Studying abroad is life changing and highly recommended!

• You will be allowed to join the study abroad portion of the program based on the quality of your work, your timely attendance, and your participation during fall and winter quarter.
• Your non-refundable deposit of $500 should be paid by Friday, February 17, 2017; the remaining $1000 is due with tuition in spring.
• We will work through the Oideas Gael institute in Gleann Cholm Cille, County Donegal. We have had an ongoing and successful partnership with the institute since 1998! You will be expected to live there, onsite, for four full weeks in May 2017. At Oideas Gael you will participate in classes in the Irish language, poetry, dance, weaving, bodhrán (“bow-rawn”) drumming, knitting, archaeology, singing, local politics, spirituality, art, and many other subjects. 
• You may travel to Ireland any time after winter quarter ends (say, March 25th), but Ireland will be cold and rainy until May, and expensive regardless.
• Part of your travel time should be spent doing some research and fieldwork on a subject that interests you specifically; you will incorporate that into your final essay at the end of spring quarter.
• We recommend that you begin saving your pennies immediately and apply for financial aid support (see the Gilman Fellowship, for example). You will need about $4,000 (and much more if you plan to do extensive traveling before we meet in Donegal).
• Rural parts of Ireland have minimal wifi connections (usually only in the big cities); this means that you will not be able to participate in your online games or communicate much via Instagram or Facebook while we are in Donegal unless you buy an Irish phone or pick up a local SIM card and an Irish data plan.
• You will receive a list of expenses for financial aid purposes, as well as a list of suggested items to pack. Assume that the weather is nearly identical to that of the Pacific Northwest, but that the wind — which roars across the treeless hills directly from Iceland — is much stronger than it is at home. Umbrellas (“Hahahaha!!! You brought an umbrella?!?”) are useless outside of the cities!
• You will have one writing assignment in spring quarter: a 20- to 30-page photo essay that combines the theory of Irish Studies (what you did in fall and winter) with the practice of physically being in Ireland in the spring.