Euro-Languages courses

Eoin MurMur

So I'm just finished 5th year and I'm heading to this Spanish course in Alexandra college in dublin next monday. Was just wodnering if any of you folks have been to it before and if so what is there to be expected and is there any things I should know beforehand that they may not mention on the leaflet thingy?

Also, twould be interesting to know if any of you fellow ex-5th years or tys are going too.

Cheers, Eoin

irish_man

well i'd advise bringing food.
i was starving every night. it was a joke
you would think after paying €1000 they could fed ya!

i went to Galway last year for french. it was good enough craic
its not too strict i talked a good bit of english but learnt my fair share of french.

thats all i can think of. i'll comment again if i think of any thing else

Ferris_Bueller

Went to the french version last year in clongowes, personally at the time I hated it and ended up leaving a few days early! But in fairness, looking back I'm glad I went, was a laugh some of the time and I'm convinced its the only reason I sat honours for the Leaving! Same as above, spoke a fair bit of english because my french was extremely poor going into it, but coming out I had a much better grasp of the language.

Also, the food was terrible for me beacuse I'm a picky eater but the majority of the people seemed to like it.

The hardest bits for me were - the food, the early mornings and not having a mobile phone.

brian1991

I went to a course of theirs in Galway; very strict (no English allowed at all) etc. I left a week early because the whole thing started to seem like a ''shambles'' as Eamon Dunphy would say, but in retrospect I think I should have stayed (not least to talk to that girl I liked there). I must say though that I loved the food, and as my two years as a vegetarian, it was one of the few times I was really satisfied. I still would have preferred to do an exchange though with euexchange.org.

KealanOCarroll

brian1991 wrote: »

I went to a course of theirs in Galway; very strict (no English allowed at all) etc. I left a week early because the whole thing started to seem like a ''shambles'' as Eamon Dunphy would say, but in retrospect I think I should have stayed (not least to talk to that girl I liked there). I must say though that I loved the food, and as my two years as a vegetarian, it was one of the few times I was really satisfied. I still would have preferred to do an exchange though with euexchange.org.

Did it in St Marys Ya? Would've been Emmanuel you were under....gingery bearded fella? Im not (nor will I ever be) part of the ELC but I was workin in Marys last summer (I go there) doin maintainance nd groundskeepin....spent half the summer up in the front hall chattin with ye lot nd playin the piano! Yerman Emmanuel is a complete and utter wánker...was up there after a leavin cert exam the last day nd he came nd ****ed us all out of it for listenin to one of the birds playin the piano cs we werent part of the ELC group.

The food is unreal alright....got my dinners in there everyday, compliments of Jim the chef:) Haha we're friendly with Jim nd apparently they dread all the vegetarians cs ye're so hard to cook for compared to throwin together a curry:P

KealanOCarroll

irish_man wrote: »

well i'd advise bringing food.
i was starving every night. it was a joke
you would think after paying €1000 they could fed ya!

They're cookin a full breakfast lunch and dinner in Galway now....i think they were doin the same last year? 3 meals a day is as much as anyone can expect?

Pineapple123

I often wonder if these colleges and courses are any good? I know a girl who spent two months in a french school in Nice during the summer, and I have much better french....I still think you can get an A1 in the Leaving Cert without going to all that trouble...that said, I'm sure it's good craic, and sure you never know what you'll get out of it unless you try! Good luck =]

Blerdiii

i went to clongowes for french last year and personally i found it a waste of money, had a serious case of cabin fever as you never reaelly get to leave the grounds, just everyone piles into a little courtyard.
staff are lovely and i will say this vegetarian food was great.
but i would never have done it again.
I think if you have a very poor standard of french you will take alot from it and improve however if like me you are almost fluent in the language( and i used to be as a child) there does not seem to be any help in pushing your level that bit further.
basically i cried leaving colaiste na rinne ..... i basically brke the landspeed record leaving elc!

xxGrainnexx

KealanOCarroll wrote: »

Did it in St Marys Ya? Would've been Emmanuel you were under....gingery bearded fella? Im not (nor will I ever be) part of the ELC but I was workin in Marys last summer (I go there) doin maintainance nd groundskeepin....spent half the summer up in the front hall chattin with ye lot nd playin the piano! Yerman Emmanuel is a complete and utter wánker...was up there after a leavin cert exam the last day nd he came nd ****ed us all out of it for listenin to one of the birds playin the piano cs we werent part of the ELC group.

Were you the one that was class on the piano? I was there for the second round last summer and remember hearing it!!

But yeah, as someone said they're really strict about the no english rule... I mean there were a couple of people caught last year and Emanneul was nearly goin ringing their parents (don't now if he actually did in the end)
It was really good craic tho, the first few days were hard but after that it was grand! Because they're so strict about speaking the language you actually learn loads, unlike when I went to the gaeltacht and learnt nothing cos everyone was always speaking english.

KealanOCarroll

xxGrainnexx wrote: »

Were you the one that was class on the piano? I was there for the second round last summer and remember hearing it!!

But yeah, as someone said they're really strict about the no english rule... I mean there were a couple of people caught last year and Emanneul was nearly goin ringing their parents (don't now if he actually did in the end)
It was really good craic tho, the first few days were hard but after that it was grand! Because they're so strict about speaking the language you actually learn loads, unlike when I went to the gaeltacht and learnt nothing cos everyone was always speaking english.

Am I dunno t'be honest?:P There were a gd few ppl there that could play like....haha I ws one a the lads in the paint covered ****ty ass workin clothes:D

Curlyhatescurls

Ooh my boyfriend is going to the exact course as you this summer!!!! In Alessandra college doing Spanish. He went a few years ago, maybe two years ago and he absolutely loved it, I haven't heard one bad thing about it, he never mentioned the food being bad or anything. He also said that it's amazing for your spanish because he was pretty much spoke Spanish for the whole thing. Also the biggest thing that he seemed to like was that he made a LOT of friends(tbh I think he made quite a few girlfriends) And he really isn't the extremely sociable type so everyone must be pretty friendly.

He did mention one thing to me though which is pretty crap, you can't contact anyone, not even your girlfriend. He said that you can't have a mobile and they only let you talk to your parents at a special time but no-one else. But ye get to go out at the weekend so I guess you could ring people then.

Anyway, make the most of it, it costs a bomb so you may as well get as much out of it as you can!
Goodluck:)

Eoin MurMur

Curlyhatescurls wrote: »

.

He did mention one thing to me though which is pretty crap, you can't contact anyone, not even your girlfriend. He said that you can't have a mobile and they only let you talk to your parents at a special time but no-one else. But ye get to go out at the weekend so I guess you could ring people then.

Yeah that is one my main concerns....Gonna miss the missus But other than that I'm not dreading the whole all that much. Should be aiight apart from the whole lack of contact thing!