STEP Reflection

Name: Claire Limbert

Type of Project: Education Abroad

For my project, I studied abroad during the month of May through a program called Trondbuss that was sponsored by Ohio State’s Molecular Genetics Program. It was a four-week program that took place in Trondheim, Norway at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. While there, I was provided a hands-on introduction to biomedical laboratory sciences. The main activities included working in the lab, touring the university’s hospital, and learning about the science and ethics behind genome sequencing.

While completing my Signature STEP project of studying abroad, I definitely transformed as a person. This trip was actually my very first time going out of the country. I think I almost lived in a little bubble before going on this trip. I never payed attention to any other country or kept up to date on any world news. Going to a new country opened my eyes to a whole new world and changed my view of the world because I noticed such big differences between the U.S. and other countries which I never even thought of before. I now see that there is much more to the world than just the United States.

Not only did this trip change my view of the world but it also helped me understand myself better. The class I took while abroad was very pertinent to my major here at OSU and I think it really solidified for me that I did in fact pick the right major for me. I came into college undecided and had always had Molecular Genetics in the back of my head but I am very hesitant when making big decisions. After my freshman year, I decided to just go for it because I felt as though genetics is what interested me the most. Although it interested me greatly, I didn’t have much experience with it. I learned so much during this trip and I loved every second of it. This trip just really put me at ease because I believe I’m now very confident in my choice to become a Molecular Genetics major.

One main thing that led to my change in the view of the world was that fact that English was not the native language in Norway. I had never been anywhere before where English wasn’t the prominent language. This was a big culture shock for me and it definitely took some adjusting to. It just made me think about how many other languages are out there and how closed off I’ve been my whole life. Before this trip, I think I just expected everyone to know English and that was very selfish of me. Luckily many Norwegians do in fact know English because Norway is the only country that speaks Norwegian so they tend to know multiple languages in order to communicate with more people. Seeing that typical Norwegians usually know at least three languages by the time they graduate high school really opened my eyes and just made me wonder why the United States doesn’t put more emphasize on learning foreign languages.

Another thing that led to my change in the view of the world was seeing how up to date Norway would stay on world news. I would watch the news every night with my host family and they would attempt to translate as best they could since the news was in Norwegian. I was baffled by how much of their news stories were about other countries. The local news channels would even cover world news. They especially kept up with other countries political news. They very much kept up to date on the United States politics. There were many times when my host family asked me if I knew about something or someone from another country and I think I just said no about every time. There were also times when I think some of the Norwegians I talked to knew more about U.S. politics than I did. All this world news talk made me realize how closed off I am to the rest of the world. Like I stated before I think I lived in a little U.S. bubble before coming on this trip and never realized how many other things are going on around the world.

The thing that helped me understand myself better and help me realize I chose the correct major for me was learning all the different jobs I could have later in life while studying genetics. I’ve always known that I liked learning about genetics and it has always interested me very much but I never really knew what I could do with a genetics degree. This trip showed me so many possibilities. The main events that showed me this was when we toured the different parts of the University’s hospital. I saw so many different fields I could go into for genetics. We got to tour the biomedical laboratory, the genetics laboratory, the pharm genetics laboratory, the genetic counselor’s offices, and the geneticist’s offices. The activity that really interested me was the case studies project which is where we were given three different scenarios and each scenario we had to determine whether a patient was suffering from a disease because of a genetic mutant or not. We initially had to do research on our own first and then we had a meeting with a geneticist and we talked it over with her as a big group. I would say this was the most interesting part of the class because it was something I could see myself doing later in life. It made me realize that I loved genetics and could easily find a job I love after graduation.

4.

I think my change in my view of the world is significant to my life because I have come to the realization that the U.S. isn’t the only country in the world. I am no longer living in my little United States bubble. This experience opened my eyes to the rest of the worlds languages, cultures, politics, and problems. This experience also made me want to explore more of the world. I really enjoyed comparing the differences and similarities of the U.S. and Norway while on my trip. I loved discussing with Norwegians about the U.S. because they were fantasized by it and vice versa. I would love to do this with even more countries around the world. I firmly believe I was bit with the travel bug after going on this absolutely amazing trip.

My change in my view of molecular genetics is very valuable to my life. I saw how my Molecular Genetics degree can be put to use later in life. This is something I’ve struggled with for a while because whenever someone asked what I wanted to do as a career after graduation I never really had an answer for them. After going on this trip, I now realize that there are endless possibilities for me especially since genetics is such an up and coming field. I now feel secure in being a Molecular Genetics major because I know there are so many options for me. I now feel as though I have an actual plan for my life after graduation. This trip helped me realize what career plan I want to take.