When I was a child I dreamt of receiving an acceptance letter from Hogwarts (Harry Potter). Years went by, the dream was almost forgotten and my life continued as under an influence of some miraculous guide. I started studying at a university, choosing the interdisciplinary program in philosophy and English studies. Within the first year we were offered, by the Office of International Relations, the opportunity to study at some university abroad, partnership with which is established under the program Erasmus+. From the very first moment I knew I wanted to go, even though, I will not lie, doubts and that time life challenges tried to stop me. But, in the end, mostly thanks to the immense human support of the head of the Faculty of Arts and Letters, the Department of Philosophy and the Office of International Relations (without any exaggeration!) I traveled my new way...

My new destination was St. Patrick´s Pontifical University in Maynooth, Ireland, and, although it was not Oxford (as yet! :), my little dream of studying at Hogwarts suddenly, for one summer semester, became real (see photo). To be honest, the beginnings and almost the entire experience were far from easy. For long however, I act upon the thought (and love to share it), that if I could not manage any life situation (challenge) I am in at the moment, I would not have faced it. Here and now with what I have…

The studies themselves were interesting and formative, like philosophy itself. Different approaches to teaching and examining, one-week holiday in the middle of semester, so many classmates – in contrast with five ladies I am in the class at home university I felt almost invisible, tea with milk, coffee and biscuits for all students at 11:00, and what was the most, the unusual experience to study and converse with priests-to-be were something what made this university, in my perception, unique…

Spending one semester in Ireland was both beautiful and transformative. However, the most valuable realization I came to was not from the teaching-learning process itself, but from a “teacher” called life, which (who) teaches us in parallel alongside everything we decide to learn.
The realization was that a university is not some beautiful aesthetic building which charmed me in the past, nor is it an institution. A university is people, every single one of whom is adding a value to it by one´s own authentic being, by thoughts he/she decides to consciously strengthen in his/hers mind, by choices which form one´s behavior and, consequently, shape the world around us. The university is a place created by the inner truth and beauty which is in every single one of us…

The university (the world) is not IT. The university is ME, the university is YOU, WE are the university!

I thank to my home university which is created by the people without whom I would not be the person I am today…

Ivana Šmihulová