Student Reports: Payton Smith, Dublin, Ireland, Fall 2014
The number one question I received before leaving the United States was: “Are you traveling alone or with a group?” Upon responding with, “alone,” the look of shock and amount of “good lucks” I received was not at all reassuring. I tried not to let this fact shake me as I departed Knoxville, Tennessee, for Dublin, Ireland. After all, I would be gone an entire semester from my friends and family, in addition to attempting to learn a new school system and traveling around a foreign country.
Reflecting on my trip, I can say that I could have never predicted how much I would learn, both inside and outside of the classroom. The program was fairly new, being the first Biosystems Engineering from the University of Tennessee to have ever exchanged with the University College of Dublin(UCD) was a little daunting. Similar to our Biosystems Engineering program, UCD’s program was small but passionate. One main difference was that the program there was a mandatory five-years program where you graduated with a masters. Ireland being a big country for dairy, beef, potato, barley, and wheat productions, there is a high need for agricultural awareness. The agriculture nature of the country meant that many students in my classes were from farming backgrounds. Having come from suburban Chattanooga, I would say I was far less familiar with tractor implements than my Irish peers. However, that did not mean that I was ignored in class or felt like I was lost. An import thing to know about Irish people is that they are incredibly helpful. My professor in Power and Machinery Systems taught us about hydraulics and tractor parts, but made sure the exchange students understood the background. We could have easily been brushed aside, we were the minority, and nearly 90% of the class was Irish students from farms. I felt comfortable instantly, if I ever had a concern I knew that nearly all of the professors had open office hours, and were eager to help until you understood.
Along with the helpful atmosphere, the Irish University system was designed somewhat differently than our own. To retain material, where at home we are expected to do homework, quizzes, tests, labs, etc. I found that required homework was nearly non-existent, and in all four of my engineering classes 70% of my grade was a cumulative two hour final at the end of the term. I found this set up challenging; it meant that the professors put more faith in your ability to do the work on your own terms throughout the semester. I would say, having been through both, I prefer my own university’s way of teaching, but I am glad that I was able to see how Irish students are taught, and I am happy that I was able to shift the way I studied to be able to be successful there.
Another incredibly interesting and challenging experience I had in university was a group project in my Waste Management class. UCD is an incredibly global and diverse university, many people from all over Europe and Asia as well as South America and North America attend to either improve their English, or just explore another country for a while. My Waste Management class was perhaps the most diverse class I have ever been in, more than half the class being from outside of Ireland. Our groups were randomly assigned, and I happened to be in a group with a girl from China, two guys from Brazil, and one guy from Ireland. Meaning, only two out of five of us were native English speakers. I truly learned patience in this group project, where we were assigned to find a plot of land in Ireland and design a full waste management facility for it, including an incinerator, anaerobic digestion, composting, and a landfill. After the initial shock of a slight language barrier wore off, I ended up enjoying working with my team mates and seeing what each of us had to offer. In the end, I can say that as an aspiring engineer I know I am capable of dealing with a number of different types of people with different backgrounds; I am incredibly fortunate to have had that experience.
Like many Americans, I have found that I can become busy and get stuck in my own state and country, and forget sometimes that there is a world around us that is very different than out own. I experienced the heart of culture every time I ventured into the Dublin City Centre. It is a big issue right now in Ireland of protests on the Irish Water Taxes, a problem that I had never heard about and would have never if I did not go to Ireland. A few of my friends and I were even able to watch the protests twice as they walked down one of the main streets near Trinity College (a historic college, where many famous Irish scholars and writers attended, including Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett).
In addition to this, the experience of walking down the cultural mecca that is Grafton Street. Grafton Street is a huge shopping street in Dublin City Centre, which I am sure most native Irish people avoid at all costs, being incredibly crowded.
However, walking down this street did lead to a lot of interesting overheard conversations, having languages from all over the world spoken, and English spoken in accents of all sorts. Not only this, but even in bone chilling wind and rain there was always some type of busking or street preforming happening, including a particularly interesting group of four men who played drums and wore traditional Scottish attire. By the end of our stay in Dublin, my friends and I would mostly avoid Grafton Street and claim “it was for the tourists,” a phrase that probably sounded a little silly coming from an American in Ireland.
While in Ireland I was able to explore all over the country, and even go up to Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom, under British rule, but part of the same landmass as the Republic of Ireland). The countryside did not disappoint, it was every bit as green as photographs have depicted. I was able to see the amazing architecture, rich with history, all over the country; I got to experience a wide range of food and drink, sometimes made of products a consumer would not want to think too much about, but delicious all the same. I got to stand at the edge of the Cliffs of Moher, walk on the Giant’s Causeway and even kiss the Blarney Stone, which is supposed to give those who kiss it eloquence. I experienced places and the company of people I thought I would never have the chance to see and meet. I would advise everyone to try and study abroad, even if it is for a short time, because the knowledge you can gain from the world outside will change your life in ways you did not think was possible. I will never forget the beautiful things I saw, the friends I made, and the adventures we had.