Today we visited yet another University! This time the school brought us all the way into Dublin, to go to the DIT(Dublin institute of Technology) Open Day. As the Christmas exams started today, we could not go into the Halla Nua, as we usually do before boarding the buses, instead we gathered in the LRC to get the Open Day timetable and discuss the plans for the day ahead. As I swifly glanced at the timetable of the talks at DIT, I noticed that the subjects covered were a lot more limited than those of the other universities we have visited to date. By this I mean, DIT does not offer courses on medicine or nursing, neither does it offer courses on international relations, art or history. DIT is specialised in technology (as mentioned in the name!) and on media. This does not mean DIT is any less good than the other universities we visited, it just means that the courses are more specific to certain types people.
DIT University Building!
We boarded the two buses outside the school and headed towards Dublin City Centre. Since its Friday morning, there wasn’t much traffic on the roads, making it a fast journey. I realized I had actually walked past DIT University a few times before, but hadn’t really paid attention to it! The campus is definitely a lot smaller than Maynooth and DCU and other universities. We arrived just a bit too late for the first talk, so I just sat in the University cafe with Emma, Eleanor, Anna and Christopher and sipped on a warm coffee.
Then we decided to go to a talk on Languages. We turned up early to the talk, and took our time choosing our seats in the room! Outside the room we saw Dillon and Robyn so we sat with them and waited for the talk to commence. The speaker was Scottish (he had a very strong accent!). The things the speaker talked about really interested me. At one point he asked each person where they were from and what languages they speak. It was fascinating to discover more about the people sitting at the same talk as me. Also I made the talk seem more relaxed and informal. I told him I was half-Dutch and half-Irish, and that I speak English, Dutch, French and a little Irish! There was one other boy there who also spoke Dutch. Apparently it was the first time the speaker ever had two Dutch speakers in the same room! Among the people there were two Lithuanians, a few Spanish, Italians, a German girl and English girl. Studying languages at DIT sounds very good, I love the fact that you have the opportunity to study a year abroad.
Then Emma, Dillon, Robyn and I went to a talk on Law. So far, at all the universities we have visited with the school, I have gone to a talk on law. I want to compare the courses given in each university and I’d like to understand law as a course better. The talk was very full, every few minutes another load of people would enter the room! I thought the talk wasn’t as good as some of the others because the speaker didn’t really give us much information and she didn’t explain the law course DIT provides very well! She showed a video on Law in DIT and talked for a little while. The talk ended 20 minutes early! It was useful to compare the courses available with other universities, so if I decide to study law I can make the best decision on where to study.
Here a link to the video oabout Law at DIT that we were shown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbDtbj6hTAg
Lastly I attended a talk on Media. This was a great talk, as actually it was 3 talks in 1. First a lady told us all about the film and broadcasting course. Then an American man spoke to us about the journalism course, which sounded very interesting and good! If you do Journalism at DIT, who automatically get a paid job to write articles for the University news website called ‘The Liberty’ (http://www.theliberty.ie/). Finally a women showed us a presentation on the photography course available at DIT. Although it sounds like an amazing course, I doubt I will ever pursue a career in photography!
To finish off this exciting day, I went for lunch with my friends, in Dublin. First of all Dillon insisted on going to this peculiar sounding shop in Temple Bar. I personally wasn’t very inclined to go to this special shop, but nonetheless I went along, as its fun to wander around Dublin. In the end Dillon bought a poster of Che Guavera in this funny shop! Then, with our tummies rumbling, we went to St Stephen Green’s Shopping Centre. Here we saw lots of people from our year! I bought some French fries in Eddie Rockets and nibbled on them as we made our way back to the bus.
To conclude, I had another great day! It was worthwhile and interesting to visit DIT, as I didn’t know much about it prior to the Open Day. Also it was lots of fun walking around Dublin with my friends!