For my STEP Signature Project, I traveled abroad to Finland and Estonia for two weeks to learn about their views on public health issues and how they address them.

My goals for this study abroad were to learn more about Finland and Estonia, their public health approaches, and be independent in a foreign country. After coming back from the trip, I can say I achieved all the goals I had set for the study abroad. I learned a lot about the Finnish and Estonian culture and got to experience it first-hand. It was very interesting to learn about the history behind the two countries and how they’ve become how they are today. I also successfully traveled on my own, increasing my confidence and allowing me to become more independent. However, I think the biggest transformation that has occurred for me is my view on America’s health system. Before this trip, I knew our country has a very complex health system that many people dislike but I didn’t know what we could do to improve it. Visiting Finland and Estonia and getting the chance to learn about their health systems has opened my eyes to the many things that America could change.

My travel experience throughout the trip helped me become more independent. I had to be responsible for myself and be very prepared. While I have traveled by airplane before many times, it was always with my family. My parents always took care of tickets, passports, making sure we were on time so I would never have to worry about it. This time, however, I had to make sure I kept track of my passport, ticket, and knew where to go to catch my plane. Everything went very smoothly, giving me the confidence I need to travel alone in the future.

The one week of class I had before going on the trip provided me with all this new knowledge about healthcare and public health viewpoints. I learned about Finland’s amazing education system, social and health insurances, as well as some public health initiatives such as Baby Boxes. Estonia is also very similar, but also supports personalized medicine and has voluntary biobank in order to make precise and personalized treatments for diagnoses. Both the countries also have universal health care. Both also spend less money on health care when compared to the United States, but have better health outcomes. This really opened my eyes to the issues in the American healthcare system and what improvements can be done.

After traveling to the countries, I was able to observe what I learned in class in person. My favorite experience would have to be visiting a Finnish high school and getting to interact with the students and seeing how different it is from the U.S. I could see how the school lunches in Finland are much healthier than the ones served in most public schools in America. Eating lunch is a pivotal part of a student’s day and it was great to see how Finland really values the student’s education and health. In addition, conversing with the students allowed me to understand the culture of Finland. This was really nice to learn about because I didn’t know what to expect before the trip, but I realized afterwards that the students were just like myself. Everyone was very kind, accommodating, and patient, which made my experience in the country so much more amazing.

Most people think of America as a country full of opportunity and always one step ahead of the rest of the world. I believed this too until I visited Finland and Estonia. I questioned why no one talks about these countries and the great things they do for their citizens. Specifically, in terms of healthcare, both countries are role models for the rest of the world to follow, with their low expenditure on healthcare and great health outcomes. Seeing and learning about these initiatives is valuable to me because I plan on going into the medical field. By knowing how to improve our healthcare and improve health outcomes, I will be doing the best I could in my field. It is also valuable to my personal life because I’m at the age where I should start paying attention to healthcare laws and public health initiatives and knowing how they affect me. After this trip, I learned how much better America could be and I hope to one day see this country change for the better.