I am having such as amazing time in Ireland, I honestly don’t know what to talk about first! Maynooth, where I’m based at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, is such a cute college and commuter town. Two-thirds of the city’s population are students during the school year. The rest of the people range from babies to retired couples and plenty of dogs! The locals are friendly and happy to help with directions or have a conversation with us students. Downtown Maynooth is a couple of streets of delicious restaurants, bakeries, shopping, Maynooth Castle, and sightseeing opportunities. Dublin is a quick train ride East and the train is only a half mile from campus. That’s one of the great things about Maynooth: everything is conveniently within 10 minutes of walking distance. There’s also a great running or walking trail along The Royal Canal that passes fields of sheep.  Heck, I can even hear sheep “baaa”-ing from my dorm room while I do homework! I love walking to the store or to class and casually passing by an ancient castle; it’s just an everyday sight here in Ireland.

Campus is just as beautiful as downtown, especially South Campus, known for the National Seminary for Ireland. South Campus also leads to beautiful walkways where trees overhang, a cemetery, and vast green fields.

One of the great aspects of summer school at Maynooth University is the small class size. I have 16 peers in one class, 12 in the other. My business classes have great discussions on how to handle international marketing and managing among various countries and cultures, plus it’s so fun to have teachers with Irish accents!

This past weekend we went on an excursion to Trim Castle, Causey Farm, Glendalough, and Bray. Some scenes from Braveheart were filmed at Trim Castle, and at Casuey Farm we got to bake our own traditional Irish soda bread along with participating in other Irish farm activities. Bray was a beautiful and bustling beach town. The boardwalk had no shortage of ice cream; there was an ice cream hut every block! I was one of the 5 random people on the beach who actually went in the chilly water–it was quite refreshing. During the week, our summer school hosts fun Irish activities, such as GAA (Irish football) and Ceili Dancing, both of which are incredibly fun!