Class Standing: Senior Exchange Student
Snapchat: o.gill
Instagram: @gilloisin
Home University: Institute of Technology Carlow
Her Campus Ithaca College: What are you most looking forward to this semester?
Osisín Gill: Learning about new sports and dealing with different injuries I would not see back home. I’m studying athletic training here, so [I’m looking forward] dealing with new and different injuries and sports you wouldn’t commonly see in Ireland.
HCIC: What are you the most nervous about?
OG: Not fulfilling expectations. The two students from my program that were here last year were extremely good, so [I’m nervous about] not being able to fill their shoes I suppose.
HCIC: Tell us a little about your home town, what you did for fun and what your typical day would look like?
OG: Hometown was a similar size, population wise, to Ithaca. And for fun I played gaelic football, which is a popular sport back home, and hung out with friends. We would always go on drives at night when we were bored. There were some mountains that would be about half an hour away from us, so we would just drive up to them, just stuff like that. And playing FIFA…a lot of FIFA. The day-to-day pretty much was the same as here; standard college life.
HCIC: What are some things that are different from your culture to the US culture?
OG: I suppose in college life everyone is very open in America. Like I consider Ireland a very welcoming country, but I think everyone is a bit more open and more willing to interact with people that they don’t know here.
HCIC: The one thing you miss the most?
OG: Chicken fil A rolls and my girlfriend.
HCIC: What are some stereotypes you heard or expected from Americas? Have they met your standards?
OG: I don’t know if this is rude, but Americans have the reputation for being bigger people, but I haven’t seen that at all here. It really is not the case whatsoever. Also, Americans are way friendlier than what I expect them to be. Everyone has just been very nice and very welcoming.
HCIC: Best thing about Ithaca College so far?
OG: The fact that it’s small. I wouldn’t want to be in a big college campus. Reminds me of Carlow.
HCIC: Worst thing about Ithaca College so far?
OG: The cold. It’s very cold.