Evelyn O’Carroll

Evelyn O’Carroll is a junior Political Science and Social Policy student from Trinity College Dublin, currently on international exchange for this semester. She writes a column documenting her experiences of studying abroad at the University of Florida.

A band performs inside Hank Williams Jr.'s Boogie Bar, Feb. 21, 2026, in downtown Nashville, Tenn.

Evelyn O’Carroll

OPINION | COLUMNS

‘Evelyn Goes Gator’: The different ways we wear national pride

By Evelyn O’Carroll | Mar. 3

In that sense, Nashville did not feel completely foreign at all. It felt like a louder, more scaled-up version of something I already recognized. I left the city thinking less about whether one version of nationalism is better than the other and more about how much history shapes the way a country presents itself.

Bayden Armstrong

OPINION | COLUMNS

‘Evelyn Goes Gator’: Sport as a social language

By Evelyn O’Carroll | Feb. 15

Back home in Ireland, sport is tied first to geographic location. Even if you never played, you usually belong to something: a club, a parish or a county. The Gaelic Athletic Association organizes Ireland’s main indigenous sports, Gaelic football and hurling, through local clubs. Because it relies on volunteers and local pride, sport ends up woven into ordinary social life.

Bayden Armstrong

OPINION | COLUMNS

‘Evelyn Goes Gator’: Permission to enter

By Evelyn O’Carroll | Feb. 11

Last weekend I travelled to London for a wedding, and somewhere between the airport lines and the slow shuffle toward passport control, I got hit with a memory I didn’t expect: the visa process that brought me to UF in the first place.

Fans watch a drone show in Miami, Fla., the week of the 2026 College Football National Championship.

Evelyn O’Carroll

OPINION | COLUMNS

‘Evelyn Goes Gator’: Culture shock comes quickly in Gainesville

By Evelyn O’Carroll | Jan. 31

Navigating crowds, nightlife and student social life.

Bayden Armstrong

OPINION | COLUMNS

Introducing ‘Evelyn Goes Gator’: What does Gainesville look like to an Irish exchange student?

By Evelyn O’Carroll | Jan. 17

I’m a junior exchange student from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. I arrived in Gainesville a few days ago, and I’ll be writing in this recurring column about what the move actually feels like, from culture shock and logistics to the small stuff people don’t warn you about.