When I start to write this post I still have almost two weeks left from my UL studies. But I came up with the idea of my last post now and I always like to write the things down when it comes to my mind. But I let myself to finish it after I really finished to add my final line of sight because this way it will be one whole summarize. So let’s get start my last blog post about my experience in the University of Limerick.
I never thought I can be emotional because I’m writing about my studies. But don’t worry maybe it’s not because of that, it’s rather because of this whole way my first but hopefully not last Erasmus experience ended. And because soon I have to leave a whole system and environment (what I phisycally already left) behind. After I had to come home my last solace was studying online at UL, that was the last thing what still connected me to Ireland and to the programme I’m applied for. So it’s like the feeling when you have to finish and close a chapter, like graduating.
I’ve already written about the biggest differences between UL and my home university so I don’t want to write it down again. It was just so good to studying here and experience this type of education. What I most enjoyed is to finally find myself in realistic situation as a journalist. I’m far from being good and ready to work in this field but I felt some developing. All the three courses I took was so useful but also hard at some points. I learnt how to manage my time better as I had to do courseworks every week. That wasn’t like this in Hungary. I also learnt to deal more with the practical parts. It’s more important than reading the theory, of course that’s important too and make the whole studies complete but I had to realise that working on a projects and writing has to be the priority. Now I know that if I’m not communicating with my teachers or with my class mates there is no point at all. Not just because I’m studying something where the focus is on the communication but also because I have to know my environment and there is nothing wrong to share opinions, experiences and interest. I got to know a lot of new information and things thanks to the people I was in the same class with. And it felt so good that our teachers was interested in us, international’s students and made us speak and share our culture.
I was also amazed by the environment and facilities of UL. We had everything to work properly. That’s really important and I hope soon the middle-eastern countries will realise it too that how important is the place where they want to educate their future workers.
I really liked the lecture-lab-tutorial system. Mostly because the labs and tutorials were in small groups and we had more time for each other and for our projects. It’s deffinitely the most effective way.
In the classes we discussed about everything that can be involved in the media and communication field. From the tabloid press to the breaking news or the importance of social media. We had to try making video riport, record an audio, practice fact checking, manage a twitter account (it was new for me, I think it’s not so popular in Hungary), create websites and write blogs. And with the blog I learnt how to manage a site and add basic tools like menus, pages, links, but also practiced writing. It was a huge total.
I’m sad about I couldn’t enjoy it in the way I planned but I’ve learnt so much. Not just about journalism but about more important skills what I told you before. And those are the ones I can use in the future, in my studies or in my job.
Thanks UL for made my first study abroad experience so much fun and useful. We had an unusual time but it made it more special and taught me even more. I hope it wasn’t the last time. And I also hope you enjoyed reading my blog with my personal experiences and thoughts.
Bye for now!
Emőke
Journalism studies in Ireland 