How the tables have turned

For those readers who don't know, I spent my last two years at Marquette living in a community called Global Village. We were made up of half full-time MU students, called Ambassadors, and half international exchange students. While living there I had roommates from Spain, France, the Czech Republic, China and Mexico and became close friends with neighbors from even more countries.

Coming to Northern Ireland is the first time I've been out of the United States since I moved into GV in August of 2008. I spent two full school years and the summer in between there. I loved living there because I was able to learn tons about other cultures while still being at home. GV presents an opportunity where a lot of open-minded people come together and feel free to share their experiences with one another.

Since I arrived in Northern Ireland, I've been significantly immersed in the culture here, which is very different from when I studied abroad in Rome, where most of my time was spent with the other Americans in my program. I realized today that this is the first time I've truly seen the other side of what I experienced as an Ambassador in GV. I'm excluding the time my family spent living in Japan because I don't think I was fully aware of the value of the experience as a 14-year-old.

In Global Village, I was able to ask my neighbors about their countries and cultures as often as I wanted. While here, I've been asked many of the same questions about the United States, and realized just how intimidating that can be. I think it's very important to make every possible effort to be a positive representative of my home country, but some questions throw me for a loop. What do I say about political issues? How do I explain the Rod Blagojevich situation? One of the 10-year-olds at Stormont on Wednesday mentioned something about George W. Bush planning the Iraq war to get more oil. I was relieved I didn't have to respond to that because another planned event forced me to leave before they could ask me questions. I wouldn't have known what to say.

These are things that I know a lot about -- probably more than the average person. But I find myself being very careful answering questions because I don't want to misinform or skew reality in some way. It's a challenging experience, and I hope I'm doing a good job with it.