Emma Salle is a sophomore studying animal sciences. She traveled abroad to Ireland on the Human and Animal Interactions program during winter break 2023.

The group of students along with the faculty advisors made the trip a fun and memorable experience. Everyone was so passionate about the trip and excited for every activity that we did. This made every activity and every bus ride fun no matter what we were doing.

My favorite part of the trip was meeting new friends and exploring Ireland. In between activities, I loved getting to know people on the trip better and having good conversations on the bus. My favorite animal activity was visiting the Fota Wildlife Park. Fota is different from most zoos due to the lack of barriers between the people and the animals. The only barrier between the group and animals living on islands was a shallow stream instead of a standard fence along with animals free roaming throughout the park. My favorite cultural activity was visiting Blarney Castle. The group climbed to the top of the castle to kiss the blarney stone and then explored the grounds and gardens.

I always wanted to go abroad as part of my college experience. With my major, I am not able to go abroad for an entire semester, so the possibility to go on a short-term trip made me super excited. With animals being so different around the world, I wanted the opportunity to learn about all types of animals in an environment that is natural to them.

I learned to make every moment last. It wasn’t always about jumping from one activity to the next but living in the moment. Some of my favorite memories from the trip were made playing cards in the hotel room. It was these experiences that made our time learning about animals and culture more valuable because we were engaged in the topic as a group.

To me, being a global citizen means that you are comfortable in different cultural environments around the world. By learning about the culture of Ireland prior to our departure, we were prepared to act as global citizens during our time abroad.