{"id":3887,"date":"2012-07-05T10:10:01","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T15:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.studyabroad101.com\/?p=3887"},"modified":"2022-09-14T16:13:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T20:13:57","slug":"chicagoan-lands-ireland-global-ambassador-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studyabroad101.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/chicagoan-lands-ireland-global-ambassador-it\/","title":{"rendered":"A Chicagoan Lands in Ireland. What one Global Ambassador Thinks."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dublin<\/p>\n

photo credit:
\nSebastianDooris<\/small><\/p>\n

Submitted by Global Ambassador, Brendan Bond, in Galway Ireland<\/em><\/p>\n

The name\u2019s Bond, Brendan Bond\u2026 now that I\u2019ve got that joke out of the way, let me introduce myself a bit. I\u2019m a 21-year-old rising senior at Loyola University Chicago, home of the Ramblers. I\u2019ve lived in the Chicago area my whole life and while I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the United States, I have never gone overseas.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Galway,<\/a><\/p>\n

That was something I had always planned to change while I was in college. My top two choices for studying abroad were always Ireland and Australia, in that order. The best time for me to go was the summer before my senior year. So when I found a five-week program in Galway, Ireland through USAC this summer, it all came together perfectly for me to go.<\/p>\n

The great thing about my group so far is that there are people from all over the country. West Coast, East Coast, the South and the Midwest. It\u2019s interesting to hear from people in different parts of the country. To me, I\u2019m getting to learn about living in Ireland, and living in other parts of the country as well.<\/p>\n

People also talk about the Irish accent and rightfully so. I\u2019ve been here about 48 hours and every thought I\u2019m having in my head is in an Irish accent. But the opposite is true too\u2026others notice my Chicago accent. The others in the group and some of the Irish people have too. I\u2019m now known as Brendan from \u201cChe-CA-go,\u201d but I guess that\u2019s true. That\u2019s where I\u2019m from and where I was raised and I\u2019m proud of it. Sometimes we lose our sense of identity and it takes going away to kind of regain that sense of self.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m in Dublin for a few more days before the group goes across the country to Galway for five weeks. Already there have been so many interesting moments and places visited, and I\u2019m sure there will be many more. I\u2019ve visited the pubs, the theatre, the national cemetery, multiple museums and Trinity College and it\u2019s only been a bit over two days. I\u2019ve gotten to hear so many great stories already. It\u2019s true that the Irish love to talk and tell stories. Unfortunately, that kept me up on the flight over here because the woman sitting next to me thought an overnight flight was a great time to tell stories of her youth. Not that I\u2019m complaining too much. They were very interesting.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m getting ready for a Friday night out on the town of Dublin, with the first stop being dinner. This is the time where I really miss being home and the food. As the Chicago representative of the group, I feel like I should have brought over some deep-dish pizza as a way to represent me and where I\u2019m from.<\/p>\n

And because I\u2019m craving it right now!<\/p>\n

Until next time, cheers, mates!<\/p>\n

Want to read insider reviews from fellow study abroad students? Click\u00a0here to find your perfect study abroad program!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

photo credit: SebastianDooris Submitted by Global Ambassador, Brendan Bond, in Galway Ireland The name\u2019s Bond, Brendan Bond\u2026 now that I\u2019ve got that joke out of the way, let me introduce myself a bit. I\u2019m a 21-year-old rising senior at Loyola University Chicago, home of the Ramblers. I\u2019ve lived in the Chicago area my whole life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[124,160],"ppma_author":[682],"class_list":["post-3887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-ambassador","tag-galway","tag-ireland","author-pwpadmin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t