Studying
aboard in Ireland has been an amazing experience. It has changed me in many ways. While in Ireland I was amazed by how friendly
and welcoming everyone was. I hope to incorporate
this into my own life. Another thing I
liked about the Irish culture was their relaxed and laid back approach to
life. I never felt pressured or rushed
during my time in Ireland. The Irish do
not obsess over deadlines or over work themselves. I think this something I want to try to bring
into my life. Working hard is important
but I also want to enjoy my life to the fullest.
The
major change that this experience has had on my professional goals is that I
never want to become preoccupied with status.
While working in any hospital in America you are easily able to tell who
are the doctors, nurses and aids.
Hearing a nurse say to a patient “That’s not my job, an aid will help
you.” Is a very common occurrence.
During my time in Ireland it was not as easy to tell who were the nurses
and who were the aids because they all helped the patients equally. There was never a discussion of who was a
nurse and everyone’s focus was completely on the best interest of the patients. I think that it is easy to lose this after
years of work and become more focused on simply getting the job done. I hope to never loss what this experience has
taught me and how it will make me a better nurse.
What
surprised me the most about myself during this experience was how much I enjoyed
working with people with special needs.
This was my first experience working with this population and I was apprehensive
at first. I felt very unprepared, however
after the first day I realized how much I enjoyed it. It is a very rewarding population if you open
yourself up to them.
I
went into this study aboard experience with an open mind. This allowed me to avoid feeling homesick or
judging my surroundings. I opened myself
up the new world I was exploring and attempted to take in as much as a possibly
could. Since I avoided making judgments
about Ireland I think it was very easy for this experience to impact my view of
the world. I was able to see how completely
different yet similar a different country can be. I learned so many important things while in
Ireland but the most important thing I learned was to be confident in
myself. This experience was able to show
me so many things about myself that I had never know before. This feeling is something that I would take
with me forever and it is hard to describe how amazing it feels.
To
anyone who is interested in studying aboard I would recommend that you go into
the experience with an open mind. It is
unrealistic to expect a different country to be the same as what you know. I would also recommend for you to avoid
become obsessed with trying to contact loved ones at home because that can take
away from the experience and make you miss what is right in front of you. Studying aboard was an amazing experience and
I am already planning where I can go next!