Study Abroad at the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest

My name is Ivanny Cavaliere, I'm here to tell about the most amazing experience I had while I was studying in LIT. I studied Civil Engineering for 9 months in LIT, where I learned a lot about structures, highways design, public health, tunneling and bridges. Before going abroad I was afraid of not being able to follow the lectures because of the language barrier, but studying in LIT I had all the help from my professores, LIT international office and the friends I met there. I was also part of LIT basketball and soccer team, I had a great time playing with them. I made a lot of friends and had loads of fun. If you're an international student, LIT is always worried if you're feeling confortable away from your home and if you're having a great time. There's also a great outdoor club where once a month you travel inside Ireland to do an outdoor activity like kite surfing or caving. It's super cool!
Also, LIT helped me a lot on finding an internship for 3 months. I showed them my interest on working with anything related with construction, and they were very nice on helping me. I have no words to say how thankful I am for this work experience with SIAC Construction. If I had a chance in the future, I would come back to study in LIT again.

This was possibly the best adventure of my life.
I wanted to study abroad for so long and I don't regret it one bit.

I took part of the Erasmus exchange programme to make my studies come full circle, my choice was to study in Ireland and more precisely at the Limerick Institute of Technology.
From begining to end this experience was a complete sucess as I fell in love with Ireland, its people, its culture.
Thanks to the help of the LIT staff and international office my trip was a delight, no questions were left unanswered making it quite easy for us to feel at home. The housing issue can be daunting when you first settle abroad but you are directed towards different student villages way before your arrival: LIT staffmembers save you the trouble of searching and it feels absolutely great.

The study part was great and so different from what I was used to back in France...needless to say I prefer the Irish approach on studies: great lecturers always ready to offer their help and listen to your problems, great courses and a more than decent range of options (even though some mandatory lectures were not of my personal taste), an amazing induction week and the riveting excursions proposed by the international office, activities, workshops, charity groups, student union and so forth and so on. I honestly felt like I was a guest of honor since everyone was nice to me, students and teachers alike.

Let's talk real, the student life is rich as can be. I have honestly never felt bored as the city is overcrowded with students, there is a plethora of night clubs, a cultural mix I never knew existed in Ireland and quite the number of shops for those who want to go on a shopping spree (Penneys!). Lots of taxis to go home and the gardai driving around town. And of course the night saver...Burger king on arthur's quay helping you to sustain and quench your drunk/famished self.
You also have the possility to visit some of the cities nearby with cheap coaches..Cork, Galway, Dublin and a plentiful of other natural sites/caves/beaches and greenlands.

To study abroad also means you are going to build new friendships that will last forever, meet a lot of people from different cultures, share your experiences, foods, learn a lot of bad words from your mates and live the lad life to the full.

If I was to give a piece of advice to whoever wants to study abroad it would be: go for it. It is a commitment but you will not regret it as it's such an enriching experience on so many levels.

To this day I am still transfixed and amazed by what this opportunity brought in my life.
The words thank you don't feel big enough for what this year in Ireland did to me, all the people I've met, the kindness of the Irish people I could never repay, the amazing parties. I have a special thanks to adress to Cliona, Niamh and Michael from the interntional office for their devotion and help towards all the erasmus and brazilian students that studied at LIT this year.

My name is Julio Rezende, and I was a student of Industrial Automation and Robotic Systems course at LIT during the Brazilian Science Without Borders program, in 2013/14. The course, which combines knowledges of different fields, especially from Electronics, Mechanical and Computer Science, and lots of practical lessons in every lecture, proves that much more knowledge and motivation are achieved with a hands-on environment. As a proof of that, I was awarded with a First Class Standard for my scores at the final exams.

After the academic year while I was in Ireland, I had the opportunity to do an internship program at ACORN Research Centre, supported by LIT, being part of a research project and getting work experience. The research infra-structure and environment provided by the center was a motivation for me and made me enjoy all the moments there, which helped me to develop my personal and professional skills.