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Ireland

The 2026 Ireland program will take place from, May 11 - 15 in Lafayette and May 25 - June 10, 2026, in Ireland.

About the Program

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette Study Abroad in Ireland is a three-week program that offers you a chance to study and earn six credit hours in some of the friendliest, fun, and fetching locations in the Western world. Ireland is a land of contrasts — a tiny island nation that threw off the yoke of the mightiest empire in the world, and reclaimed their heritage, their language, and their identity. 

Guided strolls through neighborhoods, visits to local markets and grocers, and navigating public transit in rural, cross-country, and urban settings bring students face-to-face with a small country with a giant heart and an even larger history and culture.

You’ll discover a land of saints and sinners; poets and farmers; and rock stars, high-tech entrepreneurs, druids, fairies, and holy wells. Or, just come for the travel learning and the craic!*  

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About Ireland

Travelers will attend at least one group orientation meeting to learn about Irish culture and customs, and practical considerations such as monetary exchange (what to wear, what to expect while traveling, how to talk “Irish,” etc.). Each course involves travel to a number of sites, including areas throughout Cork, West Cork, and Dublin, such as 

  • Blarney Castle & Gardens
  • Cobv and Spike Island
  • the Shandon Bells (the Four-Faced Liar)
  • St. Fin Barre's Cathedral (7th c.)
  • the English Market
  • the Butter Museum
  • Timoleague Abbey
  • Trinity College & the Book of Kells
  • the Abbey Theater
  • Kilmainham Gaol
  • St. Patrick's Cathedral
  • the Great Book of Ireland in the Boole Library

We'll also spend time exploring unique areas outside of both cities, such as the historic towns of Bantry, Skibbereen, Clonakilty, and Kinsale. We'll study the folklore of the island and the sea that surrounds it. We’ll map the history of ancient towns and cities (Cork, 6th c.; Dublin, 9th c.). We'll follow the narratives of uprisings, rebellions, and civil war, and develop our own travel and adventure narratives along the way.

You will share a constellation of cultural activities, ranging from a storytelling session in a local pub to a performance at the Abbey Theater to a walking tour for independence. There will be other guided and unguided excursions during your stay. No matter whether you study history, folklore, or fiction and creative writing through your travels, your time in Ireland is a strategic educational immersion that allows you to experience daily life in Cork and Dublin while advancing toward your university degree. 

Program Requirements

The program cost is $4,699, plus University fees of $240, totaling $4,939. After you have applied for your desired program, you must make a deposit of $500 via ULINK. The $500 deposit is applied towards the cost of the program. The initial deadline to apply and pay the deposit is December 16. A $100 late fee will be charged after December 16. View Payment Policies & Instructions.
The program's cost includes tuition for 6 credit hours, lodging, insurance, museums, entrance fees, field trips, and public transportation passes. 

English Courses with Shelley Ingram

This course will introduce you to folklore of Ireland. Taking as its theme “Social Life,” we will look at folklore of five elements of social life in Ireland: Music, Work, Food, Faith, and Death. Come learn about Irish pipes and Irish butter, the Fairy Faith and the Irish wake. We’ll attend live traditional music and pub nights, cheer at a boat race, eat our way through the world-famous English Market and Guinness storehouse, visit holy wells and cemeteries, and, yes, kiss the Blarney stone at Blarney Castle. In addition, expect visits to a national forest and ancient abbey in Killarney, the beautiful seaport of Cobh, the fairy forts and green rolling hills of County Cork, the bright lights of Dublin, and a local hurling match!

This course will focus on place and space in Irish lore and literature, what Elaine Lawless calls "landscape folklore." The three main cycles will include land, city, and sea. The course will incorporate old, like Irish myth and legend from the Neolithic past, with the new, like Cork and Dublin's current focus on environmental protections. We’ll think about land use and stories of the Tuatha Dé Danann and sidhe, fairy mounds, peat workers, and contemporary farming; about tales and songs of migration and 19th & 20th-century sea travels as we explore Cork Harbour, the wild cliffs at Mizen Head, and the seaport of Cobh, the final port of call for the Titanic; and about the lore of Ireland's two biggest cities through visits to the extensive University College Cork Folklore Archives, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin's city ghost tour, and Glasnevin National Cemetery. From the Ulster cycle to urban legend, from Clíodhna and Manannán to Fairy Faith and Selkies, this course is a deep dive into what it means to live as part of a place and community on the Emerald Isle. .

Ireland Program Contacts

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* Often, the craic. Fun & entertainment, especially good conversation & company. Origin of craic: First recorded in 1970-75; from Irish, from English crack, in the originally American sense of “wisecrack,” or from the Scottish-English and northern English dialect sense of “chat, gossip.”