Bowen Guo’s UL experience (Msc Nursing Studies)

By UL International Student Bowen Guo

I am Bowen Guo, major in MSc nursing studies. As the only and first Chinese nursing student in UL, I initially felt alone and stressful. I felt it was hard to understand my colleagues because of their different accents when speaking English. Studying in a fresh culture and different beliefs make me not adapt at the beginning. Sometimes I felt homesick and helpless, with nobody that I could share my feelings with. I tried to explain this to my colleagues and I found they have the similar feelings as I do, we hugged and encouraged each other, then I felt released from my feeling and engaged in actively study with them. Now, we have established a good friendship and we often share our feelings and study together. I am very proud myself to overcome this problem within a short time. There are no real obstacles between individuals, the real obstacles are cutting ourselves off from other people. It was the best decision I have ever made to study here.

I got QCA 3.68 in the first semester, which is the highest score in our class. I would like to share some of my studying experience here. The most significant tip is reading in advance before the lecture. Usually, I prefer to printing out the reading materials and highlight the emphasis that is really helpful to discuss and exchange my thoughts in the class. Written assignment occupied a big part of Master nursing program. May be the first attempt to write an article take you couple of weeks and there will have many mistakes, however, after several modification you will make a significant progress. Some international students feel shy to speak and communicate with each other, in my experience of working with a Finland and Estonia girl to prepare an oral presentation, the most effective way I learned from this is to straight forward to express your thoughts and idea when you study with the student from different culture.

Hope my experience is helpful for you that the nursing student who are preparing to study in UL. All teachers here are perfect, just like mother bring me hope and encouragement. You can get everything you want in University of Limerick, hope you have a good journal here.