Ireland: Irish Culture & Leadership Development

Traveling to Ireland is an experience that I will never forget, because I made new friends and learned about Irish culture and how it is different to American culture. One way how Irish culture is different is that they drink a lot of tea and eat a lot of potatoes. During the homestay, the host family was very nice and very welcoming. I learned that Irish people are animal lovers. This is important, because it exposed me to new things in life.

Traveling to Ireland was a life changing experience. It's one thing reading and learning about Irish culture, but going through the experience yourself is truly amazing. The part of the program in which you learn most yourself is the homestay. During the homestay you get to spend a few days with your host family and get a sense of the daily life of an Irish family. You learn more about their customs and culture through their amazing food and getting to know them on a personal level. Another highlight of the program in Ireland is the leadership conference. While you attend the conference in Maynooth University, you get to meet Irish kids that come from all over the country. You make new friends, while developing and putting to practice your leadership skills. The workshops are fun and change the way you view yourself. Overall, you are constantly being pushed out of your comfort zone, so if you want to get the most out of the experience you should ALWAYS step out of your comfort zone. In all, this was a great summer for me and I am glad I was able to be part of this program. If I could go back I would without any doubts!

I learned a lot from being in Ireland in three weeks. Not only was I able to learn a lot about myself but if not what a leader is and the importance of being one. I'd have to admit that the things I learned from being in Ireland are things I wouldn't really learn in a classroom such as leadership or going into depth about ones S.M.A.R.T goals. It's not everyday that someone gets an opportunity to go to another country and learn something and I am beyond grateful I got this chance. I was also able to do things I did not think I would do before which is pretty cool. Being in Ireland I was able to sort out my thoughts and I was also able to reflect on things. I got to learn about what my strengths and my weaknesses are. Believe me I love visiting my grandparents out in Mexico but, I wanted to go to a different country and experience something new. Overall I just enjoyed these three weeks , I had the most supportive and amazing leaders and everyone was just really nice and amazing and I may have had a few rough days but I'm glad I was not alone. The thing that amazed me is the support that was within the group.
I really enjoyed going out into Cork or Dublin with my friends for a few hours and just buying ice cream or just food in general. I enjoyed Cork more than Dublin (That's just my personal opinion) I never got bored, there was always something out there to do. We all went to this conference to learn about leadership (Foroige leadership for life) I was able to talk to people around my age or well my age from America, India and Ireland, I was also able to get a bit of an insight on the Indian culture and also see them preform some really cool dances which was also cool! At the end of the conference there was a Gala and it was one of the most amazing nights I ever had, I got to dance with my friends even if our dances sucked. I fell in love with the food especially the tea and the dairy milk chocolate. Everything was just pretty great. Going back home was the most toughest part about the program it sucked but, I can at least cross out Ireland from my bucket list. Honestly I wish the program could have been over more than three weeks.