This might be a bit history heavy but I promise, I'll try to keep it interesting.
The entire point of studying abroad is to change your prospect of how you see the world. And believe me, I've learned a lot! Here are a few things I begun to see differently, by country.
Ireland
I didn't really know anything about the Republic of Ireland until I got here, apart from being part of the British Isles (but not the UK!). I joined the History Society and got to attend a very interesting lecture that gave me an interesting look into the issues still plaguing the country today.
The speaker was Sean O'Callaghan. I was in complete rapt attention the entire time, he has the most interesting story. At 15, he left school to join the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which is a grass-roots liberation army that was founded during the initial occupation of Ireland by England. It is also internationally classified as a terrorist organization. It targets officials/buildings in Northern Ireland (which is still part of the UK, and typically was seen as the "occupiers"). Sean was an actual terrorist. He murdered innocent people by planting bombs in government buildings.
He was recruited at 15. Imagine being a boy with not much to your name and then being brought into a place where you were told you are a hero and have a higher purpose. Throw around the words freedom and glory and you have your standard recipe for brainwashing. However, he eventually became disillusioned with the IRA and left.
He said the final straw came when he and an IRA buddy were watching a news report on a terrorist attack where a woman had been killed. O'Callaghan's buddy turned to him and said "maybe she was pregnant, then we got two for the price of one." After that, he left.
He rejoined three years later as an informant for the Irish government. He did this for seven years, stopping many attacks and assassinations. Including one on Princess Diana. After that, he quit the IRA for good and turned himself in to the police for his original time in the IRA. He spent eight years in prison before he received a royal pardon from the Queen.
He then spoke about what terrorism is. I've had this discussion many times, being an international relations major, but he had a very interesting take on this subject. He said that we are all guilty of terrorism, using terror to get what we want. It is an unfortunate part of the human condition. He said terrorism isn't a legitimate tool, and we just need to struggle through the systems. Real freedom is in democracy.
Now, with Scotland voting for independence this summer, the politics of the UK are turning out to be far more complicated and unsettled than I expected.
Russia
I've done a lot of rethinking about how I view Russia since I got here. I'm amazed at how much anti-Russian sentiment has creeped into by mind due to US… well brainwashing is a strong word but pretty much.
I know all about our interaction with Russia during the Cold War but we learn virtually nothing about the inner history/conflict of Russia during the past century. Understanding Leninism, Stalinism, and the progression of the USSR are all vital to understanding world history and the current situation of the world.
Yet, I was taught none of this in high school.
I find that I have a weird resentment towards Russia and I literally have no idea where it came from. And especially with the Olympics (though we have legitimate reason to mock), people were probably just waiting for a reason to lay into Russia (I know I was). Due to the obvious reasons of mistreatment of citizens, homophobia, absence of free press, and government corruption, it is a legitimate view not to approve of Russia. But this is just another shifting world view I've grown to recognize.
Luckily, with my several European history classes, I now have brief knowledge of its very harsh and complicated past.
England
This is an obvious country I'd inevitably learn more about. Since I'm here. I guess it's the mentality that I've found most enlightening. Growing up in the US, we've always seen ourselves as one of a kind. The great experiment of democracy! The birthplace of freedom! Yada yada. And we've always seen England as yes, a powerful country (our mother turned enemy turned brother), but now, essentially part of the European unit.
England sees itself as America sees itself. One of a kind, a world leader. Most think this political system is much more functional and effective than the US system (a valid argument, but I'm only a month and a half into my British Politics class).
Most interestingly, whether it's due to the water barrier or remnant pride of once being supreme, England doesn't consider itself European. Yes, they acknowledge being part of the continent, but they call people from Europe, not from the UK, "europeans."
Example:
"My hall has a few Americans and a few Europeans, but the rest of us are British."
They do not like being clumped. Probably like how the US doesn't clump itself with Canada and Mexico, even though geographically it makes sense.
The Good Ol' US of A
We aren't as despised as I thought. While Jerusalem bred a certain resentment for the US (though actually both Israelis and Palestinians claimed a fondness, it was my own discoveries of our policies that did it), that isn't happening here. Just how international relations students in the US are slowly fed a diet of "holy crap, we did that to living human beings?! and got away with it?! and are still doing it?!", international relations students in England are going through the same thing. England has an even uglier and longer past, and are equally horrified of their actions. So we're in good (or not so good) company.
As I've spent my entire young adult life assuring myself and other Americans that we are not as important as we think we are, I can't believe I got that wrong. They talk about America CONSTANTLY. Especially in my Background to British Politics class. It pretty much goes, "this is when we did this, but America did that at this time" or "here are the wars we have participated in, these ones America started and these ones we started." We spent the entire last class one week talking about why Britain supported the US during the Korean war. While for my own benefit as an American, I can certainly appreciate the context, I have found the whole experience somewhat disorienting.
It isn't really good or bad, but it may be elevating my level of self-importance (joke).
I'm in a model united nations club (or "society") and that has been really good for understanding the European perspective on all things global, including the US.
Center for Diversity
I have never lived in such a diverse place. The other night I went out and ended up spending a few hours deep in conversation with a girl from Sri Lanka, a girl from Norway, and a girl from Somalia. There we were, four girls attending university in London, far from home. My favorite part of traveling is learning about all of our differences between cultures, but in the end, I am inevitably reminded of how similar we all are. We all have mothers who worry about us. We all get stressed about school and work. We all have drama with friends and/or family. We all hate being sick and love a long weekend. We all hate the cold and love a good movie. Finding the differences is so fun because we are overwhelmingly similar in the end. We all have our fears and doubts, our favorite part of the day and our guilty pleasures. I didn't need London to tell me this, I've known it from traveling all my life. But I never tire of being reminded.
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