This summer, five Cabrini students along with 17 other students from around the United States had the opportunity to travel to Ireland to explore, learn the country and the study the people’s history and culture. Erin McLaughlin, associate professor of business and marketing instructor Vonya Womack set up the trip and both also traveled to Ireland to teach the students international business and marketing.
When first landing in Ireland, many of the students were pleased to see that it was not as rural and green as they thought.
“When I registered for this study abroad program, I was expecting Ireland to be a completely rural landscape and, although a majority of it was, I was surprised by the cities within the country that were full of life and culture,” senior Colin McGavin said.
For students like Nicole Procknow, senior international business major, it was not what she was expecting at all the first week there.
“We were in the countryside and nowhere near a city so we really were really in the heart of Ireland,” Procknow said.
Two weeks into the program, the students were settled at the University of Ulster in Derry where they would take various classes to complete the rest of the program. Before and after getting to the university, students had the opportunity to enjoy more than just the Irish’s favorite pastime.
After a long day of planned events like visiting castles, exploring rope bridges and walls, climbing a waterfall, visiting monuments and museums and six hour class days, the students were having lunch with mayors and important people in the communities, going to see plays, trying new foods and even going on runs.
“My favorite activity that we did was the Gaelic football game because it was interesting to see how many people come out to support the teams and players even though none of them are paid salaries from the league,” McGavin said.
Jamie Rufo, a senior international business major, enjoyed getting the chance to travel to Europe.
“From listening to other students who went last summer, I was expecting a lot of weekends where we were able to travel, but I loved having gone to Barcelona and I would love to go back and visit,” Rufo said.
Procknow, who also traveled to Barcelona, enjoyed “traveling to different places like the Giants Causeway all while learning the Irish culture. I enjoyed learning how to travel on my own,” Procknow said.
McGavin, Rufo and Procknow all loved and enjoyed their experience in Ireland. The trip impacted them all in different ways and each learned a lot while away for the summer.
