Following the end of our first term, students at Trinity fortunately have over a month of break before coming back in late January for the next semester. Given this large period of time, I’ve had an amazing opportunity to travel, see my family, and unwind. As for any university, finals season naturally produces stress and anxiety. The varied structure of examination is initially quite daunting, considering the intimidating weight of only two to three assignments per class. However, the supportive nature of my professors and advisors really allowed me to fully engage with my classes and succeed with my examinations. Provisional results for my school came out today, and I’m personally very happy and proud of my results. I’m looking forward to reviewing feedback and trying to improve in my later assignments. This relieving end to the semester encouraged me to reward myself with some travelling during break!
The beginning of the Hilary Term, our second semester, marks my halfway point for study abroad. The experiences I’ve had over the past four months or so have been profoundly exciting and illuminating. Since I’ll be turning 20 this year during my time abroad, I’ll be spending the last few months of my teen years in Dublin and travelling Europe, and I feel immensely blessed for that opportunity. This semester, I hope to be more engaged with my experiences here and fully intentional with the decisions I make in life. Some of my resolutions include being more active in societies, branching out to new groups, talking to my professors more, and planning my time so I have even more opportunities to travel to new places.
For any students interested in the study abroad experience, I whole-heartedly encourage you to sign up for the full academic year if you’re interested. Personally, my first few months allowed me to really transition into the city and ground myself in routines. Throughout my life, I’ve moved to five countries and about ten cities, and I cannot express enough how transformative the opportunity to travel is. On the final week of break, my friend Julia (also studying abroad from UF) and I flew to Scotland together and spent six days travelling throughout Glasgow and Edinburgh. This was definitely one of my favorite trips so far! Very affordable, and such a beautiful country with plenty to do. The flight was only about an hour, so traveling there did not take too much time or energy. Later in this semester, I’m hoping to plan more weekend or longer trips to some places in Europe I’ve been wanting to go to. Dublin is a very convenient place to fly from, and RyanAir’s very cheap flights have been the most incredible blessing for us students.
Yesterday, I had my first day of class for this new term. Three out of my five classes are the second component to the first semester, so I have some of the same professors. Compared to last semester, I feel much more grounded in my place here and I’ve grown familiar to the structure of teaching. I’ve come to love and engage with the work I’ve chosen, and I find myself continuously enlightened by the immersive conversations during lectures and tutorials. I’m particularly looking forward to more of my Politics and English classes as the reading and discussion from those subjects are always very insightful and encourage me to grow more passionate about my field.
The Global Gator 