UCD Quinn School of Business Blog

The Irish Take Over

March 27th, 2009

The Grand Slam and Paddy’s day all in the one week. Rennes must have been worried. I don’t think there is anything like experiencing our native holiday in another country. All the attention is on you! All the smiles and the drinks are heading your way and you have to live up to the call. And so we did. Party all day (And I mean All Day) in our apartment with plenty of alcohol of all sorts drunk. 

We did take some time out of our apartment to wander through the streets of Rennes all decked out in Irish jerseys and various things green. All our friends were Irish for the day and glad of it. We had to stop off in O’Connells, one of the many Irish pubs in Rennes. They are all over the place but so far this is the only one that we have found that actually has Irish people behind the bar and showed all our Rugby triumphs. 

The Atmosphere was always friendly and the staff glad to have us. We were there for the France England, with our friends from across the water as they say, supporting England for the day (Don’t judge me!) After the match ended we decided to have the “one more pint” that ended up lasting for a few more hours and a few more drinks. We also got pizza delivered to the pub where we were more than welcome to sit inside eating and just hanging out. This was a strange experience as never before have I been to a pub that would happily let you sit with food from another establishment. They treated us so well we had to go back for Paddy’s day where they spoiled us further with various green hats, glasses and sponge guinness- like a stress ball. 

Unfortunately I wasn’t there for the Grand Slam triumph, visiting family over in England. Of course I caught the match and was made aware of the celebrations taking place in Rennes with a few more drinks had that night. 

The time is flying by, I have booked my flights home, unfortunately the cheapest flights mean I have to fly into the people’s republic of Cork but we all have to make sacrifices from time to time : ) I’m looking forward to coming home and catch up with all the gang in UCD and at home but not looking forward to leaving Rennes and all Erasmus friends so soon. It will be a busy month with a few exams, goodbye’s and the usual parties.

As the time draws towards a close I have started to think about the whole experience. If given the opportunity to go on Erasmus it really is one you have to grab and I would reccommend it to everyone. There is many great times and also plenty of life-learning experiences. An opportunity definitely not to be missed. 

Talk Soon

Eoghan

Entry Filed under: ERASMUS students