Introduction:

Hello! My name is Maya Nikolic and I’m a fourth year student from the University of Washington Bothell studying public health. From March to May, I will be participating in an Erasmus+ Exchange program through South Eastern Technological University here in Waterford City, Ireland. I’ve always had a passion for global health, health promotion, and advocacy, and am eternally grateful I was selected to participate in this program. I’m excited to learn more about public health within an Irish scope, and bring what I learned back home to the United States. 

Hopes and Goals:

As it stands, I’m currently just at the halfway point of this program. Coming into Ireland, I had set myself to find my own ‘niche’ or so to speak, of public health. It is such an intertwined major that it can be hard to find just one focus. Initially I had the idea of healthcare administration, but as the weeks pass here in Ireland I find myself looking forward to community integration work especially pertaining refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers. On a personal level, I have never been this far away from home and family, so I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I was forewarned that homesickness will hit me, but you don’t really realize how hard it may be until you’re living in it. Looking forward, my two main goals would be to translate how I see community integration and healthcare in Ireland into how it may be at home in Seattle, and be more comfortable with doing things alone. 

My Experiences So Far:

This program has given me the unique opportunity to follow my own path. What I mean by that is that there is no set schedule of classes, rather it is more so reaching out and getting in contact with different community partners and seeing how different organizations work. So far I have met with people from a variety of organizations in and around Waterford, whether that be volunteering, conducting informational interviews, attending webinars/meetings, and even deciding to sit in on classes. The conversations and discussions I’ve had with professionals and students alike are some I will cherish for a long time to come, and look back on fondly. I’ve already learned so much about public health, but also so much more about Irish history.  When there is a free day, though, I typically try to get out to see something new by utilizing the public transportation here. Irish people see their public transit as horrendous, but from an American perspective I absolutely love it. 

Advice:

I could go on and on about advice I would give future students, but I’ll make this short. Prepare to budget, go with the flow, don’t be afraid to say no (or yes!), prepare for homesickness, and go see what you can when you can! Hopefully I can elaborate on a few of these at the end of my stay, and explain a bit more. In the meantime, I look forward to chatting with you then!