This is part three of a travel column that will be updated by Simmons students studying abroad. Josie Dent, the Arts and Entertainment Editor of the Voice, is studying abroad in Galway, Ireland, for the full 2024-25 academic year. Please check back for further updates in this column from study abroad students.
My first week in Galway consisted of late mornings and even later nights. Finally feeling that my fears were somewhat relieved, it was time to explore.
Galway’s Latin Quarter is one of the city’s most well-known and well-photographed areas. Here, buskers stand on every corner and live music from the pubs spills out onto the streets. The area is closed to cars, so the wide streets are filled with only the bustle of humans.
This is where I find myself the second night in Galway. I tried to go to the Ceili Night, a night of traditional Irish dancing the university was hosting but panicked when I arrived late and they had already begun.
I was going to go to a pub alone, but a girl I had met at trivia the night before messaged me back and we decided to go for a drink.
We walked across the Corrib River to the Latin Quarter, entering a small pub called Tig Coili (Tee Coy-lee). Inside, it was packed. Traditional Irish music was being played at the front, so we sat outside to chat without having to yell back and forth.
By the end of the night, I’d made my first friend in Galway outside of my roommates: Salomé, a sweet girl from France.
The next morning was orientation. Here, I noticed a distinct difference from my experiences at Simmons.
When I was a freshman, I felt like orientation was the absolute worst. Whenever I tried to strike up a conversation with someone, it fell flat. No one introduced themselves to strangers unless prompted by our orientation leaders. That was my welcoming introduction to college. I assumed it was the same everywhere.
Even past freshman year, Simmons felt incredibly clique-y. I always had a sense that after people had made their friends, they weren’t always open to making more connections. For lack of a better word, many students at Simmons felt aloof.
In Galway, I’ve had the complete opposite experience. At orientation, I introduced myself easily and ended up getting lunch with two of the girls I met and Salomé.
Another difference was the events held by the different schools. At Simmons, events where students were meant to meet one another had a low turnout. My first week in Galway, there was an event every night at Sult, the university’s pub. Night after night, the pub was packed with students playing trivia, singing karaoke, or doing speed friending.
The next night, I went out for drinks with three other students, including Salomé. Asking them for drinks felt easy. And when we ran into Giulia and Jakob while we were walking back, I was so happy to stop and chat with them. Later that night, all my roommates and I gathered in the kitchen to talk about our days. Our community was built so easily.
I’ve talked to my friends back in Boston about the iciness we’ve noticed at Simmons. Maybe it’s because the class of 2024 was only a year out of lockdown, and the repercussions affected our social abilities.
I’m not here to criticize Simmons. It took me a while to settle there, but I found such a strong community there, particularly in the Communications department.
If anything I’ve written rings true for you, though, just know that you aren’t alone. I encourage us all to open our borders a little bit. Give people some grace. Say hi to someone you don’t know in your class. Ask them about themselves. Tell them about yourself. Maybe just smile at someone new. Just try – whatever that looks like for you.
