International Relations Personal Statement

My fascination with International Relations stems from my family experiences. My great grandparents were immigrants from Russia and lived through the Pogroms. My close family currently lives on the border between Gaza and Israel, so Middle Eastern politics and security particularly interests me. My father’s bookshop was randomly blown up by the IRA in 2001, so learning about terrorism and the IRA at GCSE was particularly relevant to me.

I am currently studying Economics, Government and Politics and History, which I feel will complement my further studies in International Relations. One module in Economics specifically covers the National and International Economy and this has heightened my interest in International relations. In this course we focused on world trade and comparing third and first world countries Gross Domestic Product and economic growth rate. We looked specifically at the trends, and the reasons as to why the figures fluctuated, and what was happening at the time that they did. This would benefit me when learning about international relations, as because I already have an interest in the world trading, international relations would give me a greater

This was a two year course to learn how to be a youth leader for children aged 9-15. During this programme, we covered mental health issues, bullying, social problems, abuse and how to deal with these issues if they arose during the residential camp. In a 3 week camp last year, I planned an activity about the Israeli - Palestinian conflict. As this is such a sensitive topic I had to do extensive research in order to produce a balanced point of view. Being a camp leader meant that I was in effect loco parentis for the children. This was a huge responsibility as I did have to deal with a number of sensitive issues. From this experience I learnt communication skills, how to use my initiative and developed my leadership skills to a whole new