UED, the first civil society organization in our country in the field of education abroad, has been implementing various projects since the day it was founded with the social responsibility awareness given by this identity, and has made the dreams of many successful students to study abroad come true. Within the framework of the latest scholarship study it carried out with AÇEV Melek Erman Kori Education Center, UED sent Tuba Korkusuz, a successful student, to the Center of English Studies in Dublin, the capital of Ireland, for 2 weeks of English language education. Here are our student’s impressions of Ireland.

“I landed at 10:30 a.m. Dublin time on 07.09.2014, after passing through passport control, I took my bags and went from the airport to the bus stop. Gökhan Bey from UED had prepared a route plan for me and I started looking for the house of Carmel Hanım where I would be staying. After some effort, I found her house and she welcomed me very warmly, she also said that she was worried because I arrived a little late; I was a little late because I was thinking about the right bus and the right stop.

I settled into my room later, there was another student like me at home, a Japanese boy named Shampei, he was there for education but he had been with Carmel Hanım for 8 months. I also met the last member of the house, the cute, cotton ball dog Pepi. I wasn’t feeling tired so I wanted to go out and walk around a bit. I discovered a park near the house and it was crowded because it was the weekend. It was a beautiful park with lots of greenery. Later I realized that everywhere in Ireland is like that, so green…

My first day went like this, I started school on my second day there. With Shampei’s support, we found the school and I started the lesson. On the first day we were given an exam and our classes were determined. My class consisted of 12 people and I was the only Turk in the class, I was happy about that but at the same time I was shy about talking wrong, but I got along very well with my teachers. I felt more comfortable then.

I got used to the class right away, I was in class from 9 to 1 in the morning and in the remaining hours I started to travel with 2 Turkish, 1 Arab and an Italian friend who joined us later. We traveled every inch of Ireland almost every day, every day we definitely went to St. Stephan Green Park. We had our lunches in the parks like the locals do. We would lie down on the grass like them and either watch the sky, read books or chat. What caught my attention when I first went there was the lack of traffic and the fact that most of the people were using bicycles. After the economic crisis, people turned to bicycles, everyone there, from 7 to 70, has a bicycle. The government also supports this a lot, there are bicycle rental places and this is not in a certain place, it is everywhere. A man in a suit who leaves work in the evening can buy a bicycle from there and go home on it, the same applies to business women. I probably wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, but I did. On the way to St. Stephan Green Park, there is a street called Grafton Street, it is Istanbul’s Istiklal Street, or rather many streets there are like that.

I visited the National Museum, one of the most important museums in the country, in the following days, this museum has 3 separate buildings. In addition to these, there was the National’s library, a very large, beautiful, and perfectly architectural building. Over the weekend, my Turkish friends and I decided to go to the ocean, they have a train system called Dart and it follows a route from south to north. We went to Greystone Beach, which is located in the north of the country, and we were faced with the endless blue and this gives you an indescribable peace. On September 19, a big organization was held throughout the country and that day was declared “Culture Night”. It rained in Dublin, the rainy city, where it had not rained even once since I went there, and we got a little wet because we were outside, but at least I can’t say I didn’t see the rain.

I was on my way to Istanbul on September 20. “On Saturday morning, we had breakfast with the friends I met there in the city center and said goodbye. When I returned from Ireland, I returned to my country with countless photos, wonderful memories and of course unforgettable friendships.”