American girl comes to study in Ireland, leaves after 12 days and blames the country

FullblownRose

Her last book she read without skipping any bits was called: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

ha. what a tulip

Jesus Wept

She went to Cork (a foreigner), realised it was Cork, full of Cork people and bailed out within 12 days instead of staying for a year.

I commend her. She isn't a local but handled it well. I hope she is recovering well.

old_aussie

American girl comes to study in Ireland, leaves after 12 days and blames the country

This crap happens all the time in Oz, we don't even bat an eyelid, let alone give it some notoriety in a thread.

Tell ya story walking girly

Kelly06

zetalambda wrote: »

Wow, had a look at the origional article earlier and the girl was replying to some of the messages. Had another look just there and she has been absolutely annihilated and has not replied to any messages other that the first few. I reckon if she suffers from depression, she's in for a major relapse. Absolutely ripped to bits!

This! I would worry that the backlash she is receiving from the comments on the article is going to make her depression / eating disorders worse. What a pity she put herself out there like this if she is so fragile

Cienciano

She did well to last the entire 12 days in fecken cork in fairness

sh1tstirrer

Cienciano wrote: »

She did well to last the entire 12 days in fecken cork in fairness

If she only had thought of Going to Dublin full of D4 geeks and bleedin arses, she would fall in love with the place and never leave :rolleyes:

RobYourBuilder

Kelly06 wrote: »

This! I would worry that the backlash she is receiving from the comments on the article is going to make her depression / eating disorders worse. What a pity she put herself out there like this if she is so fragile

Xojane should not have published the article on their site. The publisher must have known that she was a bit "fragile" and that there would be a reaction. If you put the title of the article into google search, discussion on it is all over different web forums. A few for reddit, which has a huge reader base. I hope she doesn't do anything stupid, tbh.

Kelly06

RobYourBuilder wrote: »

Xojane should not have published the article on their site. The publisher must have known that she was a bit "fragile" and that there would be a reaction. If you put the title of the article into google search, discussion on it is all over different web forums. A few for reddit, which has a huge reader base. I hope she doesn't do anything stupid, tbh.

Yes this is my worry for her. Regardless of how silly she comes across she is obviously a vulnerable person at this time..... Being this way and seeing the backlash she is getting online could push her over the edge. I hope her family is minding her!

smurgen

Cienciano wrote: »

She did well to last the entire 12 days in fecken cork in fairness

Serious gripe from mostly dubs here on boards against cork.it's the nicest city and one of the nicest counties in Ireland.it's compact and has a vibrant nightlife with lots of great bars,clubs and restaurants.I've lived in a Geneva and London and I can honestly say that absence made the heart grow fonder.there's a sence of character here that was lacking in other places.
any foreign friends I've had over here or who worked here really enjoyed the place and wanted to return.our city isn't perfect by any means and I could rattle out many problems with it but I'm happy to call it home.if/when I move abroad again I know I'll miss it.

TheBeardedLady

smurgen wrote: »

Serious gripe from mostly dubs here on boards against cork.it's the nicest city and one of the nicest counties in Ireland.it's compact and has a vibrant nightlife with lots of great bars,clubs and restaurants.I've lived in a Geneva and London and I can honestly say that absence made the heart grow fonder.there's a sence of character here that was lacking in other places.
any foreign friends I've had over here or who worked here really enjoyed the place and wanted to return.our city isn't perfect by any means and I could rattle out many problems with it but I'm happy to call it home.if/when I move abroad again I know I'll miss it.

I think many people are joking about the Cork stuff and it isn't just Dubs who joke about it. I'm a Dub and think Cork is a really beautiful little city. She missed out big style.

smurgen

TheBeardedLady wrote: »

I think many people are joking about the Cork stuff and it isn't just Dubs who joke about it. I'm a Dub and think Cork is a really beautiful little city. She missed out big style.

I think so too.I was friendly with a bunch of Americans from Quinnipiac university who came here for a year.one of them lives here now and the others have visited numerous times since.I'd say cork is a fantastic place to be a student but it was just lost on this girl. UCC has almost anything a student could want,the Maradyke Arena is a fantastic facility,library is too class.there's a lot of cafes,restaurants and two bars up there.
she strikes me as a careless,spoilt person.when it comes to education I had everything researched before making any major decisions.she on the other hand wasted thousands of her parents money on a whim and didn't research any aspect of her trip.these people ha've been iinsulated from the harsh realities of existence to such an extent that they're now incapable of dealing with situations and people and instead throw a hissy fit and blame it all on everybody else.she needs a good old fashioned boot up the hole.

zetalambda

It would be naive not to assume that she did a little research on Irish cities and chose Cork over Galway, Limerick and Dublin.

seventeen sheep

zetalambda wrote: »

It would be naive not to assume that she did a little research on Irish cities and chose Cork over Galway, Limerick and Dublin.

She managed to sign up for the wrong course! I wouldn't be making any assumptions about her planning skills tbh ... :eek:

gandalf

Did her signing up for that course deny a place to someone who would have finished and benefitted from it.

smurgen

zetalambda wrote: »

It would be naive not to assume that she did a little research on Irish cities and chose Cork over Galway, Limerick and Dublin.

Dunno what Dublin is like as a student but I'd assumed its expensive. I've heard limerick is the best of the lot for the student experience.I'd imagine there's not a massive difference between any of the universities in terms of facilities etc.

TheBeardedLady

smurgen wrote: »

I think so too.I was friendly with a bunch of Americans from Quinnipiac university who came here for a year.one of them lives here now and the others have visited numerous times since.I'd say cork is a fantastic place to be a student but it was just lost on this girl. UCC has almost anything a student could want,the Maradyke Arena is a fantastic facility,library is too class.there's a lot of cafes,restaurants and two bars up there.
she strikes me as a careless,spoilt person.when it comes to education I had everything researched before making any major decisions.she on the other hand wasted thousands of her parents money on a whim and didn't research any aspect of her trip.these people ha've been iinsulated from the harsh realities of existence to such an extent that they're now incapable of dealing with situations and people and instead throw a hissy fit and blame it all on everybody else.she needs a good old fashioned boot up the hole.

I don't think I've planned or researched anywhere I've moved to and it's generally worked out. I think it's impossible to get a feel for a place without actually being there and the opinions of others are only their opinions: what one person likes in a place might not be to your taste. That's what I've found anyway.

I studied my final year in what is considered one of the worst cities in the UK (and even featured on a list of the world's worst cities as the 2nd worst but I'd take that list with a pinch of salt) and is also considered one of the worst unis in the UK to boot (my PLC had ties with it but I had the option of going elsewhere; I just didn't bother looking into it and went along with what everyone else was doing) and I'd one of the best years of my life.

I'd say being a young, full-time student living away from home is an enjoyable experience for most people regardless of where you are as you're there with people your own age studying something you're interested in and have no real stresses of life put upon you for the most part and all the craic that goes with being a student. Obviously the quality of the uni is important but if you were in the right frame of mind, you could make the most of anywhere at that age - it doesn't sound like she was though.

Pumpkinseeds

anncoates wrote: »

Note to AH : I didn't hack pumpkinseeds account to write a post to perfectly prove my point.

Whereas the above post is a text book example of Thanks Whoring. You must lead a very sad 'little' life.

Dubl07

She's not long out of college and though one of her friends makes reference to a blog from California, she comes across as very sheltered and rather a home-bird.

It's gold for xojane of course to have such a seemingly innocuous article go ballistic, but I wish they'd just close down the comments. Not everyone has to like us, not everyone has to like our country and I'd just roll my eyes and move along.

I hope the reaction to her article doesn't make her unwell.

_Kaiser_

Only seeing this now so have started reading the link but am immediately rolling my eyes at phrases like...

Like any good millennial, I have known for most of my life that I plan to Travel.

I was elated when my acceptance letter came and immediately (like the Type A that I am) began planning every detail.

Anyway, sounds to me like a insular spoiled girl who expected Cork to be just another American suburb. The whinging about Wi-Fi and coffee shops is laughable though. As people have pointed out in the comments, there's plenty of options for both without too much effort being required.

Sounds like she's definitely off better back home though!

StevieNicksFan

skooterblue2 wrote: »

Dad: Oh she is getting on that plane no matter what and I am going to make sure she stays there for a year..... a years peace and tranquility and I am off to smoke some bud and listen to John Denver.

'Im leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be ba...' oh wait

Stojkovic

seventeen sheep wrote: »

She managed to sign up for the wrong course! I wouldn't be making any assumptions about her planning skills tbh ... :eek:

Maybe she got the wrong city too.
Is there any Corks in America ?

Remember the Irish football fan who went to the away Euro qualifier in Georgia and ended up in Atlanta !!!

mister gullible

This girl is a bit fragile, it takes weeks for the Uni to confirm start date (unfortunately that's no surprise, I've seen someone left hanging for weeks for confirmations from college admins), her first glimpse of the city is 'small, cramped, and very gray. Concrete buildings, graffiti, and the smallest sidewalks I had ever laid eyes on', her flat is poxy, dismal and gray, broken toilet seat, broken window. No wonder she fecked off back to America.
So boardsies are criticising her for this. Why? Is it because she didn't immediately recognise how wonderful, characterful and quirky Irish cities are? How witty and charming Irish people are and how it's great crack to live in a grim flat. Maybe she should have immersed herself in student culture and got p*ssed for the first week :pac:

J Mysterio

Stojkovic wrote: »

Maybe she got the wrong city too.
Is there any Corks in America ?

Remember the Irish football fan who went to the away Euro qualifier in Georgia and ended up in Atlanta !!!

Wha :pac:

Grayson

TheBeardedLady wrote: »

I think many people are joking about the Cork stuff and it isn't just Dubs who joke about it. I'm a Dub and think Cork is a really beautiful little city. She missed out big style.

I was in cork for a wedding last summer. 4 of us went to the hotel bar after the reception. About 2 am the place flooded with well over a hundred cork people who were there for a wedding.
A microphone came out and an eejit with a guitar started belting out rebel songs. I hadn't heard most of them before but they were very anti english. We had these eejits swamp our table and keep telling us that we were lucky to be in that bar because "This is how caaark people paaaarty"

I never want to be around another drunk cork person ever. They were the ignorant little sh1ts.

I'm not saying that they are representative of the entire city or county, but they were assholes and honestly I don't think I'll be missing much if I don't go back to Cork ever. Plenty of other places in Ireland worth visiting.

nyarlothothep

I can kind of empathise, it's not necessarily the place that's wrong (although it most certainly can be in the example I will cite) but the person for it. For example, I wouldn't recommend anyone who isn't an English toff or in any way a bit different/slightly unmainstream to go to Durham university as they will hate it there as indicated in talking with non English, international students. It's sounds like she would have been better off going to Trinity or UCD for the more urban/cosmopolitan vibe.

corner of hells

How in the name of bejesus did this reach 33 pages ?

Kylo Ren

corner of hells wrote: »

How in the name of bejesus did this reach 33 pages ?

It's on 13 pages if you were using Boards the proper way!

corner of hells

Keno wrote: »

It's on 13 pages if you were using Boards the proper way!

There's a proper way to use boards ? Should I wear my Sunday britches ?

Kylo Ren

corner of hells wrote: »

There's a proper way to use boards ? Should I wear my Sunday britches ?

I've already said too much. *bites cyanide pill*

smurgen

Grayson wrote: »

I was in cork for a wedding last summer. 4 of us went to the hotel bar after the reception. About 2 am the place flooded with well over a hundred cork people who were there for a wedding.
A microphone came out and an eejit with a guitar started belting out rebel songs. I hadn't heard most of them before but they were very anti english. We had these eejits swamp our table and keep telling us that we were lucky to be in that bar because "This is how caaark people paaaarty"

I never want to be around another drunk cork person ever. They were the ignorant little sh1ts.

I'm not saying that they are representative of the entire city or county, but they were assholes and honestly I don't think I'll be missing much if I don't go back to Cork ever. Plenty of other places in Ireland worth visiting.

Congratulations,one bad experience in cork and you're afraid. You sound like your one in the article.I got locked out of my hotel in Dublin before and had to ring the guards to be left in,my friends diabetes medicine was in his room and he needed it.the woman running the hotel said it was too late and wouldn't let us in ,it's was about three in the morning.
another time we were in d2 and two of my friends got bottled at the bar by a bunch of scrotes,spent the night in the a and e with them. And another time in a bar off o Connell street before an all Ireland I was 20 and told my pint would cost me 20 Euro because of my cork knacker accent by the barman.

But yeah,Cork is the only place with arseholes you're right.Gimme a ****in break.

Venus In Furs

Grayson wrote: »

I was in cork for a wedding last summer. 4 of us went to the hotel bar after the reception. About 2 am the place flooded with well over a hundred cork people who were there for a wedding.
A microphone came out and an eejit with a guitar started belting out rebel songs. I hadn't heard most of them before but they were very anti english. We had these eejits swamp our table and keep telling us that we were lucky to be in that bar because "This is how caaark people paaaarty"

I never want to be around another drunk cork person ever. They were the ignorant little sh1ts.

I'm not saying that they are representative of the entire city or county, but they were assholes and honestly I don't think I'll be missing much if I don't go back to Cork ever. Plenty of other places in Ireland worth visiting.

Eek, you kinda are.
If you really didn't think they were representative you wouldn't be saying "I never want to be around another drunk cork person ever" and "I don't think I'll be missing much if I don't go back to Cork ever. Plenty of other places in Ireland worth visiting."

I am bred and buttered in Cork - living here all my 36.5 years bar two, and apart from when you're under an obligation (e.g. going to a wedding like in your case) it's really really easy to avoid gobshytes like them.
I am in a pretty good position to know this.

I have been in a situation once with tools like them - a "trad" night at a pub which we brought British friends too, and it turned out to be an anti English rebel songs fest (mortification). A total of once in my life. Otherwise never. And this was nothing to do with them being from Cork, it was to do with them being gowls - found everywhere.

I'm not one of these "Don't dare criticise Cork at all" people - hate that rubbish, it's embarrassing, and it is more prevalent than in other towns/cities I would say (although probably no worse than some Dubliners can be) so you wouldn't be wrong in thinking that... but otherwise I think you're being unfair.

Grayson

smurgen wrote: »

Congratulations,one bad experience in cork and you're afraid. You sound like your one in the article.I got locked out of my hotel in Dublin before and had to ring the guards to be left in,my friends diabetes medicine was in his room and he needed it.the woman running the hotel said it was too late and wouldn't let us in ,it's was about three in the morning.
another time we were in d2 and two of my friends got bottled at the bar by a bunch of scrotes,spent the night in the a and e with them. And another time in a bar off o Connell street before an all Ireland I was 20 and told my pint would cost me 20 Euro because of my cork knacker accent by the barman.

But yeah,Cork is the only place with arseholes you're right.Gimme a ****in break.

Who said I was afraid? Ohhh. I'm scared. All those nasty cork people scared me. I went running back to the pale with my tail between my legs.

For what it matters I have a two inch scar on the back of my head where someone bottled me. Outside my local. I'm also bald so it's actually quite visible. Cork people don't scare me, not one bit.

I had a ****ty time in cork and a big part of it was people who thought that they were the best fcuking people on the planet and Cork is just so fcuking amazing. Obviously you're one of them. Cork is not the best place on the planet. It's not even the greatest place in Ireland.

I even said that I didn't hold those people to be representative of Cork. I'm still not going to go back there though. Why would I? There's loads of places I've been in Ireland where I've had a great time and there's loads of places I still haven't been. I have better things to do with my limited free time than to go back to somewhere I has a sh1tty time.

Grayson

Venus In Furs wrote: »

Eek, you kinda are.
If you really didn't think they were representative you wouldn't be saying "I never want to be around another drunk cork person ever" and "I don't think I'll be missing much if I don't go back to Cork ever. Plenty of other places in Ireland worth visiting."

I am bred and buttered in Cork - living here all my 36.5 years bar two, and apart from when you're under an obligation (e.g. going to a wedding like in your case) it's really really easy to avoid gobshytes like them.
I am in a pretty good position to know this.

I have been in a situation once with tools like them - a "trad" night at a pub which we brought British friends too, and it turned out to be an anti English rebel songs fest (mortification). A total of once in my life. Otherwise never. And this was nothing to do with them being from Cork, it was to do with them being gowls - found everywhere.

I'm not one of these "Don't dare criticise Cork at all" people - hate that rubbish, it's embarrassing, and it is more prevalent than in other towns/cities I would say (although probably no worse than some Dubliners can be) so you wouldn't be wrong in thinking that... but otherwise I think you're being unfair.

I grew up in Mullingar. I wouldn't recommend going there. It's really quite ugly and dull. In fact if i had a friend asking me where to go, Mullingar or Cork, I'd say go to Cork. In fact lets say that Cork is still a better destination that 99% of the midland towns. And it's still better than say Limerick (most places are though (and now I earn the ire of the limerick posters))
I'm just not going to go back. I should mention by the way that the couple who got married were from the UK. And I was born there too. We tried to stay for a drink or two but just couldn't hack it.

When I arrived I walked from the train station to the silver springs hotel. It was a lovely walk. I thought that it would be great to own a house along there. It was one of the prettiest urban settings I've ever seen.

The Aussie

corner of hells wrote: »

How in the name of bejesus did this reach 33 pages ?

Because someone dared to say something bad about Ireland....



LOL

Venus In Furs

Grayson wrote: »

When I arrived I walked from the train station to the silver springs hotel. It was a lovely walk. I thought that it would be great to own a house along there. It was one of the prettiest urban settings I've ever seen.

Jayz, that doesn't set the bar too high. I fully believe you when you say you grew up in a grotty town. :pac:
If I set up a Cork beers, I'm gonna force you to attend!

Rhys Essien

Venus In Furs wrote: »

Jayz, that doesn't set the bar too high. I fully believe you when you say you grew up in a grotty town. :pac:
If I set up a Cork beers, I'm gonna force you to attend!

And I'll pay.:D

We cant let him off with that anti-Cork tirade.(after 1 night out)

zetalambda

Grayson wrote: »

I grew up in Mullingar. I wouldn't recommend going there. It's really quite ugly and dull. In fact if i had a friend asking me where to go, Mullingar or Cork, I'd say go to Cork. In fact lets say that Cork is still a better destination that 99% of the midland towns.

I love Mullingar. It's one of my favourite towns to drive past.

Egginacup

smurgen wrote: »

Serious gripe from mostly dubs here on boards against cork.it's the nicest city and one of the nicest counties in Ireland.it's compact and has a vibrant nightlife with lots of great bars,clubs and restaurants.I've lived in a Geneva and London and I can honestly say that absence made the heart grow fonder.there's a sence of character here that was lacking in other places.
any foreign friends I've had over here or who worked here really enjoyed the place and wanted to return.our city isn't perfect by any means and I could rattle out many problems with it but I'm happy to call it home.if/when I move abroad again I know I'll miss it.

Get real. The only good thing about Cork city is the girls.

Highflyer13

Funny thread. Somebody says something negative about Ireland and she gets torn apart by anonymous keyboard warriors. Somebody then says something about said keyboard warriors home city and they proceed to tear each other apart. Take a bit of criticism lads ffs. I don't know how some of ye would cope in the real world.

bodice ripper

Lads, lads - can't we just agree that all your hometowns are ****holes?

pmasterson95

Highflyer13 wrote: »

Funny thread. Somebody says something negative about Ireland and she gets torn apart by anonymous keyboard warriors. Somebody then says something about said keyboard warriors home city and they proceed to tear each other apart. Take a bit of criticism lads ffs. I don't know how some of ye would cope in the real world.

I would panic and run home screaming until I can find my wi-fi coffee and take selfies #heaven.

Egginacup

And who the fcuk needs creature comforts when you're in college anyway. I went to university in Dublin but was lucky enough to still live with the ma. She demanded spons from me after my working summers. Most of my mates were in dumps in Parnell street or rathmines but it was really ace. The whinging about exams, the crappy home brew and the all important shag under an icy quilt which was probably more about shared body heat for survival than romance was a chapter that a heated dorm in some faux American campus could never emulate.

Degringola

This article Triggered my Sanity Privilege (see comments).
There should have been a Trigger Warning!

Venus In Furs

Highflyer13 wrote: »

Funny thread. Somebody says something negative about Ireland and she gets torn apart by anonymous keyboard warriors. Somebody then says something about said keyboard warriors home city and they proceed to tear each other apart. Take a bit of criticism lads ffs. I don't know how some of ye would cope in the real world.

Kinda could be applied to this girl?
Criticism depends really. If it's justified, it should absolutely be taken on board. If it's just unsubstantiated generalising, well then it's not unreasonable to dispute.

Aussies would be the very same in relation to criticism.

greenfrogs

People wonder why there is still so much stigma surrounding mental health issues. I can understand this from some of the opinions on here. Some of the attitudes here are very disheartening. According to some posts she's spoilt and self-absorbed. Some also accuse her of making up and flaunting her mental health issues. Why should she not mention then when they were one of the main reasons that she returned home.
Sometimes people visit a new city and dislike it whereas others will fall in love with it. That's people for ya. Throwing her mental health issues into the mix then things can quite quickly escalate into an undesirable situation. She felt like she wouldn't be happy here so in her words she chose the 'healthy' option to go home. I have depression and from experience I have definitely overestimated my ability to do certain things and I have failed spectacularly. And at the moment I have to deal with those failings. I am sure from an outsider's perspective people see me as spoilt, lazy and mollycoddled.
If I was in a situation where I felt my mental health would deteriorate then I would run from those problems as at the minute I do not have the ability to deal with such situations. My aim is to get healthy and to have the ability to do this. But for now I can't and this woman wasn't able to either. I hope life gets better for her and that she gets another opportunity to travel and live in a different country as I am assuming it is something she wants to achieve. Some understanding in life goes a long way people.

The Aussie

Venus In Furs wrote: »

Aussies would be the very same in relation to criticism.

You need some Aloe Vera there Princess...

Quick someone mocked us for being precious, quick try and insult his Nationality :pac:.......

LOL

AlanS181824

She sounds like a right bitch, should have done her research before moving here and of all places... Cork!

aunt aggie

Its the epic fail that wont stop failing...

Taking a look at the comments underneath her article, someone has added her tweets about her time in Cork. Poor girl giving out about the rain in Ireland. No pity.

In fact I'm just more confused what is Satan's neckbeard?? ...is it bad?

"I've never been so anxious about registration before, thanks Ireland"

"Why yes world I'm awake at 6 AM, Why you ask? Because Ireland is Satan's neckbeard"

"Due to the rain, lovely hike through Irish Countryside postponed. Instead, more of ugly as cork"

zetalambda

The comments on xojane are just getting better and better! Tis the best entertainment I've had in days. Better than anything I got for Christmas.

nc19

Venus In Furs wrote: »

Well then don't be so cocky about not losing friends, because people don't like the kind of heartless puke you've spewed up on this thread.

Who are you to say what people want??

I like it