Name: Samantha Brown

Status: Senior

Majors: Microbiology and Genomics and Molecular Genetics

Hometown: Portage, Michigan

Program: Arcadia University STEM Summer Research Program in Dublin

I have always wanted to participate in a study abroad learning opportunity and this summer I was able to go to Dublin, Ireland through the Arcadia University STEM Summer Research Program. I chose this program because I was able to earn credit as well as work one on one with a professor from University College Dublin learning how to conduct research. There were fifteen students total enrolled in this program from all different universities around the United States. I had never been out of the country before and was worried about becoming homesick during my two months in Dublin, but all of us in the program bonded and we became like a family to each other while we were there. Getting to know and work with the students from Ireland involved with the program along with the STEM students and the professor I worked with in the lab, made me feel at home.  The people of Ireland were so welcoming and friendly which made my experience that much better.

Throughout my two months in Dublin, I was able to travel around Ireland and felt I was able to get a real sense of what this beautiful country and its people were like.  Everywhere you looked you could see lush greenery and smelled earthy.  Of all the places we traveled, my favorite place was Galway.

Galway is a beautiful sea-side city on the west coast of the island with a small town feel and rich with hundreds of years of history. When we went there, the weekly outdoor market was going on. Walking through the crowded narrow streets you could smell the fresh fish caught in the bay that morning and the strong-smelling cheese the cheese monger was selling. There were vendors selling everything from fresh produce to pottery to handmade soap. Moving through the street you could easily imagine how the city would've felt when it was established as the streets had hardly changed in five hundred years. This feeling of history all around you is not something easy to come by in the United States and this was by far my favorite thing about Ireland.