Do you have to do an erasmus..

KeyLimePie

I'm doing french in first year but don't really want to do an erasmus for a year..........do you have to do an erasmus year abroad I know you come back fluent in the language but I'd prefer not to spend a year abroad from home and waste god knows how much over there

griffdaddy

That's a pretty stupid attitude to be honest. Why would you waste the chance to live in a foreign country, study at a different university and party most of the time? It looks way better on your cv, especially when applying for a Masters. You get to make friends there as well you now, it's not like they send you into isolation in French mountains or something, and if you do it right it's not that expensive, I could think of far worse to spend my money. But no, you probably don't have to do it.

Irishrossoblu

KeyLimePie wrote: »

I'm doing french in first year but don't really want to do an erasmus for a year..........do you have to do an erasmus year abroad I know you come back fluent in the language but I'd prefer not to spend a year abroad from home and waste god knows how much over there

My god thats the worst attitude I have seen in a long time. Do an Erasmus year. They are the best.

kev_s88

as far as i know you only have to do the Erasmus if you're doing an International degree...which is basically you have to major in your language and something else and in that case you have to do Erasmus i think...otherwise Erasmus is completely optional...

WeeBushy

My advice: If you have the chance, do it. I don't think I've met anyone who didn't have the most amazing time while on erasmus. One of my only regrets in college is not having gone on one.

But if you don't want to then that's fine, it's up to you. I don't think going on erasmus is obligatory for any course.

seraphimvc

KeyLimePie wrote: »

I'm doing french in first year but don't really want to do an erasmus for a year..........do you have to do an erasmus year abroad I know you come back fluent in the language but I'd prefer not to spend a year abroad from home and waste god knows how much over there

just a small note that i believe if you can survive happily affordable in dublin,there wont be any money issue wherever you go:pac: maybe except Venice...

i'd say try to take a look outside this island is definitely a good thing - holidays travel doesnt count, you need to try to live out there and then you may know about the 'real world':p seriously!broaden your mind and eye sight!those who living aboard will know what i meant

Tom65

I agree with everything that's been said so far. Erasmus years are brilliant. Also, as far as I know, if you have a language but not a BA Int, it wouldn't look great to prospective employers especially if the job involves a language.

moretothegirl

hmmm i think sometimes people are too quick to push their views on others..... the question here is whether it is compulsory to do erasmus or not, not whether its a good idea to do it or not!

fair enough, MOST (not all!!) people enjoy their erasmus years, but that doesnt mean its for everyone. for example, after the BA i feel strongly that most people need to go on and do another degree because the BA just isnt enough to succeed with usually. so for example, iv spent 3 years doing my BA. I had to take a year out then because the postgrad i wanted would only accept applications by graduates, not pending graduation results. then my postgrad will be 2 years long. that adds up to six years for me from when i first finished school. I'm happy with this, dont get me wrong. but i think by the time i get to six years im going to be dying to be fully qualified at last. if i was to have done erasmus it would be an extra year on top of this for me!!

i know not everyone will experience the same as me and i totally understand that those who do erasmus love it, its a great experience. i also know it looks great on cv etc. im just saying that i think its fair to say its not for everyone.

griffdaddy

moretothegirl wrote: »

hmmm i think sometimes people are too quick to push their views on others..... the question here is whether it is compulsory to do erasmus or not, not whether its a good idea to do it or not!

fair enough, MOST (not all!!) people enjoy their erasmus years, but that doesnt mean its for everyone. for example, after the BA i feel strongly that most people need to go on and do another degree because the BA just isnt enough to succeed with usually. so for example, iv spent 3 years doing my BA. I had to take a year out then because the postgrad i wanted would only accept applications by graduates, not pending graduation results. then my postgrad will be 2 years long. that adds up to six years for me from when i first finished school. I'm happy with this, dont get me wrong. but i think by the time i get to six years im going to be dying to be fully qualified at last. if i was to have done erasmus it would be an extra year on top of this for me!!

i know not everyone will experience the same as me and i totally understand that those who do erasmus love it, its a great experience. i also know it looks great on cv etc. im just saying that i think its fair to say its not for everyone.

So taking your logic shouldn't everyone just avoid BAs in general? do engineering or business or something with higher employment rates?

moretothegirl

griffdaddy wrote: »

So taking your logic shouldn't everyone just avoid BAs in general? do engineering or business or something with higher employment rates?

no, if you want to teach secondary school, you need it, or if you have an interest in a certain subject such as history etc and want to go on and do masters in it?

on another note, i think the BA is a great stepping stone. I didnt know what i wanted to do after school so i decided to go do the BA so i could take the 3 years to decide and now i know exactly what i want to do , i have a bit more perspective than i had in sixth year.

parker kent

Yeah as has been said, its only if you do the BA International that you have to go abroad for the year.

Plus I agree with the poster above, not everybody has the same opinion. I didn't want to do an Erasmus year either. I was happy to do my degree, work for a year and go back to do my masters. The erasmus year didn't appeal to me. Doesn't make me weird, doesn't make me better!

Plus not everybody going to UCD is living in Dublin, I commuted from my family home every day as I couldn't afford it. So living abroad for a year would have been out of my reach too!

alwaysanon

griffdaddy wrote: »

That's a pretty stupid attitude to be honest. Why would you waste the chance to live in a foreign country, study at a different university and party most of the time? It looks way better on your cv, especially when applying for a Masters. You get to make friends there as well you now, it's not like they send you into isolation in French mountains or something, and if you do it right it's not that expensive, I could think of far worse to spend my money. But no, you probably don't have to do it.

"party all the time"-it's not for everyone.

I wish you'd consider that maybe people have personal reasons for not going. Mine is the fact that despite being in 2nd year i still can't get over the homesickness; still in bits that i had to come back tonight. So how would I manage a year abroad?!

I think you need to consider circumstances before you make insulting and upsetting responses. College may be the best time of your life but i hate it. Can you imagine what that's like? Being homesick ALL THE LIVELONG DAY?

griffdaddy

alwaysanon wrote: »

"party all the time"-it's not for everyone.

I wish you'd consider that maybe people have personal reasons for not going. Mine is the fact that despite being in 2nd year i still can't get over the homesickness; still in bits that i had to come back tonight. So how would I manage a year abroad?!

I think you need to consider circumstances before you make insulting and upsetting responses. College may be the best time of your life but i hate it. Can you imagine what that's like? Being homesick ALL THE LIVELONG DAY?

You can also replace "party all the time" with cultural activities, hobbies, etc.

it's obviously better that you deal with your homesickness rather than pander to it. You're a big girl now, your family and friends aren't gonna be around forever, learning a bit of independence might not be the worst thing for you.
Bottom line, I've literally never met anyone who didn't enjoy themselves on Erasmus, even people who were reluctant to go at first. Take from that what you will.

parker kent

griffdaddy wrote: »

it's obviously better that you deal with your homesickness rather than pander to it. You're a big girl now, your family and friends aren't gonna be around forever, learning a bit of independence might not be the worst thing for you.
Bottom line, I've literally never met anyone who didn't enjoy themselves on Erasmus, even people who were reluctant to go at first. Take from that what you will.

But everybody you met that went on Erasmus is likely to have been the type of person that would enjoy Erasmus. You know I like soccer, and most people I know that play soccer tend to like it. But thats discounting people that don't like or play soccer. It's a crude example but you know what I mean.

Even those that were somewhat reluctant would not have gone if they had the type of personal barriers that other people may have. You can't generalize or insult people based on their personal beliefs/issues/problems etc. As the poster said, it is not for everybody. It doesn't matter if you are "a big girl" (or a big boy for that matter). The OP wanted to know if you had to go, and you don't.

alwaysanon

parker kent wrote: »

But everybody you met that went on Erasmus is likely to have been the type of person that would enjoy Erasmus. You know I like soccer, and most people I know that play soccer tend to like it. But thats discounting people that don't like or play soccer. It's a crude example but you know what I mean.

Even those that were somewhat reluctant would not have gone if they had the type of personal barriers that other people may have. You can't generalize or insult people based on their personal beliefs/issues/problems etc. As the poster said, it is not for everybody. It doesn't matter if you are "a big girl" (or a big boy for that matter). The OP wanted to know if you had to go, and you don't.

Thanks a million-i'm glad somebody gets where I'm coming from.

Griffdaddy has obviously never been away from home, or if they have, they must have come from an unhappy home and been glad to get away.

It's so frustrating when people say to just 'deal with it' when they don't understand what's it's like to be SO UNHAPPY all the time. The only cure is to go home. You can't just say "time to deal with it" and simply be happy all of a sudden. It doesn't work and it's makes me even more unhappy to hear people say that.

And on that note, griffdaddy, I happen to know someone who's on Erasmus in Sweden right now and wants to come home, and also someone who went to Italy last year and left after 4 months. The reason?-Homesickness.

You just don't understand.

griffdaddy

I did answer in the second post of the thread that you don't have to go on Erasmus if you don't want to. I loved my Erasmus, fair enough if somebody is so certain that they wouldn't enjoy it, they probably wouldn't. Some of the people I met thought it was a necessary chore, but in the end enjoyed it and were glad of it. Fair enough if people think college isn't a good time to get away from home, but if you're not gonna start dealing with it in your early 20's, when are you going to start dealing with it? (I don't mean to come across as Holier than Thou, it's a genuine question)

seraphimvc

alwaysanon wrote: »

Thanks a million-i'm glad somebody gets where I'm coming from.

Griffdaddy has obviously never been away from home, or if they have, they must have come from an unhappy home and been glad to get away.

It's so frustrating when people say to just 'deal with it' when they don't understand what's it's like to be SO UNHAPPY all the time. The only cure is to go home. You can't just say "time to deal with it" and simply be happy all of a sudden. It doesn't work and it's makes me even more unhappy to hear people say that.

And on that note, griffdaddy, I happen to know someone who's on Erasmus in Sweden right now and wants to come home, and also someone who went to Italy last year and left after 4 months. The reason?-Homesickness.

You just don't understand.

dude/dudess,griffdaddy sounds more like encouraging OP to give it a try rather than 'insult/upset' people who is not that keen to do the eramus,as far as i read his post :pac:

he said 'stupid attitude' in the first place is referring to the attitude of 'give up before you give it a try' - sound fair enough to me.

talking about homesickness,i know a bunch of people who only go home once in a year(or once in 2 years time) - do they not homesick?they do,is just that they choose to give study aboard a try - take a look and learn something totally different from their home country

alwaysanon

griffdaddy wrote: »

I did answer in the second post of the thread that you don't have to go on Erasmus if you don't want to. I loved my Erasmus, fair enough if somebody is so certain that they wouldn't enjoy it, they probably wouldn't. Some of the people I met thought it was a necessary chore, but in the end enjoyed it and were glad of it. Fair enough if people think college isn't a good time to get away from home, but if you're not gonna start dealing with it in your early 20's, when are you going to start dealing with it? (I don't mean to come across as Holier than Thou, it's a genuine question)

But that's my point-you can't choose when to start 'dealing' with it

Going on Erasmus certainly isn't the solution to it-i'm not going because i know i will be homesick and won't enjoy

Add to that the fact I don't like college and you have my situtation

But that's not the point-I never chose to be homesick, the same as I can't choose not be. It's just life and i'm struggling with it, it's ruined college for me but there's nothing i can do. Perhaps when i start working i will enjoy it and thus will have something to take my mind off. If not, well then I'll live in my home town-i have no problem with that.

When you wake up everyday and count up in your head how many hours left in the week till you get to go home, then you can't just 'deal with it'

alwaysanon

seraphimvc wrote: »

dude/dudess,griffdaddy sounds more like encouraging OP to give it a try rather than 'insult/upset' people who is not that keen to do the eramus,as far as i read his post :pac:

he said 'stupid attitude' in the first place is referring to the attitude of 'give up before you give it a try' - sound fair enough to me.

talking about homesickness,i know a bunch of people who only go home once in a year(or once in 2 years time) - do they not homesick?they do,is just that they choose to give study aboard a try - take a look and learn something totally different from their home country

everyone's different-maybe they can deal with that but it's not for me

moretothegirl

this thread has seriously derailed. the OP wanted an answer to a simple question and for some reason some people here take it upon themselves to use the thread as a way to preach their opinions. it doesnt matter what anyone's opinions are on erasmus, the point here is that she didnt ask your opinions. she asked if you had to do it or not. simple.

however, since the thread has already been hijacked and derailed i must add a side note. to me OP you sound really lonely and that concerns me. i know what it feels like to be homesick etc. and it really isnt a nice feeling.
you say your in second year, do you mind if i ask if you have made many friends in college? you can pm me if you prefer. i hate to think of people living life dreading every day... i know what thats like and its a horrible place to be

RIP-sanity

Back to the 'aul subject of erasmus.
I'm currently on erasmus as I do a language. It is not obligatory unless you are on a predefined ba international. I.e if you're doing a language through an omnibus degree, you do not have to go.
I had to take a lot into consideration before I came because despite the fact that I don't get homesick easily there were a whole lot of other factors going on.
A) I'm on a tight financial budget and leaving would mean no guarantee of getting my job back when I return. Nor did I have any guarantee of getting a job when I arrived.
It's an extra year of college when I ultimately want to return and do a masters
C) A whole lot of other personal shiz.

Ultimately I went because in the long run, if you talk to any honest language lecturer they will inform you that a BA in a language is worth very little compared to a Ba international and if I want any form of career out of this it's something I have to do, and though people forget about this sometimes, even arts degrees can lead to a good career if you make the correct decisions, It is not just a party year, it's very important for your C.V

Also, my lecturers advised me that the majority of people who chose not to do erasmus generally have to repeat final year because they are not up to the level of fluency required. Which would mean much money in repeat fees as opposed to the E.U handing me 2000 euro to go live abroad in a country that has a much lower cost of living than Ireland.





And just to let you know, first year of college I used to get mindnumbingly homesick. The only way to deal with it is to confront it. I only let myself go home one weekend a month in second year, and found really fun things to do to distract myself, it faded away, I still love home, but I have my own independent life in Dublin also. Also, lots of people here have never lived away from their parents before and love it. Some people miss home but nobody is miserable, sometimes a change of scene is really good for you.


All in all, you'll never know unless you try, it's great for your career and they give you a whole chunk of money to do it.