A group of Donegal veterinary students in Poland are hoping their latest fundraiser gets tails wagging in support of their GAA club.
Based in Wrocław, the students are part of a large community of Irish students pursuing veterinary careers by studying abroad.
The city’s University of Environmental and Life Sciences has now become a well-established route for Irish students, many of them from rural backgrounds.
With veterinary places in high demand in Ireland, more and more students have been looking overseas for opportunities to train.
Outside of study, it’s the local GAA club that helps them feel close to home.
At the weekends, members bring poles to local soccer pitches to convert goals into pop-up GAA goalposts.
Their club, Wrocław Éire Óg, was founded just four years ago by 11 veterinary students and has since grown into a club with more than 50 members across men’s and women’s teams.
Irish veterinary, medicine and dentistry students, Irish people working in Poland, along with students and adults of other nationalities, make up its membership.
Donegal is well represented in the club by Bonnie McLaughlin from Buncrana, Nadia Nic Aoidh from Gweedore, Ross Trearty from Ramelton, Rachel Brogan from St Johnston, Joseph Drum from Letterkenny and Chaylee Greene from Culdaff.
L-R: Rachel Brogan, Chaylee Greene, Joseph Drum, Ross Trearty, Bonnie McLaughlin and Nadia Nic Aoidh
Chaylee tells Donegal Daily how she never played Gaelic in her life until her first year in uni.
Soon it became a way of meeting people and building friendships across the different years of the demanding veterinary course.
The club is fully registered with the European Central GAA and has already travelled to competitions in cities including Vienna and Berlin.
But with games spread so far apart, and the nearest club 300km away in Warsaw, the cost of getting to matches remains one of its biggest challenges.
“There’s one in Leuven, Belgium, in about two weeks’ time, but it just wasn’t really accessible for people, so unfortunately we missed out on that one,” she said.
The next event will be in October, with fundraising well underway in the hope of supporting teams’ travel costs.
That distance is one of the reasons the students have organised a major draw in aid of Wrocław Éire Óg and the Irish Veterinary Benevolent Fund which provides services, including mental health support, for Irish vets, vet nurses and their dependants.
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There are more than €20,000 in prizes up for grabs, donated by Irish agribusinesses, hotels, golf clubs, entertainment groups and more. See here: www.idonate.ie/raffle/weo
“It really has taken off,” Chaylee said. “We were blown away by the sponsorship. People were so generous and so interested. For a lot of them, it was the first time hearing about it.”
The growth of the club mirrors the wider rise in the number of Irish students now studying veterinary medicine in Poland.
“When we started in first year, there were probably only about 30 Irish in the whole college, and now there are easily 120,” Chaylee said.
She said many students still hear about the course through word of mouth.
Chaylee, who attended Carndonagh Community School, said studying abroad became the realistic option because of the fierce competition for places at home.
She heard about the route from another student from Culdaff, applied to the course and secured a provisional place after visiting the university for an interview.
At the time, UCD Dublin provided Ireland’s only Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, with new veterinary schools opening at SETU and ATU this year.
“When I was applying the points were so high,” she said.
“I actually never even filled out a CAO because I didn’t really have a backup plan. I knew I would never get the points for Dublin, so I was willing to sacrifice and suck it up.”
Student life in Wrocław has also been a big part of the experience for Chaylee.
When she started, her student accommodation was only about €160 a month, everything included.
With inflation, it’s now around €250 per month.
“But even with that, it’s still good value,” she said.
“The cost of living compared to what we’re used to at home is so cheap,” she said.
Now living in an apartment with friends, she said the city is easy to get around, with trams and everything close together. “You never really get sick of walking through the square.”
“For me, living on a farm at home, I always said I couldn’t do the same level of study if I was at home. You’d always be helping with something.”
The course in Wrocław lasts five and a half years, and while she would like to do some travelling first, home is still the long-term plan.
Chaylee said students currently benefiting from the route abroad also owe a lot to those who went before them.
“I think we’re getting all the recognition now, but I feel like it’s really the past pupils before us who deserve a lot of credit, the ones who did it when it wasn’t so popular. If I hadn’t heard of them coming here, I wouldn’t be here.”
To enter the Wrocław Éire Óg draw and see the full list of prizes, visit: www.idonate.ie/raffle/weo