I took the Ukrainian State Exam (NMT) in Ireland

TL;DR:

But the exam's not the interesting part. It's the "how"s.

In 2024, the single arraned exam centre was based in Tralee (lovely town btw). Why on Earth though? Why not Dublin — which is easy to get to on public transport from any part of Ireland. No idea. And well, it would be easy if I was based in Dublin, but at the time I lived in Sligo town.

The most grueling part is getting from one Irish countryside to another without a car 🤠

What I had to do, is find the only possible route, which would comprise 3 buses, during an 8-hour journey one way, with 5 mins breaks in-between those. Besides that, there was no way to do this in single day because of the timetables, so where would I stay over at?

Instead of paying for a hostel I couldn't afford, I went online... I had to spend a couple of days, I sent loads of queries, of course, and was lucky enough to get a reply from a friendly Polish couple who kindly accepted me as their guest — it was my first time couch surfing. Problem solving huh!

As I arrived to the town midday, I explored the Lovely Rose of Tralee. Also met some locals, students included, who also took the exam there. They showed me the park while we were hanging out. It was kind of fun and beautiful! For me, it had a similar vibe to Sligo — town small enough to feel comfortable, big enough to explore opportunities, with captivating nature.

I'll share some of my stories pictures below

Split photo of Tralee, Ireland showing St. John's Church spire on the left and the bronze Rose of Tralee statue in the park on the right.

Until I realised I was talking to the couple for so long that it's 12 am and I need to go sleep, fast :D

I woke up at 6am cause I think my exam was supposed to start at ~7:30. Well it wouldn't have been much of a problem if I had any tranport means, but for a time that early! The earliest local link buses would start was ~8:00 which kinda makes sense since college classes usually start at 9:00.

The exam wasn't the case though! But I knew what I had to do

Run, Forrest, run!

When I left my host, I came by to the nearest Spar, grabbem my sandwich, and... ran.

I mean I like working out but yk it was already stressful enough☠️

Screenshot of a fitness tracking app showing a 2.23 km morning jog route to MTU Kerry North Campus in Tralee on the morning of the exam.

Anyway. I got to the exam venue just in time. Everyone went there on the car, except me. The only thing I realised and regret a bit is I could first try to look for someone in Sligo in local Facebook/Telegram groups who would also commute to Tralee, but in a car. I "overengineered" my trip a bit :D

The exam didn't start until 8:00 as it turned out, so I had the crucial moment to devour my sandwich. At this point you could say the running part wasn't necessary altogether, but who knew! I couldn't afford being late and being dismissed from the exam.

Then as we've all experienced, the 3 focus hours came in. Nothing special here. What was a big pity for me though, was that I had no more time to stay in the town. Having finished early, I met other parents, who were waiting on their students. One family heard my story and couldn't believe it! They gave me a lift to Limerick, which I also happened to be in for the first time and had an hour to look at. To me, it was eerily similar to Cologne or even Berlin with its huge scale. I still had 2 full buses trips left until I reached Sligo.

I did successfully pass the exam and enter ATU Sligo, ultimately grateful for the opportunity to take my Ukrainian exam in Ireland.

Thanks for reading!