Hello, Dia Duit! My name is Dylan Van Rossum, and I spent last spring in Cork, Ireland, as an exchange student. I am now entering my junior year studying Social Work and Global Public Health at UM. My GLI theme is public and global health, and while I was abroad, my goal was to examine how mental health and well-being are viewed and addressed in different cultures. To learn more about my chosen question, I engaged in courses including Public Health Issues, Personal Lives & Family Policy, and Social Perspectives in Mental Health. I came back to the U.S. with a greater understanding of the mental health care system in Ireland, the history of mental health care in Ireland, and the current issues and future goals for mental health and wellbeing care in Ireland. Some of my biggest takeaways were about the controversial history of mother and baby homes and asylums in Ireland, the role of the Catholic church in Irish families and social care, and the important of peer support in the modern Irish mental health care agenda.

While I learned a lot in the classroom in Ireland, I also gained a valuable new perspective from my time exploring Ireland and several other countries in Europe. Being immersed in Irish culture was a new and bold experience for me. I gained much perspective about how Americans are viewed abroad, and how centuries of European history, especially the Irish fight for independence, influences their current cultural and political scene. I had the opportunity to travel to the UK, Italy and Spain over spring break, and then to the Netherlands, Germany, Austira and Switzerland once my semester was over. Getting to backpack to so many new places and experience so many different cultures put me out of my comfort zone and strengthened my leadership skills by building my confidence and allowing me to practice communicating with people from all different walks of life. Some of my favorite places I visited were Sevilla, Spain for the incredible architecture and food and Innsbruck, Austria for the remarkable mountains and nature.

Reflecting on my time, I am grateful for the new places I visited and the wonderful people I met. I am excited to continue traveling at every opportunity and learning more about world perspectives on mental health and well-being. I am looking forward to applying the diverse perspectives I gained to my future career in social work and/or public health.