For my STEP project, I studied abroad to Buenos Aires, Argentina in May 2018. I participated in Ohio State’s education abroad program called “Global Hotspots of the Early Modern World: Argentina.” I studied abroad with twelve other students for this global history program led by Dr. Margaret Newell, a professor in The Ohio State University’s Department of History. Through site visits, independent research, museum visits, and cultural experiences, I completed an OSU course that coincided in the education abroad that counted for both historical study and global studies.
I am thankful for this opportunity as it has allowed me to grow into a stronger leader and a more globally-minded citizen. New experiences with people different from me in Buenos Aires have encouraged me to be more open-minded in all aspects of my life. I have strengthened my communication skills through interaction with locals in Argentina despite linguistic and cultural boundaries. The project challenged me intellectually, exposing me to historical research and literature – something outside of my academic scope as a STEM student. Aspiring to be a more globally-minded citizen, the program’s focus on Buenos Aires as a global hotspot familiarized me with past and current events that have inspired and continue to inspire global change.
One piece of the trip that drove my transformation into a more open-minded individual was traveling with other Ohio State students that were different from me in a variety of aspects. Going into the trip, I did not know anyone at all. We all had different majors, hometowns, and involvements at Ohio State. Building meaningful relationships with my peers helped me understand the importance of accepting the differences of those around you because you learn a great deal from these experiences. Interacting with locals on the streets of Buenos Aires was also an eye-opening experience that I will always value. Buenos Aires is known to be a large, vibrant city full of cultural diversity, so meeting locals in museums, restaurants, site visits, and guest lectures and interacting with them really taught me the importance of remaining open-minded.
I studied abroad with this program without having the skill to fluently speak Spanish. Several times throughout the trip, this was challenging. However, I learned a great deal from this challenge as I learned how to communicate across those language barriers. I quickly picked up on social and cultural cues and basic Spanish vocabulary in conversations and used it along with other forms of visual communication to speak with others. For example, my peers and I had the opportunity to share our opinion of our American government with Argentine students in a museum when asked. While it was difficult to communicate with them clearly, together we all were able to get our point across. This cross-cultural communication skill is something I am really glad my STEP project helped me develop.
Horseback riding was an amazing experience in our weekend excursion to Salta in Northern Argentina.
This experience was also intellectually challenging as I am a STEM student, and this education abroad focused primarily on history. With a history focus, the program utilized a lot of literature, primary sources, and historical research in its curriculum. This was not something I typically experience as a STEM student, so I found it refreshing and intellectually stimulating. The project transformed me intellectually with the opportunity to conduct my own historical research on an Argentine topic interesting to me. As a pharmacy student, I have an interest in healthcare, so I researched the yellow fever of 1871 in Buenos Aires and prepared a digital capstone project analyzing primary resources to make a claim about the government’s impact on the epidemic’s spread.
Why not throw up an OHIO at the Casa Rosada? This “pink house” is the national seat of the Argentine government and houses the office of the President.
As a future healthcare professional, I will be expected to be a culturally competent provider. Many patients I will serve will be different from me in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and other several variables. This STEP project provided me with hands-on experience communicating and interacting with others across cultural boundaries. I feel more prepared and comfortable serving others different than me and have a greater appreciation for being open-minded as a result of my time in Argentina. Being open-minded is so crucial for the success of the pharmaceutical industry. As an individual working in the pharmacy profession in the future, I aspire to help create the next life-saving drug for cancer patients. This can only be achieved by a world full of globally-connected, open-minded leaders that freely share ideas. I feel that my time studying abroad in Argentina has provided me with a greater understanding of what it means to be that globally-connected, open-minded individual.
My classmates and I blogged about all of our site visits. You can follow them here at this link: https://u.osu.edu/argentinastudyabroadmay2018/ The password is Salta.
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Riley Evans