took a business course: Human Resource Management. That was okay. I’m not particularly interested in it, but the professor was funny and above all motivated. I was able to take something with me here too.

There is a music and drama school on the college grounds. The university cooperates with this school. But I was probably one of the first students to use it in this intensive form. That’s why the organization was a bit difficult at first and it took a little longer until I could actually start. In the meantime I was a bit annoyed but everything developed in a good direction. I attended 2 courses there: 1.) Singing – Since I had never sung before and wanted to do it for fun, getting started wasn’t that easy. I had 30 min lessons once a week. But my singing teacher was great and I had a lot of fun. The music school let me into the piano room in the evenings and that’s how I prepared for my exam. The exam was no problem and I’m glad
2.) Acting. Since I started classes very late, I’m still in it. I play 3 short scenes from 3 different tracks. But I have my problems with the way the teacher teaches. I would not recommend this class for people who have previous acting experience. Not enough comes across for that. Maybe her rhetoric classes are quite interesting… but she just doesn’t know much about acting.

I’m actually quite happy with my choice of course. I had fun, did interesting things and still collected points for the bachelor’s degree. It was stressful at times, but the stress is spread over the whole semester and is not as concentrated as at my German university. Of course I had to swallow first when I heard the sum for the tuition fees, but after trying out so many things and using the university in all its possibilities, I am really quite satisfied and think the money was invested very well.

Dublin:

i love dublin I’ve just decided to stay and work here until mid-April. Again, many don’t like it very much. The city is a matter of taste. If you get involved with the city, the country and the people, you can gain great experiences here. The Irish are a very warm people and always very helpful. The weather can get on your nerves, but you actually get used to it. The city has a lot to offer but is really very expensive. But if you shop at Aldi and Lidl and only go to the pub once a week, you can get there quite well.

Reside:

I lived on campus in the Halls of Residence. I don’t think I would do it now, but it was a spontaneous decision because I didn’t have time to look for an apartment. I shared a room, which got really annoying over time. Not because of my roommate but because of the situation itself. If you have enough time I would recommend coming to Dublin a bit earlier and looking for an apartment. The rental prices have gone down due to the crisis and for €350 a month you can get your own broom closet in the center. But the Halls were also quite good for the start. I met a few people who were relatively important for my start in Dublin and we had a lot of cozy evenings together. In addition, you don’t have to worry about anything, there are washing machines and dryers in the basement, gets their lightbulbs changed and lives right on campus. There is also a small fitness room. Nevertheless: too expensive for a double room! Daft.ie is the best place to find an apartment.

Leisure:

The university offers a number of “clubs” such as sports, yoga, theatre, partying… I took part in creative writing and had a lot of fun and was able to improve my written English. So there are plenty of opportunities to get busy at the university. My schedule was otherwise very full, so I also enjoyed spending my free time with my friends and of course we also had occasional celebrations.
Dublin is a good starting point for travel. We did some weekend trips to see Ireland. Since the country is not particularly big, you can get from Dublin to almost anywhere over the weekend. Dublin Airport is also very well located, so we flew to another city with Rynair over the weekend.

Conclusion:

I had and still have a great time here in Dublin, my English is a notch better, the courses were satisfying and educational, I made very good new friends and coming to Ireland was the right decision. I met a lot of people who didn’t like it as much as I did, but I think it all depends on what you do with your time.