<p>I am a student from California (though I was raised in Brazil) and I'll be applying to Notre Dame this fall. I would like to ask current students some questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>For someone who has always lived in hot places: is the weather bearable?</li>
<li>Is Notre Dame's student body a friendly one? How easy is it to make friends and chat with people? And is it really a close-knit community?</li>
<li>In my classes I usually ask lots of questions to my teachers (so I can understand the subject better or if I don't understand something). How comfortable will I be to do that at Notre Dame?</li>
<li>I look forward to participating a lot in extracurricular activities in college, especially writing (journalism, creative writing) and some sort of International Students club/group (I'm currently the president of a club of this sort in my school). Is it possible to have a good balance of academics and extracurricular activities? </li>
<li>I know it might be too specific, but how are the Irish language courses like? This is one of my main reasons for going to Notre Dame!</li>
</ul>
<p>I simply LOVE Notre Dame - it has the weather, the location (well, kinda of...), and the courses that I'm looking for! Looking at the pictures it seems GORGEOUS and from what I read so far the student body is great! Hopefully all my assumptions are correct!</p>
<p>Thank you for whoever answers my questions!
Go Irish!</p>
<p>I’m just enrolling this fall, but I can answer this:
The best in North America, and arguably the best outside of Ireland itself. It was also one of the biggest draws for me; I spent a lot of time talking to professors of the Irish language at Notre Dame, Harvard, Fordham, Boston College, and elsewhere, and my impression (compatible with virtually all neutral assessments I could find) was that Notre Dame’s was far and away the best. It’s the only Department of Irish Language in North America, and they have multiple programs to study in Ireland and you have the opportunity to learn to speak in a variety of dialects (Donegal, Connemara, etc). While many students just take it to gain proficiency or for a language requirement, they have several each year who are committed and successful in becoming fluent.</p>
<p>Also, as far as I can tell, the weather sucks :p.</p>
<p>“- I know it might be too specific, but how are the Irish language courses like? This is one of my main reasons for going to Notre Dame!”</p>
<p>!!! I was a long-time poster back on this board back in the day (a couple of years ago - ask some of the other long-timers), but I have to admit I’ve sort of fallen off. However, I had to log back in and post when I saw that you were interested in Irish language.</p>
<p>I graduated May 2010 with a degree in English with minors in Irish Studies and Irish Language and Literature. I will say without hesitation that we have the best Irish language program in the country. The reason I say this is that I have seen the results of an external audit done of our Irish Studies program, and we were handily ranked at #1 by esteemed Irish Studies professors from all over the world. And this doesn’t just go for the language, as our entire department is spectacular, with some of the foremost professors in the world. If you have specific questions about any professors, or about the program in general, please let me know. </p>
<p>Can’t say a single thing about Irish Studies, but I would like to say hi to Kevdude! My Dawg Son says Alumni Hall misses you, and I know your contributions to this forum were so valuable as we went through the process. I hope that life after ND has treated you well!</p>