Hello! I’m Parker Mickel, and for my Beyond the Classroom experience, I spent my spring semester in Cork, Ireland at UCC.

As a history major, I was drawn to Ireland because of its rich culture and history; suitably, my courses focused on history, largely playing into the theme of culture and politics. I took a course titled U.S. Collective Memory; my final paper for it focused on Hollywood’s impact on American collective memory regarding the Vietnam War, and how that impacts votership. I also took a course titled Censorship in 20^th Century Ireland, which covered censorship since Ireland’s independence. The erasure of culture (targeting primarily books but also heavily impacting film) not only was informed by the very Catholicized government but was executed to uphold classism.

I was lucky enough to have some adventures outside of Cork as well. In May, I went to the small town of Cobh. It holds prominence in Irish history as the port that the majority of emigrants had left through. The Titanic’s last port of call, the origin of the first immigrant through Ellis Island, and the setting of many heart-breaking goodbyes, commemorated by their heritage museum.

I had also journeyed to Blarney Castle multiple times during the semester. The castle sits on large, stunning grounds, and getting to explore the scenery and iconic piece of Ireland brought me a new feeling of connection to the country I was studying in.

All in all, this experience has been an absolute highlight of my college experience so far. Getting to experience a new culture, and seeing how that shapes their politics and their interpretation of U.S. and global politics, was absolutely fantastic. Putting it into perspective through the lived experiences of the people I talked to, the places around me, and the courses I took allowed me to grow as a person and develop my understanding of the world, and I would heartily recommend studying in Cork, Ireland to anyone.