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COLUMNS
THE STUDENT VOICE
VOL. 55, N0.6 March 24, 1 998
Ireland Spotlight
there are no leprechauns in Ire-
by Becky Kroeger
Sinead Gilhooly of Southern
Ireland and John Rodgers of
Northern Ireland are first-year
students here at Louisburg Col
lege. They both learned about the
opportunity to spend a year in the
United States from the BEI
Agency in Belfast, Ireland. The
Business Education Initiative was
founded by Brian Smart and led
by the "one and only" Tony
League. The purpose of sending
Irish students to the U.S. is to
allow them to study business and
promote tourism. During the first
year, there were only 19 differ
ent places, but in the last three
years the program has grown to
170 places. After sucessfully
completing two interviews, the
agency chose Louisburg College
for them. John looked up infor
mation on the Web about Lou-U
before he accepted the offer.
Sinead had never been to the
United States before this year.
She has recently visited New
York, New Jersey, and Florida
and just visited Texas over spring
break. John, on the other hand,
visited the USA for the first time
when he stayed with a Catholic
family for six weeks in Buffalo.
When asked about Louisburg and
life here in the United States,
Sinead commented, "Louisburg is
a small school where we are get
ting a great amount of personal
attention." John mentioned, "It
seems as if every town has the
same fast food restaurants. Back
in Ireland, there is a better vari
ety." He commented that a big
difference between Ireland and
the USA is that the drinking age
is 18, in Ireland but here it is 21.
"That was hard to get used to at
first, especially since I live in
Belfast, the capital of Northern
Ireland, where there are 20 pubs
within 5 minutes walking dis
tance," John added. People of
ten ask Sinead about her home
land. She said that she would like
to set a few things straight. "No,
land and we do not wear kilts. We
speak English though sometimes
we also speak Gaelic, our native
language. In Southern Ireland
our main sports are Gaelic foot
ball and hurling, while soccer and
rugby are played in Northern Ire
land," Sinead said. She also
added, "Most students in Ireland
do not have a car until they have
completed college or out on their
own. There really is no need to
have a car since everything is
within walking distance." Sinead
responded to a St. Patricks Day
question by saying, "In Ireland,
St. Paddy's Day is a religious day.
There is a main parade in Dublin,
while smaller towns have parades
as well."
INSIDE
COLUMNS...
Inside Lou-U. 2
Entertainment. 3
Hurricane News. 4
Extra, Extra 5
Straight Talk. 6