{"id":375784,"date":"2026-04-01T03:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/375784\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T03:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:41:15","slug":"schwarzenegger-tells-belfast-students-to-dream-big","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/375784\/","title":{"rendered":"Schwarzenegger tells Belfast students to dream big"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has told students in Belfast \u201cdon\u2019t limit yourself\u201d to where you come from, and urged them to \u201cpick the biggest goals\u201d.<\/p>\n

Two film students who met the former governor of California said it was \u201cinspiring\u201d to meet the star and took on his message of \u201cdreaming bigger\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Austrian-born star received an honorary doctorate from Ulster University in recognition of his contributions to public service, environmental advocacy and the arts, which he described as an \u201chonour\u201d as he hailed the \u201cgreat university\u201d.<\/p>\n

On his entrance, students held signs reading \u201cHasta La Vista Ulster\u201d and some carried posters or copies of Schwarzenegger\u2019s films such as Terminator.<\/p>\n

\"ArnoldStudents await the arrival of Arnold Schwarzenegger at Ulster University in Belfast (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

He then supervised some powerlifters, counting out reps as they lifted barbells that had been put out at the end of the red carpet.<\/p>\n

Students lined the atrium on the main campus, egging on the Hollywood star with a Belfast \u201cyeo\u201d as he turned and held his doctorate up towards them.<\/p>\n

Schwarzenegger advised the young people \u201cdon\u2019t waste a minute, just study and study and study\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"ArnoldArnold Schwarzenegger talks to pharmacy student Minnie Dihmis at Ulster University (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to understand that the harder it is, the more valuable it becomes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Using an analogy from his past as a bodybuilder, the former Mr Universe compared personal growth to muscle growth, saying \u201cwhen it gets really hard and I can\u2019t do another rep\u201d that is \u201cwhat makes it grow, and that\u2019s the way it is in life\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s when it\u2019s hard, it\u2019s when you struggle, it\u2019s when you fall, it is when you get up again and you continue on,\u201d Schwarzenegger said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why I love to play the character of Terminator, even though it was a machine, but it never stopped, he was relentless, and this is what I want every human being to be, relentless, and not to say, \u2018Oh, this is so hard, oh my God, I have to get up early in the morning, this is so difficult for me\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, this is absurd. Do you want to accomplish something or not? Do you want to be one of millions, or do you want to be unique?<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, the only way you\u2019re going to accomplish something is if you go and you get up early, the early birds get the worm.<\/p>\n

\"ArnoldArnold Schwarzenegger fans hold plaques ahead of a ceremony presenting him with an honorary doctorate at Ulster University in Belfast (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cGet up early, work out, study, do something, develop your brain, develop your body, be a machine, and just move forward and go after this goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actor said it is \u201cremarkable how much talent\u201d comes from Belfast, and told the students about his journey from Austria to becoming one of Hollywood\u2019s biggest stars.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt is amazing because the people here don\u2019t look at themselves as like, \u2018Oh, we come from a little place, and therefore we can only do little things\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a big mistake, because that is the mentality that I\u2019ve seen at work in Austria.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwarzenegger added: \u201cI wanted to break out, I wanted to get into bodybuilding, even though everyone thought that bodybuilding is an American sport, not an Austrian sport, and I would never win and all of those things, but I saw myself as a champion, and I made it.<\/p>\n

\"ArnoldArnold Schwarzenegger poses for a picture with students from the Ulster Screen Academy (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that\u2019s why I say the key thing is to pick a goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter where you come from, it\u2019s where you\u2019re going, that is the important thing, don\u2019t limit yourself from where you come from, just think about where you\u2019re going and you can pick the biggest goals, if you work hard enough, you will achieve it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSee it, believe it, achieve it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was never a doubt in my mind for a second, in any of my goals, there was never a doubt.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know how great that feels to have the faith in your goal and knowing? Because the vision is a preview of what\u2019s to come. That\u2019s why you need the vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his question and answer session, Schwarzenegger met some students from Ulster Screen Academy, including Grace Hamilton and Tabassum Islan.<\/p>\n

\"Arnold(left to right) Ulster Screen Academy students Grace Hamilton and Tabassum Islan, who spoke to Arnold Schwarzenegger after he was presented with an honorary doctorate by Ulster University in Belfast (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

Ms Hamilton said she had a \u201cnice wee handshake\u201d with Schwarzenegger, \u201cand then a lovely group photo, he had his arm on my shoulder, \u2018I was like, oh, OK, hi\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cIt was nice meeting him and just hearing him, even before in the ceremony and things he had to say, especially to students, about drive and motivation and just pursuing your goals, but also dreaming bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Islam said Schwarzenegger\u2019s words \u201cvery strongly resonated\u201d with her coming from Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWe definitely grew up watching a lot of his films, and then coming here, which is quite far away from home, and seeing him up close getting credited and getting awarded for all his life\u2019s work, that is so inspiring to see and also meeting him in person and to shake his hand, that was so very inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has told students in Belfast \u201cdon\u2019t limit yourself\u201d to where you come from, and urged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-375784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}