Personal Statement
How my past experiences shaped me and my national identity:
Ever since I was born, I have had a connection to travel. Just three months after my birth, I moved to an entirely new environment and nation. I have spent nearly five years of my life living in a country with a different culture and language. I returned back to my home in Ireland after just under two years and once again returned to the Czech Republic a near eight years later to what I have been told is an entirely different and modernized nation. I can't remember any of my first stint abroad, however, the second stint from 2014 to 2017 shaped the person I am today. My years from 4th Grade to 6th Grade in an American style International School gave me a taste of college diversity and American culture. Prior to my arrival in Prague, my experience of education had been very traditional for an Irish child. Ireland is not a very diverse nation and in school I was only exposed to one culture. That was all flipped on its head once I stepped foot inside my new school. On the wall above the entrance sat 121 flags representing the nations present within the school's classrooms. Throughout my three years in Prague, I attended a Jewish Bar mitzvah, a US embassy Super Bowl party and Islamic wedding. I would never have experienced any of these cultural events, had I not been lifted out of my Irish culture bubble that I was sitting in back in Ireland. I was extremely grateful for the cultural experiences that I undertook while abroad, however, it also gave me a great perspective about what it means to be Irish and how unique that characteristic is. To be Irish has meant many things in the past. One hundred years ago it meant fighting for freedom from British Rule. Fifty years ago, it meant to be deeply affiliated and intertwined with the Catholic Church. But what does it mean to be Irish today? Does it mean to be the physical embodiment of the stereotypical Irishman? To drink heavily and be perpetually merry? Does it mean to be interested in Gaelic Football, Hurling and Irish Dancing? Because if this defines being Irish today, I most definitely do not fit the bill. Today Ireland is much more like that of my old school in Prague. 2022 Ireland is much more multicultural and globalized than ever before. With this more diverse Ireland it would be easy to think that there is no such thing as being Irish anymore, that maybe we are all just members of an interwoven, western community. Yet if you were to say that to me you would injure my pride. Despite the fact that only a small minority of us can speak of native tongue, we are still a proud nationalist people. Even though I am deeply in touch with my Irishness, I am not naive enough to think that the world starts and ends in Ireland. I have had educational experience both in Europe and Ireland. I believe the next step of my academic journey is across the pond in the US. The academic prowess of the US universities has attracted me since I was young and it has always been a dream of mine to study in the States one day. My future lies in the US but it shall not end there as I continue to bring my proud Irishness wherever I travel whether it be for work, travel or education.
