This evening, November 16, 2018, I attended the Zoo Lights at the Columbus Zoo.  In order to be able to enter the zoo, instead of paying, people were donating five or more canned goods.  I donated five canned goods in order to attend this event as well.  These canned goods were being donated to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank.  With the seasons coming up, it is important to remember those who may need a little extra help along the way.  Not everybody can afford to place a meal on their table for their families; that is why food banks are so important.  Food banks allow parents to feed their children, for people to be able to have meals throughout the week, so that they do not go hungry.  It is important as a community to be aware that others need help, and to work together to help provide for those in need.  The Columbus Zoo put on a great event in order to help contribute to this local food bank.  Personally, I found this experience extremely rewarding.  It gave me an amazing feeling knowing that I was helping out people and families in need.  Five cans seems like a small amount of food, but it can make a world’s difference for some families.  Those five cans add up; if everyone contributed just a little bit to causes like these, the outcomes would be amazing.  I am curious to see how many cans the Columbus Zoo was able to collect from people.  It seemed as though many people were donating canned goods, which was a good sign.  I wonder how many families this event will help feed as well.  People in the United States aren’t the only people in need of food and resources, but helping out at the local food bank is a good place to start.  It would be cool if the Columbus Zoo could eventually spread their horizons and find a country across the world that is in need, and work towards donating goods for those people.  The Columbus Zoo is such a huge organization and has the resources to make a project like this happen.  Overall, I enjoyed attending this event because I was able to give back to others.

The event that I attended tonight was called Epimonia, and was presented by Mohamed Malim.  I attended this on October 16, 2018, and it was located in Stillman Hall 100.  Mohamed Malim is from Kenya.  He was born in a refugee camp after his parents fled from the civil war in Somalia.  Mohamed Malim’s organization supports refugees in America.  He makes bracelets from recycled refugee life jackets and donates the money to refugee organizations.  He is also hoping to create other products, such as AppleWatch bands, in order to raise even more money for the refugees in American.  His company name, Epimonia, means perseverance in Greek.  This name is extremely appropriate for this organization because refugees have to persevere in order to make it through their difficult journey.   I was extremely touched and inspired by this presentation.  It was very eye-opening when he said that he was literally moved to Texas with no resources and his family had to start their life from scratch.  It made me feel extremely blessed and lucky to live the life that I have, and also made me want to help the refugee families that are experiencing relocation.  His bracelets are sold online, through his Instagram account, and this is a great way to give back to people in need.  I have heard about refugees quite frequently throughout my time here at Ohio State, but I have not heard an actual refugee give a presentation before.  This felt more personalized and it was great to hear about refugees from the actual perspective of a first-hand refugee.  After attending this event, I want to research more on how to support people that are experiencing relocation to new countries.  This cannot be an easy process, but if there is any way that I can help, I am eager to do so.

I attended the Education Abroad Expo  on September 4, 2018, in the Archie Griffin Ballroom of the Union.  This event relates to the topic of International Affairs because it centers around sending students to countries all over the world to study various topics.  One thing that I gained from this event was learning about the field studies programs.  A woman talked with me about how these trips, which go to Australia, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Tanzania, Panama, and Turks and Caicos, integrate the possibility to observe animals in their natural habitats.  This is mainly a research opportunity, which is something that I personally would be interested in.  This event reminded me of a time last semester, in my biology class, when a TA talked about the research he did on animals in Antartica- his research seemed amazing, and it is exciting that there’s an opportunity for me to get involved in the same field of work.  Although this opportunity seems amazing, I am still wondering what kind of credits I would receive for going on this trip.  I do not want to go on a trip that wouldn’t count towards a credit that I need, and am wondering what this trip would count towards.

If I could design an ideal education abroad trip, I would choose to study in Greece, learning about some course that relates to Health Sciences.  I would choose Greece because it is an absolutely beautiful country.  When I wasn’t in the classroom, I would be at the beach and snorkeling  in the bright blue waters there.  I would want to be in a country where the people are friendly and the weather is good, and Greece seems to capture both of these expectations of mine.  Ideally, the course that I would take would cover one of my major classes for the Health Science program.  I would want to be working towards my degree, as well as spending time in a beautiful country.

This experience would open me up to the world and allow me to grow internally.  I have never been out of the country, and am eager to be experiencing new people and cultures.  This experience would also help me become more independent and learn how to travel by myself.  I want to gain the skills of being able to navigate around a new country and learn the means of transportation there.  I would want to be abroad 4 weeks at the most.  My sister has been gone 6 weeks before and that seems like too much time.  I feel like I would start to get homesick after a little while.  The experience would be amazing though, and spending four weeks abroad would push me out of my comfort zone and allow me to experience new things.

This event made me think about my Second Year Project, and I am considering looking into a study abroad program and doing my project on that.  I have always wanted to study abroad, and after attending this event, it has encouraged me to do further research on study abroad trips.