Week 1 - Language

                                                    Week 1

 Our first week was full of many surprises. The night before my train had been cancelled and I ended up spending the night at the airport. On the airport I met the other Finnish students and on the plane we got to know one another. We have two students from Tampere Univerisy of Applied sciences, one from Seinäjöki university of applied sciences and one girl from Turku university of applied sciences. We were picked up from the airport by two UCD students and they kindly took us to our hotel. during the weekend we also met with the other echange students and explored the campus beforing heading out to eat at the food court.

We soon found out that Ireland is a lot warmer than Finland at this time. The wind was horrible though and even with the windows closed you could see the curtains moving. I was happy to find out that the horrible wind died a couple fo days later. 

The first week included a lot of lectures on campus. On Tuesday the cardiac module and our first group project started. We were also told the campus was quiet since the academic period wouldnt offically start for a few weeks. We were also told to familiarise ourselves with the campus and be mindfull of the massive influx of students arriving later on.I also met my roommates on campus.

First week impressions

                                                                Language

 

My first experience with Irish was when I requested my criminal record for the exchange. I was asked if I’d like it in English, Irish or both. Before that moment I had blissfully ignored Irish, and it made me wonder what else was I missing from my common knowledge. I was reprised by the amount of Irish I faced on a day-to-day basis. From public transport to my clinical placement hospital it is always there. At time the amount of Irish I faced made me think like I wasn’t in an English-speaking country.  Some might say Irish is going through a revival.

Another similarity to Finland is the number of dialects. In Finland we have dozens of different dialects with distinct differences. As a baseline, the up north I went the harder it was to understand what people were saying. And the same can be said about Finland.

 

                                             I can add “wain” to my internal dictionary.  

Museum of Irish Literature