And now: The poll!

PS: If you are having trouble casting your vote, pop us an email, we’ll add it manually.

This is to inform you that Simone, Steffi resp. myself resigned last Wednesday from our committee positions of Treasurer, Secretary resp. Vice-President of the NUIM International Students’ Society.

There are a number of reasons for this decision, but one could sum it up as “insurmountably different views on how a society should be run”. If you would like to read our “official” resignation letters, please send an email to the society address to receive a copy.

Best regards,

Florian

We apologise that the following will sound very dry, but there are certain legal things we need to take care off / protect ourselves from. The following disclaimer can also be found on the disclaimer page.

Best regards, and see you tomorrow,

Florian

* * * *

The following concerns both members and non-members — independent of whether they are registered students or staff of NUI Maynooth or not — that partake in any event/trip/activity organised by the International Students’ Society.

By participating in any of our events/trips/activities you tacitly acknowledge and agree to the Clubs and Societies Safety Statement of the NUI Maynooth, a copy of which can be found here.

In particular, we would like to point to Paragraphs 1.3 and 3 of Section 1. You must read the document in its entirety and note and observe your responsibilities.

Furthermore:

To all those who are not registered students or staff of NUIM:

We hereby inform you that you are not covered by the insurance policy for accident and injury of NUI Maynooth University. By agreeing to participate in an activity/trip/event, you are hereby informed that you are not covered by the NUI Maynooth insurance policy, and thus assume any and all risk and personal liability for theft, accident, or injury. By participating in an event/trip/activity, you also hereby agree to release NUI Maynooth University as well as representatives/organizers/committee members of the NUIM International Students’ Society from any and all responsibility or liability for accident, injury, or theft. Any who find this objectionable or unacceptable must desist from participation in any event/trip/activity immediately (but will be given a full refund for any cost/fees paid for said event/trip/activity).

 
Thus, if you still would like to participate in any of our events/trips/activities, we highly recommend additional, private insurance cover.

Once again, if you do not agree to any of the above, you may not partake in events/trips/activities organised by us. If you have paid for any events/trips/activities in advance, you will be, of course, fully refunded.

— The Committee

We just got the following email from Brian O’ Mally (SU Bar).

Just letting everyone know about the live music in S.U. bar every Friday night.

We’re starting off again tonight after the Christmas break with two acts, first with duo Fiontan & Gav and then Paul Caughlan to finish off the night.

Music will kick off around 9pm and we’d like to encourage anyone who is staying around campus for the weekend to come down and enjoy a chilled night in the union bar.

Hope to see you there!!

Brian

These live music nights (entry’s free of course) are a nice way to round off the week — and remember: Any cent spent at the SU Bar goes back to the Student Services, and not into someone’s big car…

See you there, and all the best,

Floz

We’re not sure how long it will take to get the T-Shirts made once we decide on a design, but we’ll try our best to get them before the end of the semester! The approximate price for each shirt will be 8–10 EUR. We will let you know then about different sizes and colours available. (Currently we are considering two colours, black as well as green, to give you some choice). The writing and designs on the shirts will be in White. Please take a look at the designs and let us know what you think by voting for your favourite!

And now: The poll!

PS: If you are having trouble casting your vote, pop us an email, we’ll add it manually.

Also, there are three really great day-trips that you can sign-up for once we arrive at the hostel in Galway: The Aran Islands, Connemara, or The Cliffs of Moher/Burren.  You can sign-up for these excellent day-trips right at the reception desk of the hostel that we will stay at after we arrive.

The facts again:

Where to

Galway

Date

Friday to Sunday, 17—19 October 2008

Departure (bus people)

2:30 pm on Friday from Student’s Union

Departure (train people)

See this post

Return

Leave Galway on Sunday about 7:00 pm

Cost

70 EUR per person

Includes

Transport, accommodation & breakfasts

Here are some websites to give you an idea about Gledalough and what it looks like (1, 2, 3).

Also be sure to take a look at the photos from the last trip!

Where to

Glendalough

Date

Saturday, 11 October 2008

Departure

10:00 pm from Student’s Union

Return

Leave Glendalough about 4:30 pm

Cost

10 EUR per person

Includes

Transport

Important

Don’t forget to bring warm and rain proof clothing, and possibly some lunch! Trip will take place no matter what the weather.

Just wanted to welcome you all again and thank you for coming to and signing up at our feeble little desk in the Sports Hall today

If you haven’t heard of it yet, we’re having a Pub Crawl on Friday evening. All the details can be found in this post.

That’s it, talk to you soon,

Floz

Just a quick note to remind you of tomorrow’s “Clubs & Societies Day” (formerly known as “Fairs Day”).

This is your one and only chance to see all the pass-time offers here at college in one place. All the clubs and societies will have a little table in the main sports hall and present themselves. The whole thing starts at 9:30 (I think!).

This is also the best and most convenient time to sign up with the International Society. It’ll only cost you 2 EUR for the entire semester (the money goes straight to the college insurance company). It is important that you do sign up, otherwise you cannot come along to our trips (again, for insurance reasons). Also, the more members we have, the more money we get from the college, which in turn will allow us to better subsidise the trips (i.e. make it cheaper for you guys).

So see you all tomorrow,

Best regards,

Floz

We’re still finalising the details for the Pub Crawl, but here’s the tentative schedule for Friday the 3rd of October:

17:00

SU Bar

18:00

O’Neills

19:00

Caulfields

20:00

Bradys

21:00

Clockhouse

22:00

Glenroyal

23:00

Roooooost

We should also have a greasy burger at some stage, just to be on the safe side

Feel free to join in at any stage, but your coolness will obviously be maximised if you start at 5…

Apologies for the lack of recent news / posts, but we’re all enjoying our summer break, aren’t we

But don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of stuff to come once the new semester gets going.

In the mean time, if you have any questions, problems or whatnot, don’t heasitate to contact us.

So see you soon and enjoy your Summer,

Floz

Sorry for only getting back to you so late. We have good news for you — the numbers work out and we can financially afford to hire our own bus for the trip up to Belfast (whoo-hoo!). So here are the final details:

We’ll be leaving tomorrow (Friday, 4 April 2008) at 2:00 pm from in front of the SU Bar.

As usual, please be there a bit earlier than that so we can leave on time. Don’t forget to bring your passports or official ID as we will be crossing a border…

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for more great weather this week-end and see you all tomorrow,

Floz

The facts again:

Where to

Belfast City

Date

Friday to Sunday, 4—6 April 2008

Departure

2:00 pm on Friday from Student’s Union

Important

Do not forget to bring your passport!

Return

Back in Maynooth on Sunday about 8:30 pm

Cost

55 EUR per person

Includes

Transport & accommodation

What I mean by this: please follow this guide and email us the public link to your photo albums that could be of interest to other members (for instance, of the Kerry Trip).

Thanks a million,

Florian

Floz here. Just a quick note to show we’re still alive Hope you all had a nice holiday break and that the exams are running smoothely. If you’re new here, or you will come here shortly, do not hesitate to pop us an email (see contact).

If you’re worried about finding a place to live (if your on-campus accomodation is not already sorted out), don’t worry, there’s plenty of places to stay in Maynooth, and the room-sharing market is always dynamic (so there’s always vacancies). Usually within a week of arriving here you will have found a suitable place to stay!

Until then, you can stay at (fairly) affordable prices in the Maynooth Campus Accomodation. This is what most people do. Apart from that you can also start having a look at daft.ie — this is pretty much your one-stop-shop for online accomodation advertisments here.

So stay tuned, we’ll be back shortly with more infos regarding upcoming activities and trips,

take care,

Florian

PS: Oh, who we are… Well, basically just a bunch of committed international students that try to help wherever we can to make your stay here as fun (trips, parties and other events), smooth and uncomplicated as possible . More about us here.

How is it going? Tired of studying / writing the 137th essay . . . ? Looking for some diversion ?

There is a concert (actually 3 concerts in 1) in the Aula Maxima tonight (Thursday 13 Dec). The Choral Society, Somebody Else (?) and the Gospel Choir are performing their end-of-year gigs. There are a number of international students performing too, so all the more reason to check it out and get a nice change from all the uni work. There are not too many cultural events happening here in Maynooth, so you shouldn’t miss this one!

Sorry for the late notice, but doors open (tonight!) at 7:00, the concerts start at 7:30 (I think), and goes for about 2 hours (maximum). Not sure how much it costs to get in, but it shouldn’t be too much, especially not for students.

For those who don’t know the Aula Maxima, it’s the free standing building on your left as you walk onto the South Campus coming from the footbridge, and across the small bridge over that little river. (That’s Building 3 on this map).

Hope to see you all there, good luck with the exams and essays,

best regards,

Floz

As mentioned in the last email, please come and support the NUI Maynooth Volleyball Club — it’s run by Matthieu, Simone and myself, and consists pretty much only of international students!

We will be playing two games tomorrow (Wednesday 28 Nov), in the main sports hall. First game starts at 11:00, the other at 12:30.

Please help us win these League games, I’m sure it’ll be fun to watch!

Thanks a million, and see you tomorrow hopefully,

Florian

UPDATE: Thank you all so much for coming, we had a great time and some cheering ladies really make a difference! Here are some photos from the event.

As you all (may or may not) know, Ed is away right now, but he’ll be back by Friday. He says hi and misses you all very much. Sorry you have to put up with me in the meantime

First of all, thank you very much for coming along to Cork and making it such a smooth and fun trip! Nobody got hurt [hang-overs not included], or missing, or in trouble, that’s awesome I just finished uploading the pictures I took – as usual you can find them on my flickr account. If you want to download some of the pictures, please make sure you follow these instructions.

Regarding the Belfast trip sign-ups — no, it is not to late yet. The last opportunity for signing up as well as paying (if you haven’t payed yet!) will be …

… The next movie night is going to be this coming Sunday, 18 November, and we will show “Hotel Rwanda”. That’s a bit of a more serious film this time, but absolutely worthwhile watching. Thank you all for your suggestions for movies, keep those coming!

All right, that’s it for now, enjoy the rest of the week and talk to you soon about some more activities that we are planning right now!

What’s there to see and do in Belfast? Well, apart from its historical importance, there will be a Christmas Market at Belfast City Hall starting the week that we are there. There will be foods from all over the world! For instance, lots of German food, like Bratwurst and Krakauer (and salami!), not to mention your good ol’ Glühwein! There will be Spanish paella, a French fourmagerie, Dutch cheese, and lots of other things as well! It’s one of the best times to go to the city!

Please check out this website or consult your favourite travel guide to find out about all the things there is to do in Belfast! The two main activities are the Giant’s Causeway Tour and the Black Taxi tour, both of which you can sign-up for at our hostel’s reception desk (see Floz’ pictures from last year to get an idea). These are very popular and I highly recommend both of them!

I look forward to seeing all of you soon! All the best!

The facts again:

Where to

Belfast

Date

Friday to Sunday, 23—25 November 2007

Departure

2:30 pm on Friday from Student’s Union (people on bus), or later … (people on bus/trains from Dublin)

Return

Back in Maynooth on Sunday about 7:30 pm

Cost

50 EUR per person

Includes

Transport & accommodation

And thank you very much to all the people who have agreed to go to Cork by train. We still need at least 3 more volunteers, so if you’re interested, please let us know!

I will be in the Arts Block this Wed. & Thurs., 6—7 pm by the circle of computers in the corridor to give back some of the money to those of you who are going by train (there will also be the Belfast trip sign-ups as well). Remember that the train goes from Hueston Station in Dublin, and there is one every hour, so you can go when it’s convenient for you! I will make sure to be there before everyone else, so just give me a ring or text when you are almost in the city, and I will come down to the station and take you to the hostel!

As most of you know, the trip will be held from Friday 9 until Sunday 11 November. We will leave from in front of the Student’s Union at 1:00 pm in the afternoon on Friday, and the bus will pick us up again in Cork on Sunday at 5:00 pm. The bus trip there should take about 3 1/2 hours. The final cost for the trip is 60 EUR, and includes transport, accommodation and breakfasts.

Here are some websites (1, 2) that talk about Cork city and what there is to do there. Spend a few minutes looking at these websites and you’ll have plenty of ideas about how to keep yourself busy while we are there! I highly recommend Blarney Castle and the old City Gaol. There are also lots of pubs with traditional music, and the university is also very nice!

That’s all for now. I look forward to the trip! See you all soon!

The facts again:

Where to

Cork city

Date

Friday to Sunday, 9—11 November 2007

Departure

1:00 pm on Friday from Student’s Union (people on bus), or later … (people on trains)

Return

Back in Maynooth on Sunday about 8:30 pm

Cost

60 EUR per person

Includes

Transport, accommodation & breakfasts

But not for long