Staff writer
Anna Weber of rural Ramona, a junior at Bethany College in Lindsborg, will study biology at the University of Limerick in Ireland during the spring semester.
Weber said she and a college friend will live in a townhome on the university campus with six Irish students.
“We could have gone to London, England, but there we would have been housed with only American students,” she said. “We wanted to experience a different culture.”
They will depart from California Jan. 17 and return May 19. They will spend three days in London to adjust to the time change, then fly to Dublin.
While they are there, they plan to tour the country and visit the Aran Islands off the west coast. They also plan to visit Venice, Italy.
Weber’s exchange sponsor, the American Institute for Foreign Studies, is affiliated with Bethany, so her scholarship money will apply to the cost. She also has received grants.
Weber will miss spring volleyball at Bethany, but her coach will send workout assignments. The university has volleyball courts, a weight room, and a pool that she can use to maintain her skills.
Weber hopes her mother, Lisa Hanschu, will visit her during the three-day St. Patrick’s Day holiday.
“I’m really excited about my trip to Ireland,” she said. “I am a little anxious and nervous about being so far away from home, but it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Weber is in her second year of college but because she took many post-secondary courses during high school, she will graduate mid-year next year with a bachelor’s degree in biology. She plans to go into nursing.