British Invasion and Backpacking: Summer 2018
Marley Musarra, Musarra.7@osu.edu, Psychology major & Neuroscience minor
Description:
I am using my STEP money to cover the four-week summer Study Abroad session: British Invasion, which will address the cultural and historical impact of popular British music from the 1960s. We will be covering the music of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Who, and many more British bands from the 60’s. My classes begin on May 7th on OSU’s Columbus campus. Then, on May 19th, we will be flying to London as a group and beginning the abroad portion of our program. On May 27th, we will travel to Liverpool to finish our studies there. The program ends May 31st in Liverpool. Finally, once the course is over, I am planning to backpack through Spain, Switzerland, Europe and Germany and return to the US on June 28th.
Process:
Although I already knew that I wanted to use my STEP money to travel abroad, there were still many steps I had to take before coming to the conclusion that I would do this specific program. All of the resources available at OSU were extremely helpful to get the ball rolling with my project. First, I met with my academic advisor. During this meeting, we realized that it would not be very realistic to spend an entire semester abroad, because I have finished most of my GEs, so I decided on a summer program instead! After this, I got on the Office of International Affairs website and starting scrolling through potential options. This was when I came across the British Invasion program and saw that it fulfilled my last GE. Next, I attended a Getting Started Session and spoke to the coordinator of my program during OIA office hours. She got me extremely excited about the program and ensured that it was right for me. Each and every one of these steps was critical to my choosing of the British Invasion program.
Results
Although I have not yet completed this project, I have three major objectives for it: to fulfill my calling to study abroad, explore my love for music, and meet my final General Education requirement for the College of Arts and Sciences. I am extremely passionate about taking the opportunity to travel as often as possible and gain as many experiences as I can while I am still young. It is important to me to travel as much as I can now so that I can gain a better understanding of other cultures, develop global competence, and feel as though I did everything I wanted to do in my youth. The second objective of this project is to explore my love for music. Although I can listen to music and watch documentaries on my own as much as I would like, the opportunity to examine the various impacts of music in a classroom setting is very unique. This course creates the opportunity for me to dive into the music in a way that I never have before. Finally, my last objective for this project is to complete my final General Education requirement for Performing and Visual Arts, which is pretty self-explanatory.
Reflection
Although I have not yet completed this project, I expect it to be transformative for my personal growth and prepare me for my professional career. In terms of personal growth, it will boost my confidence to learn more about an area I am not yet informed in. I am going into this course not knowing much about music other than that I enjoy listening to all genres of it, so I realize that at times during the class, I might feel less capable compared to other students. However, I am confident that I will overcome this discomfort with persistence and attentiveness during the course. Once I have completed this program, I will be more prepared for the unease I might feel in many future academic settings, such as when I conduct my own research in Psychology and defend a Thesis my Senior year.
In addition to boosting my confidence, I also believe this experience will help me become more independent. I am going into this program, never having traveled out of the country without my family or close friends before and never having traveled to Europe in general. During my project, I will need to navigate unfamiliar places, interact with strangers on a daily basis, and learn to deal with missing home and the people I love while focusing on myself. These struggles will help me become more self-reliant and prepare me for my plan to attend graduate school and begin my future career in a state other than my birth state. I recognize that I will most likely feel nerves before leaving the state for grad school, but with this experience under my belt, I will feel more prepared to be on my own.
I do not have any of my own photos, as the trip has not yet occurred, but shown above is a British Invasion image from the OIA website.