Page 8
September/October 2011
The Lance
PEOPLE
North Ireland to North Carolina
By way of a brief ^ |
introduction. I’m kA
Paul Eastwood and I have been lucky
enough to come to St. Andrews
University on a business scholarship as a
year out from my own University
degree in Ireland where I study at
Queen’s University Belfast.
I was able to come to America as part
of a program, called Study USA, set up
by the government in Northern Ireland
and American Bishops during the
Troubles of Northern Ireland in the
early 1990s. The principle aim of the
program is to allow greater integration
between Protestants and Catholics in
third level education, whilst offering the
opportunity to gather a global perspec
tive on business. I was only able to
make my preference on what college I
would apply to based on each website,
but I am sure I made the right choice in
coming to St. Andrews.
I am the third student in as many
years to come to Laurinburg from
Ireland and have found many things to
be very different here than at home.
Not least the weather. This difference
was in no way easy to adjust to whenev
er I came from an Irish “heat wave” of
sweltering days in the sixties, to the first
few weeks here which were in the hun
dreds. I’ve seen the temperature that
high once in Ireland before, but quick
ly decided the thermometer was bro
ken.
The food here is also much different
than at home. I hate to pander to a
stereotype, but the Irish do in fact love
potatoes and unfortunately there can be
no replacement found here. America
has provided me with some great foods
and I am probably in great risk of
becoming highly addicted to Buffalo
sauce, Boston Creme Pie and
Cheerwine. Not mixed together of
course.
I have also been very lucky in being
able to play golf for St. Andrews in my
year. Sports are a much bigger part of
college life than in Ireland. Compared
to all of our equipment orders, match
organisation, team selection and
fundraising being done by me, the pro
fessionalism of the experience here is
staggering. It goes without saying that
Coach Lisa Becka (Men’s and Women’s
Golf Coach) is an invaluable asset to
our team and St. Andrews, and if we
could get someone of that calibre to run
the team at home there is no doubt our
University team standard would
improve, but unfortunately the profile
of University sport is much lower in
Ireland than here so this is unlikely.
The major difference I have noticed
is in the education style. Queen’s
University Belfast has 17,000 students,
whereas St. Andrews has fewer than
900. Queen’s University Belfast has over
250 buildings for academics, compared
to St. Andrews’ 4. Queen’s University
Belfast has over 3,000 staff. St. Andrews
has fewer than 70. I think it is vwthin
the difference in size that St. Andrews
demonstrates its real charm. I study
Law at home and have more than 250
other students in my lectures, but only
18 other students in my largest class
here and find this smaller class size
much easier to work in. Very few of my
lecturers at home know my name, or if
I’m in class or not, or how I’m doing
"Think GlohaUy, Act Locally"
academically, but it is obviously very
different here, and this difference is
undoubtedly beneficial to all. Given the
size of classes at home, assignments
come very rarely but their size is dispro
portionate to their occurrencc. Coping
with the regularity of assignments here
has been a stru^le at times, but I figure
this need to constandy work and keep
on top of everything will greatly benefit
me on my return to Queen’s as I will
hopefully have outgrown the desire to
leave everything to the last minute.
That could be wishful thinking
though...
I want to practice Commercial Law
in the future, so gaining an insight into
business is invaluable. I am particularly
enjoying my Accounting and
Microeconomic classes because of their
appeal to my logical nature, but the new
skills I am gaining in Management
Communication, Conflict Resolution
and Marketing are so widely applicable,
I am confident my resume will be well
boosted by these classes. The depend
ence of grades on class participation is
an excellent tool to exercise communi
cation skills and an opportunity with
which American collegiate students
have the upper hand over their interna
tional counterparts.
It may seem premature to speculate
for all the way in May, but I know
already that going back to Ireland, as
sweet as it will be, will also be difficult
beyond measure to leave St. Andrews
and its students. The ten months of this
academic year have begun to count
down far too quickly and unfortunately
I cannot see that time will slow down,
despite how much I will it to.
So until then, all I have to say is Go
raibh maith agat agus slin (go rah may
ag at: Thank you and Goodbye).