Jessica Kisluk was an official CEA CAPA blogger for fall 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on our blog. A Broadcasting and Mass Communication major at SUNY Oswego, she studied abroad in Dublin.
In this week's post, Jessica learns about the culture in Ireland and experiences the new cultural insights and differences firsthand.
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The day of arrival was honestly one of the longest days of my life. I spent over 24 hours awake, as I did not sleep on the plane, and did not have a chance to take a short nap until after the long process. That night, I got a long 12 hours of sleep and I felt like a new person.
Tuesday included a lot of valuable information about classes, the university, and cultural norms. At our CEA CAPA orientation, Dr. Darren Kelly explained to the group that grading in Ireland is a little bit different. The highest score you can get is a 70, and a 40 is a passing grade. We were also told that if a professor says that certain things are required, it is probably the bare minimum to pass the class, and not what is required to get an ‘A’ grade. Classes are not selected months before as it is done in the United States—they are selected within the first two weeks of the semester, which may cause some people to be anxious. This was important information that would help the American students from confusion over the course of the semester.
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