On the one hand I chose to go to Ireland as I wanted to be in an English speaking environment and on the other hand I intended to go to a college where English is spoken on a day to day basis. As I have not been to Ireland before, I decided to go there in order to gain a new experience. I wanted to see the beautiful countryside and experience the difference of living in a culture with which I had no experience before.
Even on my first evening, when arriving in Tralee by train, I experienced the Irish people as really nice and warmhearted, despite the minor difficulties understanding the Irish accent.
People tend to speak very fast and have a different ‘slang’ to British or American English, which was confusing at the beginning. I had to listen really carefully in order to understand everything.
When I arrived at my apartment the landlord told me bits and pieces about Tralee in a very friendly manner.
Tralee is a very small town. Although shop windows are decorated in the style of the 60’s there are some good shopping possibilities throughout town. Moreover, Tralee also has around 80 pubs, which offer the so called ‘Bar food’. Most of them have traditional Irish music but also international live music on several days a week. Moreover, shops and pubs are within walking distance.
The surrounding of Tralee is really nice and definitely worthwhile visiting. Tours were organized for exchange students to places like Dingle, Killarney, the Ring of Kerry, the Cliffs of Moher or even trips to Northern Ireland. Some of the tours take more than a day, however, accommodation is provided. All tours were offered for reasonable (student) prices and were guided by a tour guide.
The first day at college I got to know other Erasmus students as we got an introduction to IT Tralee. After that, we had to do an English screening test. I had to get used to college as the system here differs from what I have been used to so far. The international office at the IT was really helpful and provided a lot of useful information.
arriving in Tralee