Second Year Project Summary

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.

My First Semester at OSU

My first semester at OSU was everything I could have hoped for and more!  I never expected to love this school as much as I do now.  As a student, I feel I have learned new study skills that will be beneficial to my future success as an OSU student and that I have a better idea of what I want to do with my degree going forward.  As a member of the general OSU community, I have loved making new friends in a variety of areas in my life and attending football games at such a spirited campus.  College has given me a new sense of independence that I love.  Especially at OSU, it feels like I have everything available to me at the tip of my fingers from ASC Career Services, to the RPAC, to the bigger city of Columbus right outside of campus!  In terms of Humanities, I have loved taking part in such a variety of activities!  I loved ending the semester with a project that could combine Humanities interests with the idea of community at OSU.  Moving forward, I would love to take part in STEP and also become involved with Buckeyethon.

But Out Reflection

But Outs:

  1. I want to meet new people, but I also like to spend time with the friends I have already made
  2. I want to work out every day of the week, but I always get caught up with homework and lack of sleep
  3. I want to keep in touch with old friends and family, but I am always busy during the week.
  4. I want to sign up for mock interviews, but I do not know how to make a resume.
  5. I want to sign up for more clubs, but they meet while I have class.

Solutions:

  1. I want to meet new people, and I also like spending time with my current friends. So, I will introduce my current friends to new people and we can all be friends.
  2. I want to work out every day of the week, and I always get caught up with homework and lack of sleep. So, I will create a weekly plan that prioritizes work but also makes time for exercise.
  3. I want to keep in touch with old friends and family, and I am always busy during the week. So, I will set aside time on Sundays to make phone calls and Facetime the important people in my life.
  4. I want to sign up for a mock interview, and I do not know how to make a resume. So, I will go to Baker East’s resume workshop.
  5. I want to sign up for my clubs, and they meet while I have class. So, I will somehow get in touch with leaders of the clubs to let them know I am still interested and try to work something out.

Humans of OSU

Anna Weber is a third-year student at OSU.  She grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and went to Chagrin Falls High School.  Growing up, she loved to play piano.  She chose to come to OSU because of its size and all of the opportunities that come along with it.  As a freshman, she chose to major in communications and was involved in Women’s Glee.  However, through Women’s Glee, she realized that she wanted to be doing even more with music.  So, at the end of her freshman year, she auditioned for the music school.  Although she was originally a pianist, she decided to try focusing on voice as her major instead.  Lately, she has loved playing art songs and arias from operas.  Now, she is in symphonic choir, which is the highest level choir at OSU. She says, “Basically, I would major in choir if I could!”  In addition to her involvement with choir, she is also in a band.  She sings and plays keyboard with three of her friends on bass, drums, and guitar.  They just recorded their first songs and are working on playing shows.  She also has a second major in English on the creative writing track.  She is currently taking fiction workshops and is excited to start with poetry next semester. She says, “Basically, I just love OSU because it is so big and thus there are so many opportunities.  So, I was able to switch majors and also easily join musicians Collective Club to learn about starting a band.”  Ideally, she would love to combine her two majors into a future career.

 

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Pictured above is Anna in the practice rooms at Hughes Hall