Future Life at Coleraine

I really want to get involved in some volunteer work at my campus and in the community. I view this as an opportunity to investigate the ongoing social issues in Northern Ireland, try to make a difference, and learn more about what kind of career I’m cut out for. To me, living like a local means fully embracing my community – living in the present moment, in the present place. I know I need to stay in touch with family and friends back home, but I also want to make sure that I keep my focus on meeting people in the community. Before I came to college, I got really nerdy and read a bunch of books on how to succeed and adjust to college life. One of the tips was to not go home every weekend, even if you lived close enough to. That really resonated with me – that when I went away, I needed to walk into it ready to embrace new people and a new community. Going home every weekend wouldn’t have allowed me to truly make a home at Maryville, and I think the same idea applies to my study abroad experience. I want to think of Northern Ireland as my home while I’m there, and checking social media to see what my US friends are doing all the time or allowing myself to dwell on homesickness isn’t going to help me do that.

In order to fully immerse myself, I really want to be heavily involved in the clubs and opportunities offered by the student unions. I’m excited to explore, and learn about the area. I know that the Ulster Student Union has a lot of cool clubs, like psychology, Christian, and St. John Ambulance. I look forward to joining those, in addition to getting involved in volunteer work there – hopefully on campus and off. I think getting involved is going to be a great way for me to make friends – I’d love for new friendships to be a big part of my daily life while I’m there. I really want to try to take advantage of every opportunity, and I’m anticipating that that will keep me pretty busy. I think that the more involved I am with the community and the better that I understand it and embrace, the more I’ll get out of my experience and the more I’ll grow as a person.