CAPA WORLD

In this week's post, Jessica shares 5 practical travel tips for you to add to your list—from booking flights to trying new food—so that you can make the most of your adventures abroad! 

This past week was assignment week, which means we do not have classes so we can work on our major semester assignments. Luckily, I got most of my work done ahead of time so I’m headed out to Paris, Amsterdam, and London.

Traveling throughout Europe from Dublin can be cheap, if you do it right. There are a few things I’ve learned and found helpful in order to plan trips.

In this week's post, Casey talks about what assignment week is in Dublin and what college life is like during this time, including the projects she has worked on so far!

I’m in shock how fast time has flown by. It is officially midterm time and assignment week. This means there is only a month and a half left of my time studying abroad! For those of you who don’t know, assignment week is a week off for us students. It is supposed to be used to work on midterm assignments that are due the following week. A time where you do all your research and hope it’s enough to get you a passing grade on the assignment.

Not to say assignments aren’t important in America, but they’re way more important here. Between my two Griffith College classes I have a total of five assignments for the entire semester. I have three essays for my Film Studies course, each worth 33.3% of my final grade. For my Visual Communications course, I have two assignments, one worth 40% and one worth 60%. I have no final exams at all this semester. Also, grades don’t go up to 100 here, they go to 70. This means that I need a 40 overall in my classes to pass, or I fail. Talk about stressed, right?

In this week's post, Casey makes the most of being in the country that started Halloween ON Halloween. Read more to hear about the unique ways Halloween is celebrated in the place that started it all, Dublin, Ireland!

Halloween is fun and all in America, but there’s something about celebrating it in the place it originated in. That’s right, Ireland is the original Halloweentown! No, not like the Disney Channel original movie. Originally called All Hallows Eve, Halloween was a time to build huge sacred bonfires, wear costumes usually consisting of animal heads and skins. This isn’t something that is done anymore, it’s more about the funny costumes like being a minion or being Napoleon Dynamite.

Unlike our festivities in America, where little kids go out for candy and adults throw wild parties, some of the festivities in Ireland during Halloween are more centered around tradition. They have festivities like a Mary Shelly poetry reading, the Bram Stoker festival, and a parade with giant spooky floats.

In this week's vlog, Jessica Kisluk gives us a virtual tour of some of the best sights to see, tours to take, and treats to eat on a weekend visit to Edinburgh, Scotland.

In this week's post, Casey talks about her marketing internship at Griffith college, what her daily work looks like and how her internship placement fits into her weekly schedule. 

As a CAPA student I had the opportunity to do an internship in a field that interested me. Having an interest in marketing, I was placed right on campus with the Griffith College Alumni and Careers Office. Not only is Griffith a great place to work, I have the shortest commute of all my friends! I work directly with the amazing Suzanna Doyle who is the Alumni Officer. Each day she checks in with me to see how my weekend was or how I’m feeling. She’s a great boss truly. I work Monday through Thursday for a total of 20 hours a week. Monday’s are my longest days where I work a full 8 hours.

In this week's post, Jessica and her friends plan their own excursion up to Cork, Ireland, where they tour the English market, tour the Blarney Castle and grounds, and kiss the Blarney Stone! 

Unfortunately, I did not document my kissing of the Blarney Stone because I was so squeamish about germs at first and decided to just do it in the spur of the moment, but hey, I still have a story to tell.

The day started out at 6:30am – the time our bus left Dublin. My friends and I took the GoBus, and it only cost 20 euros round trip. After 3 hours, we were in Cork with the whole day to explore. We started exploring the city at the English Market and ate breakfast upstairs. There was so much fresh food that looked delicious along with so many other things to buy. We then had the decision to either take a tour of the city or visit the Blarney Castle. Out of the 7 of us, Blarney Castle won, and we set out to figure out the Cork bus system to Blarney.

In this week's post, Casey travels to London for the weekend to celebrate her birthday with friends, and has some adventures she'll never forget. Keep reading to learn how to tour London in the rain and on a budget!

When I first decided I was going to go to London for my 20th birthday I was ecstatic. Little did I know how many adventures I would have during the weekend. My roommates Joanna and Alison were angels for going with me.

International study, especially with an internship, is an excellent way to show future prospective employers that you are willing to push the boundaries of your comfort zone and that you are able to cooperate with people from diverse backgrounds. Does the destination you choose make a difference to the type of experience you’ll have in terms of your future career goals? It can. If you are thinking about entering one of these fields after graduation, Dublin could be an excellent choice for you.

Casey recalls last weekend's CAPA excursion to the infamous Cliffs of Moher and Galway city—from the windy outlook on the cliffs to making friends with a local Irish woldfhound.

What is one of the most popular tourist destinations you should visit when in Ireland you ask? Cliffs of Moher. Our CAPA trip to Galway city and the Cliffs of Moher was one for the books and one that makes you realize how afraid of heights you actually are.

In this week's post, Casey, a lover of art, uses her free student access to get her art fix and explores the Irish Museum of Modern Art. She discusses some of the exhibits she visited and her favorite pieces from each.

There’s something about art that has always made me all warm inside, so this week I made my way to the Irish Museum of Modern Art. It was free since I was a student, which made it even better. I’m still figuring out the bus system, so I decided to get some exercise in and walk. It’s about a 40-minute walk, but lucky for me it was a beautiful day and there wasn’t a drop of rain, just a bit windy. By the time I got there I was ready to dive into gorgeous art, so I grabbed my student ticket and some programs and was off. There were three exhibits open at the time due to renovations going on elsewhere in the museum.