Follow Student Ambassador Ayoade Alabi’s journey from Nigeria to Ireland! Explore his experience with top-notch education, diverse culture, sports, and more in the heart of Ireland!
For the longest time, I wanted to be exposed to global standards and practice in areas around education, work, health, sports, environment, agriculture, and governance. Therefore, after my mandatory national youth service in Nigeria and working in the construction sector for almost two years, my search for excellence led me to research several countries to gain experience and education living abroad.
From my research, Ireland stood out. The motivating factors were the high standard of education, the attractiveness of its global organisations, its rich cultural heritage, its amazing landscape and the warmth of its people! As a lover of people, photography and tourism, I was intrigued by the prospect of studying in Ireland, because I believed it would allow me to study and learn many new things, while exposing me to new ideas, interests and of course new people too. Choosing to study in Ireland has really been one of my best decisions so far.
The education standard in Ireland is certainly of high repute. I am enrolled at South East Technological University, Waterford where I’m studying for a Master’s programme in Construction Project Management. It’s definitely the right place for me!
Scouting for accommodation was one of the interesting parts and I was fortunate to get a place about 10 minutes walk from campus; I’d advise students to try to live close to campus as it saves transportation costs and commute time. I fell in love with the campus from the first moment. Settling into class wasn’t a challenge as I received guidance from students on campus and the international officers. 
Embracing the school as a social environment meant that academic activities weren’t the only things to be done. Hence, I joined some sports and societies clubs as well. As a lover of sports, I signed up for the men’s soccer club and it’s a great opportunity to meet other people. I also joined the photography society where we get to explore different photography themes every week and we also held an exhibition as well. Through the African Society, I was able to stay abreast of developments and meet with other students hailing from Africa.
As someone who practices the Christian faith, the Christian Union is also home to me as we meet regularly every week to have a fellowship together. You get to meet different people from different cultural backgrounds and races who have similar interests. This also helps to build interpersonal relationships and encourage co-existence.
Food is fuel for life and I’ve been exposed to a number of intercontinental dishes. Here. potatoes are a staple, and the availability of different meal types is also amazing. I love that food is actually cheap and fresh and you could pick from several options. One of the things I also love is that there are a couple of African and Asian stores, and so I can make some of my favourite dishes from home. The restaurants also offer a number of meal options from different parts of the world.
The school environment is one I really love as well. It comprises several buildings but my favoutite place to be is the post-graduate section of the Luke Wadding Library. It is a convenient and quiet place to study with comfortable chairs and lots of daylight/ There is also the food court operated where you could go to grab fruits, drinks, coffee, snacks or proper meals.There are water dispensers located at strategic points around the campus to enable students to refill their water bottles and also encourage sustainability.
The student union is also very functional and keeps serving the needs of the students. There are photocopying and printing services run by the SU. This enables students to print their work seamlessly and affordably. The SU building also has a relaxation sport where students could come and play board games, video games and arcades. It’s never boring there. This encourages a good balance of study and fun.
In addition, there are several places to visit within Waterford and other places in Ireland such as the beach in Tramore, the museums at the Waterford City centre, and in nearby counties.
Lastly, transportation is affordable especially if you have a student LEAP card which allows you to travel at a subsidised rate per trip. From the campus, one could get buses going to different places around Ireland. The TFI bikes are also available for students who would love to use the bike services within the city.
Ireland is a great place to study as an international student and I really have had wonderful experience so far.
Ayoade is studying Construction Project Management at SETU