Sarah Grady

1. Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project.

The past Spring 2019 semester I studied abroad with Semester at Sea. In 106 days I traveled 11 countries across 4 continents. We traveled by sea aboard the MV World Odyssey and got the chance to learn so many things in Hawaii, Japan, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, India, Mauritius, South Africa, Ghana, Morocco, and Amsterdam.

2. What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project?

My understandings and my assumptions of myself and the world completely transformed while completing this project. From the culture shock of silent Japanese trains to traveling through Myanmar, a country where religious genocide was and is happening still, to experience load shedding in Cape Town, I learned that my privilege in being an American runs deep, yet there are also comparisons that make me ashamed of my own country.

I learned how to be confident in myself and adapt to the everyday curveballs life throws my way, especially while traveling. I learned how to deal culture and language barriers, trying to represent myself, my family, my school, and my country as best as I could. I transformed from a site seeing tourist to an eager to be informed traveler.

3. What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you?

A specific event during my Semester at Sea voyage that led to my transformations occurred on the way to and during my time in the beautiful country of Myanmar. There was so much conversation about whether or not we should be traveling there at all, with the genocide of the Rohingya people occurring. Many people thought we were encouraging it and giving our tourist money basically directly to the government who is inflicting this hateful ethnic cleansing. However, many people also conversed about the fact that without our visiting and seeing the lives of the majority of the Burmese peoples, we never would have even known about what was going on, and how to have productive conversations about politics, religion, and our places and roles as global citizens. The ultimate decision to experience the country was one of the best that we made, in my opinion, because I learned more about a country and its people than I ever had, and learned that there is more love in the world than hate.

A relationship that led to my transformation during that Spring semester was a friendship that I forged around halfway through the voyage. During my travels in India, I participated in a program that brought us to animal sanctuaries and elephant conservations. On the way to or from one of these stops, I sat down on the bus next to someone I hadn’t yet met. At the beginning of my trip this was a normal thing to do because no one really knew each other. However, once we all settled into our friend groups on the ship, there wasn’t as much of these reaching out gestures. To this day I am so glad that I made the decision to share a five hour bus ride with her because she became my first friend from a country other than my own. She told me all about her family and home life in China, and was so happy when I told her that I visited her home city while I traveled there a couple weeks before. We compared different foods we liked and television shows, and even now still follow each other and social media and message each other from time to time. Even though there is a chance I will never see her again, I know that I can connect with people from completely different backgrounds from my own and become a better person for it.

My confidence grew immensely throughout this global experience and it showed in the travel skills I and my friend group as a whole honed and developed by the end. Our last port country was Morocco and comparing it to our first port country of Japan still makes us all laugh today. Going into Japan, some of us had never been to a foreign country, and none of us had ever done it with people we had basically just met. That being said, our travels through Japan did not run smoothly and we missed out on some things we wanted to accomplish there. However, by the time we got to Morocco, we had a game plan and accomplished everything we wanted to in the Northern African nation. This trip not only honed my skills in the way that I know I can handle responsible travel, but it also fueled my passion to want to continue bettering myself and surmounting more obstacles year after year. Time management and optimism were essential abroad, and are now essential in my everyday life at home as well.

4. Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life?

This transformational travel experience is extremely significant and valuable for my life because I now see how much of an impact one person can have on the world and how important it is to be able to communicate with and learn from people vastly different than myself. The perspectives I have gained will keep my mind open to new ideas and ways of life than can better my own life. Knowledge really is power and I learned more on this experience than I ever have in a classroom.

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1. My STEP Signature Project was a study abroad program in London, England. I took classes, lived in a dorm, and participated in campus activities at Richmond University.

2. I learned so much about myself throughout this process. I had never before seen myself as an independent person, but being able to live in a massive international city, and thrusting myself into an environment where I didn’t know many people allowed myself to discover that I am independent and enjoy figuring things out on my own. I was able to meet people from so many different backgrounds, and got to experience the diversity of living in such a large city with such a big community, something I wouldn’t be able to see at Ohio State. My confidence as a person, as well as my confidence for my success upon leaving Ohio State in a year, increased greatly.

3. The traveling I was able to do while living in Europe led me to discover so much about myself and my confidence. Before this, I had only traveled with family or a couple times with friends to comfortable parts of the US. In this new environment, I was able to inexpensively buy tickets to new countries and discover new places I had never dreamed of. This showed me the itch I have for discovering different parts of the world, and alleviated fears I had previously held on my ability to navigate new places. I was able to try different foods, meet different kinds of people, and explore so many new places.

   I also met so many people abroad that I wouldn’t have before. Being in a small program, especially compared to the size of Ohio State, we got to know the other students on our program very well. I met so many people from different backgrounds, and it was so interesting to me to hear the different reasons why students chose to study abroad, and what they hoped to gain out of the experience. Getting to travel with these people also created so many memories I will cherish forever, and helped me discover that although I love to spend time with others and create memories together, I am capable, and do enjoy, exploring on my own.

   Exploring the city of London was also one of the most incredible parts of living abroad. I have never lived in a large city before, and the accessibility to so many different cultural events, food, and different types of people was an amazing thing I had always dreamed of experiencing. This again led me to discover my independence and my ability to figure things out on my own, instead of relying on other people as I have done in the past. This made me realize that after college I want to step outside of what I have felt comfortable in over the years, and move to a new city that I have yet to explore.

This transformation is something that will impact my entire life moving forward. Being able to experience so many new and different things in such a short period of time left me with not only the travel bug, but a new set of priorities for my life. Though I still care immensely about schoolwork and the consistent people in my life, I also have a newfound appreciation for experiencing new cultures and meeting people that I may not be able to if I stay within the boundaries that I am comfortable with

For my STEP Signature Project, I had the privilege of studying abroad at Accademia Italiana in Florence, Italy to pursue one of my passions–graphic design.  I was able to complete my Design Thinking minor in the art capital while also traveling to and experiencing different European cultures on the weekends. My program was longer than most–131 days to be exact.  I am grateful for this opportunity to exercise my creativity and take classes that differ entirely from my Fisher College of Business classes.

Prior to my semester abroad, I had never travelled to Europe or force myself to be immersed in a different culture.  I didn’t speak any Italian, so it was quite a challenge living in Italy while only knowing enough words to get by. Spending an entire semester in Florence has not only allowed me to be immersed in European culture, but allowed to be to pursue a passion of mine that I had been neglecting throughout my college career.  I was able to take art and design classes in which I was exercising a different part of my brain that isn’t typically used in my business classes. One of the greatest challenges was attending an Italian university, in which my classes not only had international students, but also Italian students that spoke only a small amount of English.  My classes were taught in Italian and then the professor would translate it to English for all of the English-speaking international students. It was quite a challenge to understand exactly what the professor wanted; however, as I learned elementary Italian, I was able to generally understand the professor and submerge myself into the language.  My friends and I would challenge ourselves by ordering meals in Italian and trying to practice throughout Florence.

During this semester, I was also able to budget myself and track my expenses to make sure that I had enough money for the semester, which is something that I always struggled with.  This also aided in planning trips, which I was unfamiliar with prior to my abroad experience. During my abroad experience, I have traveled to 13 different European countries and over 30 cities, immersing myself in the culture and the history that is presented all across Europe.  Traveling to all of these different places helped me step out of my comfort zone and gain a new sense of independence that I will have with me for the rest of my life. I am confident that I have matured during my semester as I have experienced an entire new culture and jumped into a program in which I had to make friends, plan trips, learn the language, and learn financial management skills.

Studying at an Italian university was a very new experience for me and I think it directly contributed to the independence that I have gained throughout this semester.  The Italian university system and the European education system overall differs from the way that the American education system is set up. The Italian university system lacks organization, which requires students to be more flexible–something I wasn’t really used to.  The professors are very laid-back and there isn’t a lot of structure. My classes averaged at 3.5 hours long and because they were art classes, most of the class would just be working on a certain project. At OSU, the classes I take within the Fisher College of Business are test heavy and require studying for weeks to absorb the material.  At Accademia Italiana, I took Graphic Design I, Principles of Design, Elementary Italian, and Life & Works of Michelangelo. In my Life & Works of Michelangelo class, every week we went to a different museum or church or important house for artwork in Florence and we learned firsthand about the importance of art history within Florence. It was extremely awesome to actually see the artwork in person that was being talked about and tested on.  My graphic design courses gave me the chance to use my creativity on Adobe Illustrator–a software that I wasn’t familiar with before. My assignments were challenging, yet creative and adhered to my passion for art. I have now realized that my dream career exists with combining my Marketing major with my graphic design skills and I know that my experience abroad and the vast amount of resources that OSU offers to prepare its students for the real world.   I was able to create a portfolio of all the work I created this semester and I plan on using it for future job applications. Prior to studying abroad in Italy, I didn’t speak a word of Italian, but I studied elementary Italian and was able to grasp the language quite quickly. I found that Italian was very similar to Spanish, as I had studied Spanish from elementary school to high school, and performed well in class and on the exams and challenged myself to practice the language whenever I could.  I was impressed with myself that I was able to grasp another language in order to better submerge myself in the culture.

Over the course of this semester I travelled to 13 countries as a stated before including England, Belgium, France, Spain, Croatia, Montenegro, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal and of course, Italy.  I travelled to all these places with the friends that I had made in Florence on my program, but we challenged ourselves to planning weekend trips as I had never booked a flight or a hostel room by myself. All across Europe, we usually stayed in hostels and met people from all over the world that shared our passion for traveling.  We were able to be resourceful by creating itineraries for all of our weekends trips.

Ultimately the biggest change I saw in myself was my ability to take risks and my confidence.  I had never emerged myself in such a new and unfamiliar experience. I chose to study abroad without any of my friends in a place where I didn’t know the language.  Throughout this semester, I had the privilege of paragliding in Interlaken, Switzerland, cliff-jumping in Lisbon, Portugal, swinging on the highest swing in all of Europe in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  All of these exciting and adrenaline boosting experiences that I would never have done without pushing myself this semester. I tried all of the local food of every country I visited–trying to be adventurous with my cuisine and immerse myself in the culture.  I have complete confidence in myself now to plan and execute trips, while being on a budget. During this semester, I have missed flights, been fined for not validating a bus ticket, getting on the wrong train, and so many other stressful situations that have allowed me to become an active problem solver and elevate the skills necessary to jump into the real world after college.

Overall, my abroad experience in Florence, Italy, has allowed me to take classes that I never would have been able to taken at OSU and has made me realize the importance of creativity and my natural talent for it.  The independence that comes with studying abroad will prepare me for my future career. This semester I was able to challenge on the weekends to other parts of Europe in order to make the most of my experience while also juggling classes during the week.  My ability to immerse myself into an unfamiliar experience will aid in my life after college when I have to start a real career that may be far from my friends and family and independence will be necessary. These personal developments and new cultural experiences have shifted the way I view the world.  I felt that my perception on the world was very narrow-minded prior to my experience due to the little amount of traveling that I had done. I had never experience a culture so different to mine–including the fact that all over Europe, restaurants charge you for water (tap water doesn’t exist)! The skills that I have obtained from time and financial management while planning all of my trips abroad will be an asset to my professional goals as I enter the business world.  This semester also taught me to sit back and watch the world go by. At school, I tend to be so focused on getting good grades or spending hours and hours in the library and I forget to enjoy the campus outside of the library. Italians are very laid-back in their studies and get most of their work done in class, so that their time is consumed with other experiences including going to museums, eating a panini or gelato outside, or spending hours at a restaurant having a relaxing meal.  Life is short and I think the Europeans got it right in that they use their time more carefully by focusing on the simpler things in life instead of just studying for a test. I lived with 8 roommates this semester–varying in personality, major etc. and living with all of my new friends taught me an extreme amount of patience as we handled obstacles throughout planning trips and maintaining an apartment and taking classes together. This will prepare me for the future because I may have to work with people I may not be fond of or people that I have experienced many obstacles with.  It was quite the culture shock remaining in Florence, Italy for the last 4.5 months and I am happy that I took the risk of going abroad by myself and taking classes that were out of my comfort zone. I was up for the challenge and I am proud of myself for that. I am fortunate to have had such an amazing and life changing experience.

1. Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed.

My STEP Signature Project was studying abroad in London for the spring 2019 semester. I attended Richmond University, the American International University in London, where I took both major classes and electives. I lived at the Kensington campus, which gave me easy access to visiting other parts of the city. In addition to schooling, I traveled all over Europe on multiple weekends, visiting 10 countries in total.

2. What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? Write one or two paragraphs to describe the change or transformation that took place.

Before I went abroad, I had never been to Europe. I was nervous because it was going to be the furthest I would have been from home, and it was a four-month trip! It was not a quick trip or vacation, but I would be fully living in London and immersed in the European culture. I knew nothing about planning trips, the necessities of traveling, or what to expect in different countries. However, this project helped me grow so much in these areas. I learned all about planning trips and how to do it, which I never thought I would do. I used to get so overwhelmed, but now I am confident in my skills. So much so that I was able to plan my dad and sister’ visit to me.

Traveling itself taught me so much about different cultures. Europe has so much rich history, so being able to experience that all in person was very rewarding. Interacting with native people and eating local foods helped me immerse myself in each country. I was also able to start comparing different countries, cultures, and norms to each other and the US. My friends and I had really interesting discussions about the differences between the US and each place we visited. From politics to clothing to environmental action, we recognized each country’s unique take on the subjects. I soaked in every new experience and lived in the moment. Traveling really taught me to let loose, have fun, and enjoy the present.

3. What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you? Write three or four paragraphs describing the key aspects of your experiences completing your STEP Signature Project that led to this change/transformation.

For the personal change, the people I met and the things I wanted to do abroad really pushed me and challenged me to grow in this area. I can break this down further. As I mentioned above, I used to get so overwhelmed planning trips. I never knew how to book things, what were good locations and what weren’t, etc. However, the friends I made abroad taught me how to do all of this. I know I wanted to take advantage of easy and cheap travel in Europe, and so did the friends I made. Therefore, we planned out our trips at the beginning of the semester (of course leaving time for school). Once we picked the weekends and the cities, we had to book each trip. This is where I needed help. Two of my friends specifically, are extremely good planners. They have planned trips before and know how to do it. I learned from watching them plan our weekend trips. They knew how to book safe, inexpensive Air Bnbs, where to stay, and which activities to do. I owe my newly developed trip-planning skills to them.

During my time abroad, I visited 10 countries. They were London, France, Scotland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Germany, and Belgium. My passport is now a lot fuller than it used to be, which makes me very happy. I feel as though I took advantage of being young and in a place very accessible to other countries. We researched different authentic restaurants and touristy things to do in each place in order to get the full experience. For example, in Prague we ate chimney cakes, in Paris, we saw the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night, in Edinburgh we visited the Scottish Highlands, and we even took a tour of a concentration camp in Germany. Each city we visited had so much history behind it. Taking tours and visiting museums taught me so much about each place. I began noticing differences between the European countries and the US. For example, they are much more environmentally friendly in Europe. You have to pay for a bag at the end of a shopping trip in order to encourage you not to use it. Another example is the comparison in food between London and the US. American food is much better than British food in my opinion. Traveling sparked intellectual conversation as well. I remember sitting at a café at the Vatican discussing religious prominence in the US with my friends. It really was such a way to initiate discussion and enlighten us.

In addition to this, my project also taught me how to let loose, laugh at yourself, and have fun. Being a foreigner in another country was sometimes weird. I learned an American stereotype is that we’re loud. My friends and I definitely got some dirty looks on the Tube just from talking too loudly. While incidents like this were shocking and insulting at first, I eventually began to adjust and learn the cultural norms. I learned to just laugh at myself when I made a mistake and correct myself the next time. It’s interesting because you prepare for almost a year to go abroad and say goodbye to friends and family, worried about missing out or missing them. However, it’s incredible how easy you can adjust when thrown into a situation like this. Not only did I adjust to the cultural norms of London, I learned things about the US as well. I did this through people in my program. I made friends from all over the country including California and Arkansas. I never imagined meeting someone from Arkansas. Being surrounded by students from different parts of the US as well as living in another country, really taught me absorb everything around me, live in the present, and enjoy myself.

4. Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? Write one or two paragraphs discussing why this change or development matters and/or relates to your academic, personal, and/or professional goals and future plans.

I wanted to study abroad my whole life. I grew up hearing stories from my mom’s experience and wanted to do the same thing. It was a life accomplishment in a sense. It had been a goal of mine for so long, and I finally accomplished it—and it could not have gone any better. I was able to take a step back from reality and immerse myself in a new world with new cultures and new people. It was a time for me to learn about myself and see a world I had only seen online and in textbooks before. I am coming home with a new desire to travel. I want to see as much of this world as I can. Through budgeting this past semester and learning how to plan travel, my plans and goals to travel in the future are realistic. Learning in the British school system was a difficult adjustment, but I ended up learning a lot about my major and other topics that I hadn’t learned about before including media law and ethics. The stories I will bring home with me will help with interviews for my professional goals. I do not know what I want to do but I will carry this experience with me for the rest of my life, and apply everything I have learned to achieve my future goals.