Textbooks here are a bit different
than at home. There are texts that are required just like we have, but a lot of
them, mostly for our own sake, are located in the library where we can go read
or run a copy off on what’s required for us to read. I think it’s actually a
lot easier, as it gives you the ability to get your information from more than
just one particular source. However, it’s sometimes a bit daunting to balance
all of the different materials in an organized way!
School here in Ireland is very
different than what I’ve experienced back at Carlow. I will admit that the
first week of classes was more intimidating to me than the three times I
transferred schools at home.
Most of the
people in the classes that I’m in have been in classes together since their first
year, because they tend to stay together in their program. So you’re entering a
class where people already know each other and sometimes have had the
instructor in the past.
The
instructors here are kind of untouchable to an extent. Here, there is very
little contact with the instructor. We don’t even turn our papers into them.
All of them go to the Academic Office where they are stamped with the time and
date they were turned in for someone to grade at some point in time.
And the
assignments! There is an essay, which is your large paper that you’re given the
title for on the first day and have a due date a couple months later, and a
test. That’s it.
With that
being said, the schooling here is much more independent than in the United
States. You are left to your own devices with a general directive lecture once
a week. You’re given a reading list at the start of the term. They separate
what books you are required to read for the course and which ones are
suggested.
It’s very
different. Not in a bad way at all! I actually think it’s teaching me a whole
lot about who I am as a student with all of this free time for academic discovery.
I think it’s a true eye-opener for students who come from a different
environment.
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