Week 11 - Professional Development

After such a busy and energetic week last week, we have been given two days off, which I am taking the full advantage of sleeping in.

Althsuler, M. Once stated, ‘The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot.’ This is an interesting statement as our time on Erasmus is nearly over and we all are rethinking about our time spent here in Belgium.

Professionally I feel this experience has had a positive outcome on myself already even though we have not finished yet. There is a lot of knowledge and wisdom in which I have gained from this both professionally and personally. Professionally is the most important as next year I will begin final year in Stranmillis University. The different cultures and religions have opened my eyes to a whole different world which I was not aware of when living in Ireland. The different types of school systems throughout the world have shocked me, first hand from my own experience in Belgium and also by the other countries in which my fellow Erasmus students explain to me. These aspects will bring my professional level of study to a higher level as I have more experience with pupils of different nationalities, which is a common aspect in many schools within Northern Ireland for some pupils to not have English as their mother tongue. As there are not many teaching jobs in Northern Ireland with our current climate, this experience has gave me the confidence and belief in myself that I feel I can travel abroad in search of work, which I did not feel before this Erasmus program.

One aspect which I was slightly nervous about was the Religious side of things, going away with two people which are opposites. However this thought quickly vanished on my first week and I could not have picked nicer people to spend four months of my life with.

Moving on from this we had to do a few lessons on Irish history to English classes at our university, called the KHLim. I found these very interesting as I am aware of some Irish history but not in great depth. So I portrayed the Catholic side of history while Adam and Stewart gave the Protestant side of history. After our presentation the Belgian students were shocked at how us three get on so well as they have heard about the troubles in Ireland and even the recent riots in Belfast on the news. We then explained our sides of it that we don’t take sides and want peace – evidently the religion issue within Northern Ireland is improving as two Protestants and one Catholic went on Erasmus together, which definitely wouldn't have happened ten years ago.

Pope Francis (2013) urged members of, ‘all religions and those belonging to no church to unite to defend justice, peace and the environment and not allow the value of a person to be reduced to what he produces and what he consumes.’

Adam, Stewart and I with one of our English classes.

Reference List

·         Pope Francis. (2013), POPE URGES ALL RELIGIONS TO COME TOGETHER IN COMMON CAUSE. “PEACE”.

Available at endtimeheadlines.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/pope-urges-all-religions-to-come-together-in-common-cause-peace1/ (Accessed on 3^rd May).