European Studies ?

_Beccaaa

Just wondering does anyone do this course and can tell me what it's like ?

Or anyone going into this course =]

I heard that its supposed to be pretty decent, Got accepted into the course, really happy about it

Thanks (=

Gavin "shels"

Two of my mates do it, from what I've seen of their notes it's everything from learning languages to learning history of the countries, etc... Both of them are off to their chosen countries to study (Germany and Spain), iirc they're both going into 3rd year so that's a bit ahead. Should be chatting with one of them tomorrow so I'll ask for a bit of info for you if no one has commented before then.

pluie

I'm a European Studies student myself. It's a really good course. There'll probably be some modules that you won't like as much as others, but each semester goes by really quickly, so you won't have to endure them for too long. Provided that the course hasn't changed for first years this year, you'll have about 18 - 20 hours of lectures a week. It can sound like a lot, but it's actually not. You get your timetable a few days before you start. I think it's called "Induction". You'll be told about it at registration at the beginning of September. Basically you'll all meet in one of the rooms in the college and you'll meet the course coordinators and your class tutor. Your timetable will be explained to you and then you can leave. Keep in mind that the timetable can change. There may be a day where you'll have a four hour break between lectures or something, but the lecturer tries their best to get that changed.

First year can be pretty full-on. You don't have anything like presentations until second year, so your main workload will be essays. They can be quite large (2000 - 3000 words each), but the topics given can be quite vast, so you'll have plenty of information. One tip: get to the library straight after you're given your essay topic so you can photocopy the chapters out of the books needed for the essay, because all of the books will be checked-out pretty quickly and it can make getting information a lot more difficult. :P You usually have about a month to complete the essays, so you can do them the night before they're due if you want, just get the information quickly because, like I said, it'll be gone pretty quickly.

Your modules will most likely be: Semester 1 - European History, Culture & Society, European Marketing, ICT (we had twelve weeks of sitting in front of a computer on a Friday from 2 - 5 :mad:), Language (you choose this at registration), Politics (Irish).
Semester 2 - European History (the more modern stuff, like Nazi Germany and Franco Spain), Culture & Society, Marketing, Language, Politics (EU) and Economics.

I won't keep babbling on, but I'll just reassure you that first year is really good and that there's no need to be nervous (if you are :P). You'll meet some people at registration, so you'll know people to a certain extent when you start the course, and then you'll make more friends within the first week.

Hope you enjoy the course.

Generation Terrorist

I got accepted too, cannot wait!

Just a question though, is going abroad on the 3rd year compulsory or is there a way around it?

_Beccaaa

Cheers for all the info, its really helpful

I don't think ye have to go abroad in third year, I think ye can do the course as a three year course and skip going abroad !

Could be totally wrong though =P

Generation Terrorist

Good stufff

pluie

Erasmus is compulsory, I'm afraid. Don't let it put you off though, you only have to start planning it in your second year. And you'll hear a lot of rumours about how you can get out of it, but the truth is... you can't.

Misa-san

I'm not in European Studies but when I started in 1st year our courses were in the same room for inductions - and yeah, Erasmus is compulsary. It's a big part of the course. No 3rd year exists in the course because everyone is abroad. I hear it's great craic though! I'd love to go on Erasmus

Generation Terrorist

Just got an email saying induction/registration is this FridaY

Don't they realise Electric Picnic is on??? UGH

Also, it says that the course COMMENCES Friday 3rd September - I was under the impression it didn't begin until Monday 13th September?

All very confusing

Horse_box

Generation Terrorist wrote: »

Just got an email saying induction/registration is this FridaY

Don't they realise Electric Picnic is on??? UGH

Also, it says that the course COMMENCES Friday 3rd September - I was under the impression it didn't begin until Monday 13th September?

All very confusing

Hi,

Don't worry ,the course actually doesn't start proper lectures until the 13th. Friday is just going into to register and listen to a talk and then we're off for the next week

Generation Terrorist

Cheers for that

Any idea what time the induction will end at? Was hoping to get back into town for lunch time to get the bus to The Picnic

Gavin "shels"

Horse_box wrote: »

Hi,

Don't worry ,the course actually doesn't start proper lectures until the 13th. Friday is just going into to register and listen to a talk and then we're off for the next week

You set up your college email, make sure you can log into Moodle and all this malarky.

pluie

Generation Terrorist wrote: »

Cheers for that

Any idea what time the induction will end at? Was hoping to get back into town for lunch time to get the bus to The Picnic

Ours was about 11 until 2. Some people couldn't make it to registration when I did it, so they just arranged to register on the first day of lectures. I wouldn't recommend that though, it's best to do it on Friday because you'll set up your email and moodle and all that stuff.

Generation Terrorist

Great, thanks for the heads up

Generation Terrorist

Well that registration was loads of fun

Shocked at the ratio female to male though! Think I only saw about 10 other guys!

dublin 16 lad

Generation Terrorist wrote: »

Well that registration was loads of fun

Shocked at the ratio female to male though! Think I only saw about 10 other guys!

Yeah everyone seems sound I have to say, looking forward to it now

There's defo more girls in the course, didn't really expect that. Giggidy!

Generation Terrorist

So we're in 2 days this week, yeah? Monday for the computer/moodle/online set up and Friday for course induction?

Also, did they say that on Monday the 2 computer classes take place at 2.30 and 3.30?

conno3001

Isn't it just one day for induction and moodle etc?...

Generation Terrorist

conno3001 wrote: »

Isn't it just one day for induction and moodle etc?...

Prettyu sure they said that on the Monday there would be 2 computer/moodle sessions (2.30 and 3.30pm?) and on Friday 10th it would be our induction?

Jk_Eire

I posted this sometime last year in an older thread on the same topic. Might be useful to re-post. Best of luck to all.

Started this course in 2004 and got my degree in 2008.
Took spanish as my main language and spent 3rd year in Spain which was absolutely incredible!
The course I studied would have had more of a political/historical/cultural slant to it since I know they've changed it around a little bit to give it more business/marketing modules in the last few years.

Anyway, I really enjoyed most of my subjects and had a blast. Lecturing staff are great too, for the most part.

A good few of us who have graduated from the course have gotten great jobs and started careers too in the EU Institutions, NGO's, political campaigns, and large multinationals and as teachers where having a language really helps. A good few went on to do master's too.

Nice course to be in. Can be a bit general at times, but if you're anyway into politics, history, the arts, or languages you can really gain a lot from the course. It takes a genuine and active interest though.

To give some advice...

Get involved with the Erasmus students in your class. They throw savage parties, will help you with your language, and will really want to get to know the Irish students.

Take an active interest in EU politics, current affairs and politics in general. I can't stress this enough. You'll get way more from the course if you do and you'll do better academically.

Get the most from your language classes. Try not to miss them and really take an proactive interest in learning your language both in college and in your time. The lecturers will really appreciate you showing off and getting stuck in. Also, in terms of learning, it's all about you. Some students will never like the language aspect of the course and will still speak fairly basic Spanish, or French or whatever after 4 years. If you really get into it, you'll be pretty handy by second year, and speaking like a local by the time you finish 4th year.

Erasmus was mental. Seriously, one the best experiences of my life so far. So many students got seriously stressed about it and really panicked. All you need to do is arrive with some optimism and be ready to enjoy yourself. Everything else just falls into place ( classes, choosing subjects, languages, apartment, friends, etc..) Can be easily done on a shoe string budget too.

Generation Terrorist

Great help mate, cheers!

Generation Terrorist

Has anyone gotten the timetable?

pluie

Generation Terrorist wrote: »

Has anyone gotten the timetable?

You won't get it until induction (tomorrow?).

Generation Terrorist

Not mad about the timetable

Especially for those of us doing Spanish, only class on Friday is an afternoon IT class, so I can't see many turning up for that

pluie

Generation Terrorist wrote: »

Not mad about the timetable

Especially for those of us doing Spanish, only class on Friday is an afternoon IT class, so I can't see many turning up for that

IT is probably the most-hated module in the first semester. Painfully boring and too long. Although I wouldn't recommend skipping it.

I'd also recommend going to your AWW lectures. I know they're timetabled for once a week, but you'll only have about five per semester. They're really useful and the lecturers will give you tips on how to write your essays and give you feedback.

Good luck with your first year. It will go by very quickly!

Generation Terrorist

Yup, the AWW classes sound really interesting - definitely won't be missing them!

Horse_box

I missed the induction week. Was away on hols:rolleyes:

Could anyone let me know what the first lecture is and what time it is at?

Would appreciate it!

Generation Terrorist

Horse_box wrote: »

I missed the induction week. Was away on hols:rolleyes:

Could anyone let me know what the first lecture is and what time it is at?

Would appreciate it!

I'm guessing by missing the induction week you've yet to choose a language to study?

If that's the case, and you want to choose French, you will be in French at 9am Monday in room 016.

For all other languages, just come to your Contemporary European History class at 10am Monday in room 052

Generation Terrorist

Whoever came up with that timetable must have been drunk

Gavin "shels"

Generation Terrorist wrote: »

Whoever came up with that timetable must have been drunk

If there's a few people who feel the same and have the same opinions on what should be changed go to your year head (one of your lecturers) and say it to them and they'll try to change it if possible. One of my mates in 2nd Year engineering was saying they said it to their year head that they only had a 1 hour lecture on a Monday and if it could be moved to another day, was sorted out and now the fecker has a 3 day weekend.

I-Shot-Jr

Gavin shels wrote: »

If there's a few people who feel the same and have the same opinions on what should be changed go to your year head (one of your lecturers) and say it to them and they'll try to change it if possible. One of my mates in 2nd Year engineering was saying they said it to their year head that they only had a 1 hour lecture on a Monday and if it could be moved to another day, was sorted out and now the fecker has a 3 day weekend.

You have to be lucky though, I know it was an absolute pain trying to get lectures rescheduled due to room conflicts etc. Especially in early first year when class sizes are massive. I used to hate having to come in for just two hours or something. Hopefully now that we're down to a third of what we were originally it should be a lot easier to get that kind of stuff sorted!