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.

During Spring of 2020, I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad in Salzburg, Austria. I took classes in Austrian Literature, Austrian Culture, German, and Music History. While I was there, I was able to travel to Spain, France, Germany, and Hungary on the weekends, and make memories that will last a lifetime.

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.

While completing my STEP Signature Project, I think what changed most about myself is my confidence. Prior to my study abroad experience, I had travelled out of the country, but only ever with my family or with my volunteer group. This was the first time I had traveled internationally alone. That meant I was in charge of making sure I had my boarding passes and passport, as well as making plans for travel after I arrived at the airport. After doing this successfully multiple times during my study abroad, I have so much more confidence in myself and in my abilities. Additionally, my self confidence in being in unfamiliar situations has also increased. The thought of being thrown into a new atmosphere without knowing anybody was really stressful for me while I was getting ready to depart. However, by the time my project ended, I had made many new friends and successfully navigated that hard situation. If I am every in a situation like that again, I feel confident that I can do it without too much worry.

Along with every other student who studied abroad during spring of 2020, my project was cut 9 weeks short due to Covid-19. While I was extremely disappointed that the semester I had planned for so long was ending so abruptly, I did learn a lot about myself and the world while going through that intense experience of getting home. I think the most notable change in my world view would be how interconnected the US and Europe is. Within a few days of the US announcing their border was going to close and the population was going to start quarantining, Austria and the EU announced the same thing. I knew COVID was bad in Italy, but I thought when I got home to Colorado everything was going to be normal. Obviously, I was wrong. I think the experience not only showed me the seriousness of Covid-19, but it also opened my eyes to the interconnectedness of the world, especially between places like the US and the EU.

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.

Many of my memorable experiences I had in Austria that increased my confidence had to do with Covid-19. However, I don’t want to focus solely on that, because I had so many other wonderful experiences before everything turned upside down. While in Salzburg, I lived in a homestay with an elderly Austrian lady. I really enjoyed it. It was exciting to learn Austrian culture, and to also eat her wonderful Austrian cooking! Because I wasn’t living in the dorms, I had to take the bus everywhere I went, including to class and downtown. After just a few weeks, I had completely mastered the bus system, and memorized the schedule. This not only increased my self-confidence, but also improved my time management skills. If I missed the bus, there wasn’t another one until 15 minutes later!

Another experience while I was abroad that really helped me grow into a better, more confident person was when I went to visit my family in France. Due to my cousins kindly inviting me to stay with them at their house, none of my friends from Salzburg could come. It was an 8-hour train ride with multiple transfers. Leading up to this weekend, I was really hesitant about if I should go or not. I was worried about traveling alone, to a place I had never been before. However, I took the leap of faith, and that ended up being one of my favorite weekends from my time there! I had to stay focused on keeping myself and my personal artifacts safe while on the train, but I had no problems during the trip. I’m really proud of myself for doing that alone, and I now have the confidence to do that again in the future.

Lastly, the Covid-19 crisis was a huge learning experience for me, as I’m sure it was for all students who were abroad during spring of 2020. After Italy got hit really badly by the coronavirus, my fellow classmates and I knew it was only a matter of time before our program got sent home. All within a few days, President Trump had announced the travel ban and the Salzburg staff notified us that we had one week to leave. This caused mass panic among my classmates, because people thought we were going to get locked out of the US. While I knew this was not the case, I still had to keep myself calm while some of my classmates bought expensive last-minute flights. After sitting on the phone with customer service for 4 hours, I got my flight changed. However, that flight was cancelled and rescheduled twice before it finally was confirmed. I made it on one of the last trains from Salzburg to Munich before Austria closed its boarders, and the pilot of the plane announced that my flight was the last one out of Munich for a long time. Of course, this entire process was extremely stressful for everyone. Being someone who struggles with anxiety, I had to force myself to not panic in this situation. I put all of my focus into what I needed to do to get home safely, and just took things one step at a time. I tried not to fixate on the “what if’s”, and just keep myself focused one day at a time. Being sent home from Covid-19 has transformed me, in a way that I might not have been if my study abroad had been “normal”. I am proud of the way I handled that stressful situation, and remained calm while others were panicking.

3. 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.

Since starting college, I have started to struggle more with my anxiety. In addition to normal school stress, I overthink and overanalyze situations to the point that I struggle to focus on the task at hand. In dealing with my return home from Austria, I am really proud of how I was able to remain calm and focused during such stressful times. I was able to pack without forgetting anything, catch all my trains and flights on time, and even got to spend my last day relaxing and walking around the city that I had grown to love over the semester. This transformation will be so valuable going forward in my life. One of my goals that I am constantly trying to reach is to control my anxiety better. In my future career, there will be times where I am stressed, times where it feels like nothing is in my control. In those moments, I can reflect back on the courage I had during spring of 2020 and remind myself to focus on the little things that I can control; attitude and actions.

In my personal life, my study abroad project has helped to have more confidence in myself and my abilities. This is valuable for my life, because I will continue to be put into new social groups with people that I am not familiar with. Learning to adapt in new environments and social situations has been a huge takeaway from my semester abroad. I have learned that when it comes to being in big groups, you don’t need to be friends with everybody. Finding two or three good friends can lead to closer relationships and more trust between friends! I am guilty of falling into the trap of always comparing myself to others, especially when it comes to abilities and achievements. Meeting so many students from all over the country has helped me to better understand how everyone has their own, unique contributions to give, and that my story isn’t defined by what I have or have not done. After traveling to France alone, my newfound confidence in my travel skills has given me the want to travel abroad alone again. One of my academic goals is to teach English abroad, and my STEP signature project has given me the tools and attitude I need to pursue that goal further!