德莱尼雷, a double-major in psychology and sociology, shares stories 从 her life-changing study 在国外 experience in Ireland.  

“When did you study 在国外?”

“I studied 在国外 the fall semester of 2017 in Ireland. 这是 恒星. I had never left the country before. In fact I had never even flown before, so it was all of these new experiences at once. I had never been a道路 从 home for that long or been that far a道路, so it was kind of weird and crazy but fun and exciting.” 

“What advice would you give to students who want to study 在国外?” 

“这样做. I know some students come into college thinking ‘I want to study 在国外,’ but that was not me. I came in as a first-year thinking, ‘No 道路! I am not doing that.’ I started thinking about it my sophomore year, but I thought I didn’t have enough time. But Thelma Rohrer, the director for the office of study 在国外, who’s the 伟大的est person ever, just jumped into it 和我在一起. 这是 completely worth it. It’s literally the 伟大的est time. 另外, everyone back home becomes kind of obsessed with you, checking in on you and asking you to post photos. I felt like I was famous!”

“What life lessons did you learn in Ireland?”

“I learned how to be independent. I learned how to do things on my own like cooking – of course I still can’t cook whatsoever. I ate scrambled eggs for every meal, every day. I learned not to limit myself, because there were so many times I told myself ‘I can’t do this; I don’t know if I can go; I’ve never done anything like this before,’ but I did it and it was 伟大的. 

 “Above all, learning about a new culture. 这是一个 adjustment to the weird driving and the strange scenery. 这是 a good culture shock though, and there were only a few times when someone would say a phrase that I didn’t understand. The first time I went grocery shopping, I was looking at some sausage, because I really like to eat sausages, and I was looking for a breakfast sausage. One said black pudding and one said white pudding … so I had to ask somebody what the difference was. One guy walked up, and he could tell that I wanted to ask a question, and he clearly did not want to talk to me, so I bothered him any道路. He told me to get the white pudding; the black pudding has oatmeal and weird stuff in it. Also, I got pizza quite a bit, and frequently they put corn on pizza! And I’m like, I’m 从 Indiana! 玉米 状态! That’s not a thing! But it was actually good!” 

“What is your favorite memory 从 Ireland?”

“One weekend, a group of friends and I decided to go to London. Flights in Europe are super cheap, so it’s easy to travel. We bought tickets for a futball game and I had never been to a big futball game before, so I was 兴奋! I felt all big and bad, so I bought a hat and scarf for one of the teams, and even though I have absolutely no idea what’s happening in the futball world, I still am a huge fan and support that team. 它是如此之多 fun and a 伟大的 experience! We also did those very stereotypical touristy things – we saw Platform 9 ¾ 从 Harry Potter, visited 221B Baker St. 从 Sherlock Holmes, ate fish and chips, saw Buckingham Palace – I kept waiting for one of the princes to come out and propose to me, but neither did – we saw Big Ben and a lot of cool other stuff! London is unbelievably beautiful and I’m so lucky that I was able to study 在国外 in a country that allowed me to travel to other places and see and experience so much more.”