1. This summer I took part in the Global May Great Britain Education Abroad Program. The structure of the course was Monday through Thursday we were led by our faculty members with our time being split between the classroom learning about different parts of the London culture and then the second part of our time was actually going out into to London to experience what we were currently learning in the classroom that week. Fridays’ through Sundays of this program were left up for us students to do as we pleased and get the chance to travel around London or Europe to see other places and cultures that we are interested in and may not get to are during the education part of this trip. The major countries/cities I traveled to were are as a group are London, Edinburg, Oxford, Dublin, Galway, Amsterdam, and Paris.

2. After living in London, traveling to Scotland and Ireland, and visiting many different cultural sites and institutions have I truly feel like I now have a deeper knowledge of what it means to be “British.” The first thing I realized about the people of London is that they aren’t much different from most people that live in a city when it comes to getting around, they are constantly rushing.

Another thing I have noticed about Londoners, and people in the United Kingdom in general, is that there is an extreme amount of diversity here that I did not expect. Before coming to London I had the image in my head of a white male or female when I thought of the typical European. After being here for half a month and traveling to three different countries I now have a completely different image. People of different color, religion, gender, and origin are all living and working here simultaneously and harmoniously, which is a very cool thing to get to be a part of.

Finally, the main thing I discovered about the United Kingdom is that the Royal family is not nearly as big of a deal here as I had thought. I had this imagine of the country being obsessed with Queen, Princesses, etc. People obviously like the Monarchs and respect them, for the most part, but people definitely do not fawn over them like many people in the United States do. Girls in the United States grow up watching the Disney princesses movies and I believe our love for the Royal family stems for that initial exposure to “royalty’. Another interesting thing I learned about the feelings of the nation came about in our trip to Scotland. We learned that they, for the most part feel that they like an independent country and believe that is what they should be considered.

3. Everyday things that I discovered about being a Londoner include rushing on the tube, rushing up the escalator, rushing across the street. I, along with everyone else in the group, learned very quickly to do things like: having your oyster card out and ready, standing on the right side of the escalator, and taking you backpack off while riding the tube. These small things might not seem very important but my eyes were definitely opened to what it truly feels like to live in the city of London.

The diversity that I spoke of in #2 could truly be seen when we went on our guided tour of the primary school and walking tour of East London. When we stopped in at the  primary school diversity was immediately seen. There were children of all races learning and playing together. I talked to a group of kids from London, India, and Bangladesh who told me that they were each other’s “best friends” and that was truly eye opening to me. It is so important that these kids are learning, when they are so impressionable, that no matter what you look like or where you come from everyone’s the same and equal. On our way to Brick Lane we walked through a part of town that was mostly populated by people from Bangladesh. This area was also home to one of the biggest Mosques in England, which was built right next to a large Synagogue. This was a very cool way to see the diversity of not only race but religion as well.

When it comes to the topic of Scottish independence, our tour guide made it clear that the country is divided on that topic of leaving the United Kingdom and becoming their own independent nation. Many people think that they would be financially and economically fine if they separated, but some people fear they do not have the military infrastructure in place to keep the country safe and secure if they were to break away from England.

4. This trip transformed me deeply on a personal level. I got to discover and interact with more cultures than I ever dreamed of. I got to meet to people and see how others live in what seems like a completely different world than I do. I now have a much deeper appreciation for the importance of experiences life through multiple lenses and I cannot wait to keep developing this characteristic.

This trip also helped expand my horizon on my outlook of business. People and businesses in Europe are defiantly run very differently from businesses in the United States and it was extremely informative to see a different style of management as I hope to me a high level manager of a company in the future and it is never a bad thing to experience as many different styles of business as I can to deepen my understanding of what is good and what is bad when it comes to running a business.

Emily Schwinghamer

Me and friend at the Heineken Experience

Group picture from the top of the London Eye!

London Bridge on a gloomy Tuesday

To see a blog I kept on the central question of “What it means to be British” please follow the links:

http://scalar.usc.edu/works/globalmaygb/schwinghamer—p?path=discovery

http://scalar.usc.edu/works/globalmaygb/schwinghamer—d?path=perception&t=1561935846756

http://scalar.usc.edu/works/globalmaygb/schwinghamer—u?path=understanding

For my STEP Signature Project I traveled to Corfu, Greece to participate in a history general education course titled Introduction to Western Tradition and Contemporary Issues. The course covered the history of Greece starting with ancient mythology all the way up to the EU. I learned so much about Greece and its culture in the classroom and observed the impact of history on the present day, as we traveled to different areas of the country on multiple excursions.

Traveling to a brand new place without anyone or anything to fall back on made me step outside of my comfort zone. Going into this experience, I did not know what to expect: I figured I would have a lot of down time and time to think about my goals and work on personal development. However, we had class every day and would often have exams or other activities planned. One of my personal goals was to be mindful and focus on being in the present, which was challenging when faced with such a loaded schedule. Therefore, I found myself pushed academically, socially, and mentally, and transformed by the relationships I developed and the class itself.

The relationships I developed with the people of Corfu and on my trip are what transformed me the most. Most people on the trip had never met before, but being on the island and spending so much time together led to amazing friendships that I would not have otherwise. Being in the same place for an extended period of time led to becoming regulars at restaurants and cafesand seeing the same people. This eventually led to being on a first name basis and later being Facebook friends. One of the family-owned restaurants we frequented greeted us and welcomed us and treated us like family, which I will forever be grateful for. We found ourselves wondering why we loved this restaurant so much, and came to the conclusion that not only the food tasted like a home-cooked meal, but the company felt like home as well.

Another event that led to my transformation was the rigor of the class itself. As aforementioned, I did not realize how intense the course would be: we had class for 3 hours every day, five exams, and a final project. I learned how to effectively study – being a Computer Science and Engineering major in a history class with lots of essays was tough since I do not think I am a strong writer. However, my writing improved and I was proud of the essays I wrote as well as my ability to retain the information from class. Also, the language barriers with an entirely different alphabet made me focus on new skills to try and learn the language, or at least be able to ask for things in Greek, although most people spoke very good English. Not only that, but it was fun to learn the language and I think the Greeks found it funny when we would mispronounce words. This reinforced the fact that I do like learning new things and I have a wide variety of interests, since I had been feeling “stuck” in my math and science heavy major.

This was a significant experience and I recognized skills that I had not previously. For example, I thought about how easy it was to talk to new people in Greece, and how in America it is not the same at all – I find it difficult to easily converse with strangers, but in Greece we were able to make new friends quickly. This might have been as a result of being Americans, but I do not see why this behavior cannot exist in America. I realized that I should make more of an effort to get to know people because I met so many amazing people both on my trip and from Corfu that I never would have met or gotten to know had I not put myself out there and been open.

Next, I clearly defined my professional goals. I have struggled with what I want to do for a living post-graduation, but I understand now that I am allowed to have a variety of different interests, and I can apply myself wherever I choose, rather than following a more “traditional” route. I want to make a positive impact on the world and I can do it without having to be solely interested in technology.

Finally, I am so grateful to have had this opportunity, and I can genuinely say that I am a different person because of it. I will continue to push myself and achieve more of my goals by using what I learned in Greece to my advantage.

For my STEP-Signature project, I had the opportunity to go to Budapest, Hungary with the Ohio State Global May Hungary Program. During the month I was there, I spent three weeks exploring the culture, history and many important monuments of Budapest and the surrounding region. On top of this, we also spent a week in Warsaw and Krakow, Poland. This program gave me a great look into Central Europe and certainly transformed my perception of this region.

It is safe to say that this program transformed me in multiple ways. In a personal way, I feel as though it has made me a better traveler. This city is nothing like any city I’ve been to. Even though I have spent most of my life living just outside the 5^th biggest U.S. city, with its highly developed and utilized public transport, Budapest is certainly different than most US cities. However, my exposure to this has enhanced my ability to travel in other, similar European cities. In an academic sense, I feel that my perception of central Europe has been completely transformed and enhanced to the point where I can use the knowledge gained and apply it to other regions of the world including the United States. Furthermore, my overall perception of World War II has been incredibly transformed. All my perception and knowledge of World War II has been shaped by the United States and its textbooks and teachings. However, the perception of this war in Poland and Hungary is completely different from each other and the US. This was not the only example of a historical event being portrayed differently from the US. Other examples are World War I, the Holocaust and the Cold War. These differing portrayals have altered my understanding of Central European history.

Parliament Building viewed from a river cruise we took from Visegrád Castle back to Budapest

Szentendre, a riverside town roughly an hour outside of Budapest

There were many aspects of this trip which caused the above-mentioned transformations to occur. To start with, one of the biggest transformations which have resulted from this trip is that it has made me a much better traveler. This can be attributed to the many experiences that I had with the metro system in Budapest, Warsaw, and Krakow. To go into more detail, I was one of the few people who had previous experience navigating metro systems, whether it be in my own city of Philadelphia or New York City. That being said, the transit system in all three cities, but especially Budapest, were much more intertwined. Thus, learning to navigate it took time, but after a while, I was able to master it. An example of this was one day I did some solo traveling around Budapest and wanted to rely on my own instincts instead of Google maps, which I seldom used due to a lack of service. I was still able to get from a market all the way back to the stop by my hostel using public transit and using the many maps provided in stations. After using this system for about a month, I feel much more comfortable with a European style of transit and believe that in my future travels abroad I could very easily use this knowledge in other cities. This theory was put to the test as I was easily able to get around other European cities after my program, including Vienna, Munich, Zurich, and Prague. Thus, in the future when I hopefully return, I feel that I could easily walk into a city and navigate its transit system even if I may not be too familiar with the language; this is a vital skill.

Another way that this program has transformed me as a traveler is that I gained experience in a country whose language is very different from English. Thus, I was forced to use context clues and decipher what words meant in order to get to my desired location. For example, using context clues I was able to figure out the Hungarian words for metro station, left, right and so forth just from using context clues while traveling around the city. This is incredibly important because I would like to travel to places in Europe which are slightly off the beaten path and thus, I may not have the luxury of having signs which are in both the native language as well as English. Consequently, this skill which I gained while in Hungary will be very important and just adds to how this program has transformed me as a traveler.

On a more academic basis, the first way that I felt a change in myself was that I was able to gain an immense amount of insight into the history of Central Europe, its many countries and how they’ve interacted both in the past, present, and future. One of the most important ideas that we talked about was the many different national identities which define the many Central European nations. For example, we learned that the national identity of the country of Hungary was that it is constantly protecting itself and Europe from invaders or those who are working to overtake the nation of Hungary. On the other hand, the nation of Poland’s national identity is that this actual sovereign nation is consistently under attack and may disappear at any time. From this, I was then able to connect to the state identities that are relatively prevalent in the United States. Every state has an identity and that is no different in my own state of Pennsylvania, whose identity is defined as being the birthplace of this nation. To conclude, the idea of national identity was something that we harped on constantly in classes and in the field, and I have now been able to take that and apply it to the way that I look at individual states.

The other way that I feel this trip has transformed me is in the way I look at World War II. I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable on this topic, and I thoroughly enjoy learning about it. World War II was a topic which was discussed almost daily while we were in Hungary and Poland. While in Hungary we focused on how and why Hungary became a Nazi puppet state and how the Jewish population was nearly wiped out by the Red Arrow party. We also visited many memorials highlighting the massacre of the Jewish population, including the famous “Shoes on the Danube Bank” monument which honors those who were killed on the banks and then dumped into the river. In Poland, we delved very deeply into multiple parts of World War II history, starting with the Warsaw uprising and then concluding with the Schindler Museum and a humbling day spent at Auschwitz. These many experiences transformed my understanding of World War II. I grew up learning about it from the United States’ perspective of the war, which is that the US basically came and saved the day both in Europe and the Pacific. However, learning about the war from a country which was on the losing side, and another which was invaded and conquered, gave me a whole new perspective on the war, its perpetrators and its millions of victims.

These transformations are important for me in my career and personal goals. I am working to become an aviation professional. While I don’t yet know in what aspect of that industry it will be, either way, I am confident that whatever I do within the industry will involve a lot of traveling to many different cities. Thus, the transformations that I have seen in my ability to travel will be very important. It is going to be key to my success in these foreign cities that I am able to pick up on the transit system and navigate accordingly, whether it be to business meetings or other sorts of aviation-related projects. On top of this, there is a very good chance that I will be required to travel to a country where English is not commonly spoken, and thus I will need to recall these skills I learned while abroad to help me figure out the words or signs. Moreover, I have the continuing goal of exploring Europe and other places around the world. Whether it is for a week or even a weekend, I will need to use these traveling skills to ensure that I am safe while in these foreign cities.

Wawel in Krakow

My step signature project consisted of traveling to three cities in France and four cities in Morocco. On the study abroad, the group compared and contrasted the two countries on the topics of diversity, religion, government, which provided the group with a deeper understanding of our own and the citizens of the other countries’ lives.

From the start of the trip I knew I was traveling to two very different countries with a historical connection in order to analyze them through a critical lens. Specifically, the comparison of the two governments changed my perspective of the world. Prior to going on the trip, I believed “western” nations were scientifically more advanced both by societal standards and with human rights and freedoms; however, I realized on the trip many countries claim to be free and advanced in these aspects the western world claims to uphold, but most of the countries are no better than those who are often discussed and criticized for their monarchies by the media. Thus, I have learned to look at the world and the media with a more critical and skeptical lens because many countries and sources provide false truths and skewed views of reality. In addition, I discovered no country truly upholds the ideal of human rights, so there are always improvements to be made.

Traveling between multiple cities in France provided the group with a broader understanding of the diversity or lack of it and the different societal norms in specific regions and in the country as a whole. One of the major observations made while exploring was the importance of money and how it is associated with specific demographics. A majority of the residents in the city center of Paris were rich white families; whereas, in Marseille, the city center is extremely diverse and flows with culture. However, Aix-en-Provence, a historically bourgeoisie city, refuses to allow a line of transportation between the two cities because Marseille made up of immigrants. Similarly, in Paris, the wealthy voices are heard, but the poorer minority groups who live in the suburbs are often not considered or heard. Thus, France has an issue when it comes to economic barriers in relation to discrimination and diversity.

One of the major discussions the group had in France about human rights was the banning of the hijab and other head and face coverings worn my Muslim women. Lacïté is a law in France separating church and state. During the worldwide antiterrorism movement Muslims were singled out and discriminated against for being “terrorists.” Thus, in order to indirectly restrict the freedoms of Muslims the government passed a law in 2004 banning all religious symbols in public schools. The law had the largest impact on Muslims because they visibly wear hijabs; whereas, in other religions the symbols are more easily concealed. Following this ban, in 2010 and 2011 wearing niqabs in public and street prayer were also banned. The French government continues to discriminate one specific minority group, stripping them of their freedoms of expression. Thus, France does not uphold the ideals of basic human rights, which conveyed to me how many countries, specifically western ones, are falsely claiming advancement.

Similarly, in Morocco, a guest lecturer spoke about both the LGBTQ+ and feminist movements in the country. Prior to the start of the feminist movement, it was acceptable for women to be harassed in the streets by men; however, a law has since been passed prohibiting street harassment. Despite the new law, the country is both a monarchy and patriarchal society with unequal distributions of power, so the law often fails to be enforced due to corruption. In addition, it is illegal to be homosexual in Morocco and people can be arrested on the street for “looking” gay. Morocco is thus not advanced in terms of human right because they oppress minority groups and use their protests to suggest to the world they are provide equal freedoms to all groups, but the antithesis is the true reality.

The change in the way I view the world and media is significant because it will allow me to obtain knowledge about copious topics from many sources, but then allow me to question those sources, the validity of those sources, and then form my own opinions. The trip was valuable because it helped me in developing my skills to become an independent thinker and person both through experiencing new countries and also learning about how much of the information we receive is only the partial truth. These newfound skills will allow me to succeed in both my profession as a physician and in life in general because I have developed the ability to interpret information through a critical and scholarly lens.