"WHEN I told my mother I was going to Ireland for the summer she put a blanket in my suitcase, for the cold."
It's a long, long way from Jamaica to here, but Nicolla Jarett, a Cleopatra like flautist from Kingston, knows she will only be here for three months. The 25 year old is here on a summer work programme which allows students from Jamaica to live and work in this country for up to four months.
"Working, living and travelling here gives these a unique way of learning about our culture and seeing things in their own," explains Simone Murray of the Union of Students in Ireland Travel (USIT), co ordinator of the Irish end of the Jamaican scheme and the North American "Work in Ireland" programme. The latter reciprocates the American run J-1 programme which allows Irish students to work for the summer in the US.
Robert Sherwin, a politics student from Puerto Rico, is tending bar for the summer to some of the choicest political chat in Dublin, in Dawson Street's Cafe en Seine. Though Spanish is his first language, English clearly comes to him as fluently as to any native New Yorker.
"I was here when I was 15 so I knew I'd like Ireland . .. I wanted to come and experience Irish people and Irish culture and I figured the best place to see all of Irish life was in a pub. There is a stereotype that the Irish like to drink a lot, and you know, you live up to it."
"They all seem to want to work in pubs," laughs Simone Murray. While about 6,000 Irish students head west over the Atlantic for the summer, the numbers coming here have risen from about 350 1995 to "over 700 this year", she says.
"Ireland seems to be super trendy at the moment. There's a good feeling about Ireland. It's a mixture of things," Simone explains. "There's a kind of ethnic, cultural interest - probably part of, the whole ceasefire thing - in the States, because of the good press Ireland has been getting. And of course there's the youth statistic where more than half the population is under 26 - that inevitably attracts students."
"TO be honest, we didn't really choose Ireland. We couldn't get anywhere else," laugh Noriel Jacobs (21) from Kingston and Kym McGregor (20) from Montego Bay, as they explain why they have come to an intermittently sunny Dublin. Nicolla, Noriel and Kym are the first Jamaicans to come on a work programme. They had originally planned to go to England but "got a hard time from the embassy and so came here instead. So far so good," affirms Kym.
Mabel Estrella, from Calgary in Canada, had a choice of places, but opted for Ireland. "Everyone says the Irish are good people." The 19 year old has come with two friends from Mount Royal College in Calgary.
"I expected it to be really old fashioned, like with no microwaves. One thing I notice is the garbage, there's a lot. And the buildings are all stained. I'm surprised at how dressed up people, especially the girls, get. In Canada everyone wears pretty much jeans. Even your prostitutes are dressed up nice. Our hookers are all gaudy and their hair's a mess. But here they are so smart," she gushes.
The programme provides students with the necessary work documents, information on their tax rights and assistance in finding housing before sending them out to slum it with the natives. USIT offers a continuous resource of support and advice. It does not provide internships or job placements but it is probably the most cosseted way to "go it alone" 3,000 miles away from home.
"The vast majority have a really good time," says Simone. "To have come at all they are generally very enthusiastic, open to trying anything and are just pretty thrilled to be here. The majority arrive in May, before Irish students finish up for the summer, so they are ahead of them and have, little difficulty finding casual work. They can't go wrong really." There are no restrictions on the type of work they can do but, "the vast majority go into the service industry. Some temp, though. They have great computer skills," she adds.
