My Summer in the EU!
This summer has been one of my favorites so far! I spent the summer on a 10 week program traveling around the EU. My name is Shekinah Hall and I am a Public Policy major and with the focus of my studies being domestic policy, I feared I would be a bit out of my element taking a full load of International Affairs courses. To my great pleasure, that fear quickly disappeared and in its absence was an abundance of space for me to gain an incredible amount of knowledge from my professors, classmates, people I met abroad, and the incredible places I visited.
We had the opportunity to talk with people working at various institutions, visit sites and museums filled with rich European history, and be fully immersed into strong and proud cultures in France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Ireland. This program taught me the importance of the transatlantic relationship and the long history the United States has with the Europe, and more specifically the EU. Although the idea of the EU can be difficult to fully grasp, it is absolutely essential to understand the EU as a peace project to understand the ongoing process of European integration today and the vital role the EU’s success plays in maintaining the most peaceful era of history the world has ever seen.
Before this program – as this was my first time traveling outside of the United States – I considered myself a traveler through the heart and mind. However, as much as I read about and prepared myself to see other parts of the world, nothing could have really done as much justice as being there myself. This program was all-around amazing and I would absolutely recommend!