As my time in Ireland rapidly draws to an end, I find myself reflecting upon my semester here and the differences between the university system in Ireland and that in the United States.

One of the starkest differences between going to school in Ireland and in the United States comes in the form of paying for education. In Ireland, students don’t pay to attend a university. Instead, university fees are covered by the government.

This is not at all like the system in the States. As Saint Louis University students are well aware, students have the responsibility of making their own financial arrangements for education, whether they attend a public or private university.

I had the luck of being here in Ireland this semester when the government began discussing the reinstatement of “fees,” or tuition. It has been interesting to observe the reaction. Students have been up in arms over the simple discussion of fees, and in February a protest was held in Dublin against the issue.

While such a protest is understandable, those of us from the United States haven’t exactly been able to be sympathetic to this issue. We’re already used to paying to attend college, so the idea of Irish students having to pay fees-which would be substantially less than what we pay at home-just failed to hit us with the same force.

A second, albeit less significant, difference between education at SLU and NUI Galway is the way in which classes are organized. The majority of classes are done lecture-style, which is fine and not particularly unusual. But as an English major at SLU, I’ve grown accustomed to classes being smaller and more discussion-based. Here, however, my English classes involve a professor simply lecturing in front of a crowded auditorium about whatever book we happen to be reading.

Although this is a different way of presenting an English class than I’m used to, it’s not necessarily a bad system-just a difference that I’ve had to learn to deal with.

While adjusting to large lectures was fairly easy, what I have not been able to get used to this semester is the Irish concept of time. At SLU, students (for the most part) make the effort to get to class on time and professors (for the most part) start class on time.

Here in Ireland, if a class is listed to start at 10 a.m., it is simply assumed that it won’t start until 10 after 10. Despite consistently being ten minutes early to class because of this, I just can’t get used to class starting ten minutes late.

The university experiences at SLU and at NUI Galway share one very strong, common factor in my opinion: My decision to attend each has not been disappointing. I mean it when I say that at both SLU and NUI, I’ve found places that I feel have really fostered my growth as a person and helped me learn a lot about myself.

As much as I’ve loved my time in Ireland, I look forward to getting back to SLU. I am so grateful that I’ll be leaving one place where I feel so comfortable to return to another place that makes me feel the same way.

Carly Doenges is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, studying abroad in Ireland.