Who Am I?

Each of the students involved with the SMU Belfast trip come from a different background.  We have students who are studying Arts, Business and Science. Majors include Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Psycology, Marketing, Biology, Criminology, Women and Gender Studies and Sociology to name a few.

My name is Ben and I am a 23 year old fourth year double major in Sociology and Criminology.  I came to Saint Mary's on a whim.  Originally from Bowmanville Ontario, I was living in Kelowna British Columbia when I decided to apply for school on the east coast.  I didn't know a single other person in Nova Scotia when I arrived 5 years ago.  However during this time, I have made amazing friends and done things I never knew I would.  What drew me to Halifax and to Saint Mary's was my desire to be near the ocean and to play music.  Having heard that Halifax as a city could support these two things very well, the move made sense.

I study Sociology and Criminology out of my interest in people.  It fascinates me to hear what drives us, inspires us and makes us tick.  In turn, it also fascinates me to see how society around us reacts to this inspiration, drive and ticking.  Above all is my desire for change.  I love the thought that if we learn about something, we have the potential to understand it, if we understand something, we have the potential to change it.

I have also never made a blog before, but with recent encouragement from the SMU Conflict Resolution Society's head honcho, Bridget, I figured now was my chance to take a shot.

While I intend to avoid bigotry, I am not without my biases.  I will attempt to document my trip to Belfast through the lens of my own 23 year old, Canadian, white, male, secular, middle class eyes.

This is what I see.
What you see could be entirely different.

Benjamin Dykeman