1.

I went with the engineering department to Tanzania to observe an ongoing project that OSU has been working on in a village called Marwa to help set up a water distribution system. As a group we went into the village about five different times to see some of the things that OSU has helped put into place, such as rainwater harvesting tanks and we got to watch a borehole drilling. 

2.

My understanding of myself changed because I got to observe myself in a very different cultural setting where I was definitely uncomfortable at times. I definitely feel like being put in uncomfortable situations definitely teaches you a lot about yourself. My understanding of the world transformed because we got to engage with the community in the village. They were a very tight knit community, everyone took care of everyone. I was definitely jealous of the community aspect because I feel like in America it’s more everyone for themselves. I learned that I really value a sense of community and it makes me much happier when I feel like I have one.

3.

I really enjoyed and learned a lot from the interactions with the community of the village as well as the University of Dodoma students. Interacting with the University of Dodoma students was very enlightening. We had really good conversations about a lot of different things, including their opinions on world affairs. Two of the students had conflicting views about whether financial aid provided from other countries to Tanzania/Africa in general is beneficial. It is obviously really important for us as Americans to hear their perspectives, considering they live in the country that we are trying to “help”. Overall, having these conversations and listening to everyone’s perspectives is so important if I’m going to do more “humanitarian engineering” work in the future.

 It was really cool to see how excited the community was during the borehole drilling. So many people were watching for hours in hope that water would be struck (which it was). It was really amazing to see the people who are going to be affected firsthand by this project and get to talk to them about how much it all meant to them. It made it so meaningful, and I know that I want to experience that more throughout my life and I hope I can achieve it through my career doing humanitarian engineering work.

It was also really great to be surrounded by people from Ohio state that all have similar goals as me. We all were engineering majors, but we want to feel like we’re actually helping people through our careers. It was great to make connections with these people, as well as the professors that traveled with us. Michael and Patrick have both done amazing things in their careers and will continue to do amazing things, and I am grateful to be able to use them as resources.

4.

This transformation is valuable for my life because I think I want to do some sort of humanitarian engineering work as my career, possibly similar to the work we observed on this trip. This trip helped with that because I was able to see the impact of this type of work first hand on the community in the village, which was definitely inspiring. I also was a part of important conversations with people from Tanzania that got me to think hard about many different ways the people there are affected by “humanitarian engineering” work, which is very important to think about if that will be my career.

For my STEP signature project, I traveled to different regions of Tanzania for an engineering study abroad. The goal of the trip was to help provide a sustainable source of water to a community that reached out in need of help. We spent most days in community, talking to members and building relationships, while watching a well get drilled. The second part of the trip, we went to a couple national parks in Tanzania and went on a couple safaris.

This trip was truly eye opening. I am not too sure what I had expected going in, but I certainly learned a lot more about other cultures than I had expected to. Everyone’s lives are so very different, and everyone has a unique perspective on life, with separate cultural norms, traditions, and practices. Before going into this trip, I definitely felt as if I had “less” culture than the rest of the world, since my life is just my life and it felt as if it was mundane. Sometime along the way, I realized that my definition of culture was “everything that is not mine,” since the rest of the worlds culture seems much more visible and different than ours. That being said, we all have our own culture, or what makes us, us. Individuality is such an interesting concept, and it is fascinating to learn about everyone’s different stories, while getting the opportunity to share mine.

Not only did I feel as if my view of the world changed of this trip, but also my view of myself. Starting simple and not too deep, I learned how helpful it is to journal what happens in order to process thoughts. Each day, we were encouraged to write down our thoughts in journals (since there was a LOT to process). It allowed me to put my feelings into words, good or bad. Not only that, I will be able to look back into my journal from the trip and reflect on my thoughts and feelings in the future. Since getting back from Tanzania, I have been journaling in my own separate journal each day in an effort to process my thoughts and feelings better. This has allowed me to see myself in a better light, and process my day in a healthier manner.

During my time in Tanzania, I got the wonderful opportunity to make friends with students from University of Dodoma (UDom). Over the course of two weeks, these students and the relationships we had with them became my favorite part of the experience. There was a sense of mutual curiosity between the OSU students and the UDom students. We would have conversations for hours just asking about each others culture, and things that seemed “normal” to one of us was completely new for another. I got to learn so much about their stories and home lives, and they were just as curious, if not more, about us. My roommate and I still keep in touch with the UDom students, and we really miss getting to talk with them and hang out with them. By the end of the trip, all of the OSU students were good friends with the UDom students, and we had formed a little community of shared interest, knowledge, goals, and love.

While in Tanzania, most of the time was spent in a small community called Marwa. The name of the project is Maji Marwa, which directly translates from Swahili, “Water Marwa.” Some of the interactions that we had in Marwa were truly unique, and experiences that felt like once in a life time interactions. We would interview community members on their general thoughts about water. However, in order to do this, most of the time we would have to ask the UDom students in english, which they would then ask in Swahili, and translate their answers back to english. Though we did know some Swahili, our knowledge was very limited. The women and children often walk for 5-7 hours each day to go get water for the family. As we were drilling the well, it was very emotional to see the community members of Marwa watch as water was exploding out of the earth. The children in community would hold hands with us and ask questions like why hair was long, and even the little things were so emotion packed and really made me think about culture in general, the whole time I was there, and even longer once I returned.

These experiences that I got the opportunity to have feel so important to me. I got to experience another part of the world, and have an impact on making someone else’s quality of life just a little better. Traveling to Tanzania made me very glad that I am part of the humanitarian engineering minor. While there is so much more to learn, I feel so very grateful that I got the opportunity to apply myself in this manner. This trip solidified my want to make a difference in the world, and do my best to make things more accessible, affordable, and hopefully help improve people’s overall quality of life.

Well Drilling Video

For my STEP signature project, I chose to do a Mortuary Archaeology Field School in Giecz, Poland. At the field school we would cycle through working at the field site, where we would dig and excavate human remains, animal remains and artifacts, and at the lab where we would clean the bones and artifacts we’ve found. There would also be lectures that would teach us human osteology, with open labs that would allow us to look at the bones. 

During my four weeks stay in Poland I learned many things ranging from academic to personal, I saw the differences between American and Polish cultures and learned things I would have never learned at the field school. In Poland recycling was a part of daily life, with our field school mandating us to recycle everything we could, and even when we went to a movie theater there were recycling bins everything. Also, clean energy is very big in Poland with windmills being very common in the countryside where our dorms were located. Working in the fields I learned archaeological methods, like how to survey the land, how to dig, how to excavate and how to map. And through working with human remains I learned Indepth about human osteology. 

In Poland I saw how different the cultural norms were from what I was used to. The first thing I noticed was the difference in food, the food in Poland didn’t have as many preservatives, sugar or salt as the food back in America, and overall was much healthier.  Another thing I noticed was how easy it was to be mindful of the environment, with there being many more options for public transportation, or walking, and using recyclable materials. And things were a lot cheaper in Poland, it felt more affordable to live there, with fresh produce being more readily available.  

In the archaeological field site, I gained a deeper understanding of the process of archaeology, from digging to mapping. With digging for hours on end, excavating human remains and mapping the location and position on a map. I also learned how luck plays a large role, with there being days where we would dig for hours not finding anything. And the days I wasn’t at the field site I would be working in the lab, where I would clean, sort and create an inventory for artifacts, animal bone and human bones. Through this I quicky learned how to tell animal from human bone and pottery from rocks. This helped me develop skills I will use through my professional path to become a Forensic Anthropologist. 

At the field school I met many kinds of people from all over the United States and Canada, and became close to the other students, making life-long friends. On the weekends a group of us would travel to different cities in Poland and to Berlin, exploring Europe. With this being my first time staying in dorms, I liked the new experience living with students the same age as me, it allowed me to see what it was like to live independently from my family. The experience allowed me to mature, with me being able to make my own decisions. It allowed me to be more comfortable being myself, and not having to worry about what other people think of me.  

In conclusion, going on my study aboard to Poland gave me a unique experience that I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. It allowed me to grow both personally and professionally, with me gaining a deeper understanding of both archaeology and anthropology, and the steps I want to take on my path of becoming a Forensic Anthropologist. And having hands-on experience handling human remains and learning human osteology. Additionally, it helped me personally by allowing me to see what life is like outside of America, what it is like living in a dorm, and making life-long connections with the other students at the field school.

My STEP Signature Project was a language immersion study abroad program through Ohio State in Dresden, Germany. In the program, we took classes in German, visited prominent places in Germany, and immersed ourselves in German language and culture.

As someone who has never been to Europe before, this experience completely opened my eyes to the differences between American and European culture. For instance, I could feel some resentment for Americans during my time in Dresden. Seeing this resentment caused me to think about where it came from by looking at the political, economic, and social factors. By doing so, I was able to see how such large ideas affect individuals and their world view. For instance, Dresden was in the former East Germany, and there are still some people who are not fans of the American influence that succeeded German unification. Experiencing that unhappiness helped make these large ideas very real to me. While I experienced some distaste for my American descent, I felt far more friendliness in my time in Germany. Most of the time, people were very glad to have met someone from another country. Connecting with someone on a human level rather than a cultural level allowed me to see that while all humans are different, we’re also all the same at the core.

Additionally, I also felt myself change in the way I think about the German language. Living in a place in which a different language is spoken for eight weeks really changes how you think about that language. Previously, I only used my studies to periodically watch German tv shows. I like living in Germany almost qualified my German studies. This was the first time I really had to use what I had learned throughout high school and college German.

A major interaction that influenced my change of world view as discussed in number 2 was when I was waiting at a train stop. While waiting, someone heard me speaking English and called us stupid Americans. This was the first time I had felt a resentment face to face simply because of where I come from. Such an interaction was vital for shattering my bubble and I’m quite thankful I experienced it.

A key positive interaction I had took place when I was ordering pizza in Munich. After I ordered, the guy at the front couldn’t tell where I was from based on my accent and asked where I came from. After he heard I was American he said he was extremely impressed with my German. It turns out he was an immigrant from Algeria. While my pizza was being made, we talked about the different languages he can speak, and why German is such a hard language to learn. Additionally, he told me about his path to get to Germany from Algeria. Being able to hear his incredible story made me realize how drastically different the human experience can be simply due to where someone was born.

Another key aspect of my experience that helped to transform my world view was my first time at the farmers market and flea market. This was the first time in which I needed to use German for an extended period. Having to ask for very specific things and specific amounts was extremely difficult for me at first due to a lack of confidence and experience. However, after freezing up at the baker’s tent and forgetting the word for the bread I wanted, I quickly realized that language was far less about being exactly right and much more about just conveying meaning. This was extremely important for me because I am not, and probably never will be at the level where I can speak “perfect German”. Therefore, going to Germany and shedding this perfectionist mindset surrounding language was a very transformative experience.

This change is extremely valuable to me. While I do not know when I will go back to Germany, I know that the lessons I learned surrounding culture, language, and global affairs will stick with me for a lifetime. For instance, whenever I am around an international or foreign exchange student, I am much more mindful of what they may be experiencing and feeling as they go through their time in this foreign country. The empathy that this experience has allowed me to have for these students has allowed me to already become friends with several international students since my arrival back into the states. Additionally, living in a foreign country has instilled me with a lot of confidence as I traverse my way through life in America. Taking away the language and cultural gap has made my current time in America feel much easier than it did before going to Germany.

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 Project was the Dresden Summer Language Program, which is an eight-week intensive language program in Dresden, Germany. This program included 11 credit hours of Ohio State German language and history credit along with field trips throughout Saxony and Germany.

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.

There were many understandings and views of mine that changed through my STEP Signature Project. This project exposed me to a lot more variety of culture and ideas than I had ever been before. This allowed me to form new opinions and views towards myself and others. Throughout my time in Dresden, I learned a lot about how many people in different cultures think so differently than me because of how they were raised or where in the world they grew up. This was very interesting me because I am generally an open person, and this was even more expanded by my time in Dresden meeting a lot of new people. Even though so many people have different ideas, I also learned that most people are more similar than we realize. This experience expanded upon and reinforced the idea that people are just people no matter where they grew up or live.

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.

There were three major relationships and interactions that led to the transformations that I addressed in the previous question: the introduction of different ideas and the reinforcement of human similarities. The first of these relationships was the relationships I created with other students at the Technological University of Dresden. These other students were very interesting to talk to because they ere in a very similar place in life as me. The major difference between the two groups was where we grew up, in the United States or in Germany. This was very interesting to me because even though we had so much in common, there were many ideologies that are uncommon in the United States that are very popular in Germany. This was a very interesting relationship to me because I was able to get very close with many people who were very similar to me who I could talk to about lots of ideas and current events around the world.

Another category of important interactions in to my transformational experience was with older people I met in Dresden. Dresden used to be a part of East Germany, so many older people who currently live in Dresden grew up and spent their young adult lives in East Germany. This gives them a perspective that is nearly impossible to experience in the United States because East Germany was so closed of from the United States during the existence of East Germany. Therefore, many of these older people provided a perspective on East Germany and socialism in a way that I had never experienced because I have always lived in the United States.

Finally, the third major interaction that impacted my transformational experience was with German High Schoolers. In Germany, their education system gets divided pretty early in year, so this highs school that we had an event with was essentially a college preparation school. These students reminded me a lot of high school students in the United States because of their humor and personalities. While I have spoken a lot of people who were very different from me and had many different beliefs, these students really showed how similar people are everywhere they are. This was very interesting to me because although the two ideas I have discussed seem to be opposing, but in reality, they are more similar than we may realize.

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.

This experience has been very valuable to my life, both personally, academically, and professionally. Personally, German language has always been hugely important me because I have invested so much of my life into this passion. My German skills have truly improved so much through this program, which has been hugely rewarding. Academically, this program has nearly completed my German minor, and I am currently taking my final required course for this minor. This experience has also encouraged me to maximize my time in college by taking as many language courses as possible, and I have recently been more seriously considering a double major with German rather than just the minor. Finally, this program has also influenced my professional goals by opening opportunities in other parts of the world that I had not yet considered. I have had quite a few prospective employers comment on my experience and ask me how it influenced me, which has been a great topic of conversation at career fairs and interviews, especially with firms who are active in Europe and Germany. Overall, this STEP project has been valuable in nearly every part of my life.

Nordin – Pirna:Königstein Photo

1. For my STEP Signature Project, I traveled to Nepal through the Fisher Global Consulting: Non-Profit Program to improve the marketing strategy of the non-profit organization, SASANE, whose goals are to help women survivors of human trafficking by setting them up for proper employment and eradicating this awful practice. In addition to working with our clients from this organization, we also participated in several activities in Nepal such as paragliding, hiking, yoga, temple visits, kayaking, ziplining, and simply walking the streets of this foreign country.

2. This trip was a transformative experience in several ways. My parents had told me several stories about what life was like in India, but seeing life in this faraway country of Nepal with my own eyes made me see things on another level. I saw the poverty and fundamental struggles that were so prevalent here. My family started a non-profit when I was very young to support an orphanage in India ridden with poverty. Traveling to Nepal really showed me why it was so important to help. There are so many things that we take for granted, living in the United States, but what struck me the most was seeing the little children running around with innocent joy not caring about the things they didn’t have, and instead, just being content with the present moment. Watching the way people lived their lives allowed me to learn more about the world, and also learn more about myself.

I didn’t only see the struggles of Nepal, though. Part of what made this experience so transformational was seeing how beautiful everything was. A majority of America is filled with newly made, man-made structures and everything is so marketized. In Nepal, though, I was able to appreciate the beauties of the natural world by simply taking it in. People weren’t trying to sell it to me or cover it up. I was just surrounded by incredible mountains and valleys and structures that had been around for thousands of years. The culture was so strong and integral in their society. This was a very similar culture to the one my parents had grown up in in India. They tried to show me as much as I could but I was much more influenced by the environment in America. Being immersed in Nepali culture brought me out of the world I had lived in for so long and rekindled a desire to reconnect with my culture and travel to India again.

Another aspect of this trip that I didn’t think about as much, beforehand, was the relationships I built with 8 Ohio State students that I was with. I didn’t really know the kids I was traveling with very well but as we spent that time going on 30-hour flights and navigating through this new country together, I grew so close with all of them and developed a connection with each of them that I will be able to hold on to forever.

3. The day before we left for Nepal, I started to feel it in my nerves. This anxiousness of going to a new country for a couple weeks with people I barely knew. This was overpowered, though, by the excitement I had for it. I felt like I was ready for this new experience. My dad dropped me off at the airport and I was on my way. As I got to JFK, I started to meet everyone on the trip and we started to brace ourselves for this 14 hour flight. I got extremely lucky, though, and the service desk handed me a business class ticket. This made it, easily, the most enjoyable flight I had ever been on. When we got to Doha airport in Qatar, we started to explore as we had 10 hours. Luckily, we were in one of the coolest airports in the world. Eventually, though, we needed to find something to pass the time. One girl brought a deck of cards, so we decided to play euchre. Only three of us knew how to play so we had to teach the others, but from that point, Euchre took over the trip. We played it every chance we got, and it was a perfect way for us to bond. We would pass the time with the game and just talk to each other about all types of things. We played at restaurants, we played it while on breaks during our hikes, and we played at night on the rooftop of our hotel. A simple game was able to provide us with some familiarity with each other in this unfamiliar country. We got closer after every round.

As soon as we arrived in Nepal, it was pouring down rain. I started to feel a little worried that our trip was starting off with this but as we took our shuttle to our hotel, I wanted to swallow those feelings. I saw so many people on the streets with close to nothing to protect themselves from the rain and just trying to save whatever they had been selling at their shop which was the only thing that could put food on their table. I saw kids either working to help their parents or simply playing in the rain. On my first day in Nepal, I was able to see with my own eyes, the privileged life that I had led. Throughout the trip, I saw more of how life was lived here, and the extreme poverty people faced. We first landed in Kathmandu, the main city in Nepal, but our program was in Pokhara. This was a 30-minute flight and a 10-hour bus ride away. I chose to ride the bus. Kathmandu was a very crowded city and was where I saw the most people sleeping on the streets and children begging for money but as I went on this bus ride, I felt like I was able to see so much of Nepal. We drove through the mountains and tons of villages, and I saw many different ways of life. I saw kids bathing in the rivers, entire villages working together to rebuild their houses after a collapse, and people just living life without the need for technology. On this extremely bumpy and long ride, I stepped into some of their experiences as I talked with different people including a few kids who jumped on the packed bus halfway to go to their military school. They taught me about their life and their views on the world and I shared mine with them as well from an American perspective. I even got to have the experience of going to the toilet in the hole in the ground which I think was very valuable. As we entered the city of
Pokhara, a tourist-focused destination, I saw the true disparity between the center of the city and just outside. The villages on the outer parts of Pokhara were covered in dust, rubble, and odd construction. As you entered, though, you still felt the local presence, but it was dominated by wealthier individuals and tourists. It saddened me to see some of the sights I did, and it motivated me to find out how I could help and truly start making a difference. Watching and interacting with the people there is what created this desire. Everyone is so peaceful and kind to the people around them and live their lives, following the interconnectedness of humans. I saw some little kids in the village playing around in the rocks and laughing to each other. They didn’t need an iPad in their hand but were able to just find joy in the simple things. It happened again when three kids were running home from school to show their mom that they had gotten a small candy. They were so happy and excited and it warmed my heart. They deserve better lives but they are also so content with their current one. It made me think a lot about my role in the world and what impact I could make.

The work I did with the non-profit organization, SASANE, though, was probably the most gratifying part of the trip. SASANE’s goal is to help women survivors of human trafficking start successful careers after their experiences. As the engagement manager, I handled all direct contact with the client which allowed me to really connect with the women of SASANE. As a team of consultants, we were able to successfully provide them with ways to improve their marketing strategy and create content for them to use to increase their outreach. We increased awareness of their cooking class, which is the main way for them to market their organization, as well as applied for grants to receive more funding. I was able to grow professionally as a consultant while making a real-world impact. It made me realize how much I love helping people and showed me a career path that I would greatly enjoy. Being able to connect with Nepalese people including our GVI guides who were perfect at navigating us through their country was one of my favorite parts of the trip and has made me want to return just to see them again. I will value these relationships for the rest of my life.

Lastly, it helped me reconnect with my culture in an interesting way. My parents grew up in India and moved to America before I was born. I visited India when I was three years old but had allergic reactions that caused me to be in the hospital for multiple days. I never returned. When I got the chance to go to Nepal, I knew I had to take it, despite my mom’s worry. Since the cultures of Nepal and India are very similar, I felt like I was rekindling my ties with my culture during this trip. It gave me the need to return to India and the confidence that I’ll be able to handle myself there. After the trip, I decided to plan a trip to India with my brother for this winter break and now after 17 years, I will be able to return to this beautiful country.

4. This experience transformed me in ways I couldn’t have even imagined. I learned so many things and met so many people. I felt like I had become a better person after I returned and even understood myself more. I will hold the memories of this trip forever and understand it to be one of the most influential events in my life.

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.

For my STEP Signature Project, I attended a 5-week program called Français Langue Secondaire (FLS) at Université Laval in Quebec City, Quebec. The program was conducted entirely in French and included two six-credit French language courses as well as extracurricular excursions. The main goal of the program was to better our conversational French and expand our fluency.

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.

Because the United States and Canada are so similar, I was not expecting to see a large change in my view of the world by visiting Quebec. However, this project had a significant impact on my view of learning languages, as well as how to adapt to living in a new country and culture.

Without even realizing it, I possessed a strong bias for the English language before my study abroad. Reflecting on it now, I think my lack of experience with other languages made English seem like the most “useful” language. However, living in Quebec showed me that French, and any other language, can be used in place of English. There are even French words that do not exist in English, such as dépaysement, which is something I definitely experienced in Quebec City. Dépaysement most closely translates to “being un-countried” and is somewhat related to “culture shock.” Learning to speak French in everyday situations, or quotidien, I came to understand that every language presents new opportunities and barriers to communication, and I can see the importance of knowing more than one, as it broadened not only my vocabulary, but the number of people I can communicate with. This, in turn, increased the number of perspectives I could receive, thereby increasing my knowledge and understanding of the world.

Before my STEP project, I had very little experience visiting another country. I had been to Cancun once, but I spent the time at a resort instead of immersing myself in the local culture. Though Canadian culture is very similar to American culture, living in Quebec City was significantly different from living in the US. I was stressed and confused by the new language and new customs, but I came to appreciate differences and nuances. I know this experience will allow me to be more prepared and flexible when travelling abroad or working with people from foreign nations.

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.

Throughout my time at Université Laval, there were many opportunities for participating in events, having interactions in French, and developing relationships. Because extracurricular activities were included in the program, many of these events occurred during formal excursions or class times. However, regular daily events contributed a lot to the development of my language skills and world view.

Classes at Université Laval were held entirely in French. The two classes I took were “Orale et Ecrit III” and “Orale et Phonetique III.” Though one focused on written French and one on French phonetics, both classes also focused on developing our spoken and conversational abilities. If we didn’t know a word, we had to describe it as best we could using the limited French vocabulary at our disposal. At first this was extremely frustrating, but over the weeks it became much easier to do. Practicing French in this way taught me how flexible all languages are. I began to understand that I do not need to know every single word in order to convey what I need to say, and I also began to appreciate the artistic aspect of speaking a language. When learning a language, it takes creativity to form a full sentence or describe an object you see. Because of this understanding, the French classes I took changed my perspective on learning language and gave me a new appreciation for language arts in general.

The relationships I developed had a significant change on my worldview. I was expecting to only meet American and Canadian students but ended up meeting people from all over the world. One student in my class was Indonesian and spoke no English, so we had to rely completely on French to understand each other. It was the first time that I was able to overcome a true language barrier and have a good conversation without relying on English! I talked with a man from Palestine while we were both cooking dinner in the dorms and learned that he came to Canada to avoid an arranged marriage. Previously, I had only ever considered that women would leave home to escape an arranged marriage, but now I understand that men can be affected by it too. These, and many other interactions, taught me a lot about the similarities and differences between cultures. I am happy to live in the United States, and appreciate it more now than ever.

One of the girls I became closest with, named Narin, was from Iran. When we first met, and she said she was Iranian and I said I was American, she looked at me and said, “Our countries hate each other.” This caught me off guard, but then we both laughed it off and became good friends anyway. We had a lot in common, including the same dark sense of humor! The interaction with her makes me think differently about my future in the Marines. In training, I’ve been reminded multiple times that “right now in China, there is someone training to kill you.” Trust me, hearing that will make you run faster and push harder. It may be true, but like I learned from Narin, that doesn’t mean we couldn’t become friends if the situation was different. I still believe that defense is important work, and I am proud to pursue it. But I have a greater appreciation for how alike all people are, no matter where we’re from. And I really hope we don’t go to war.

In summary, I went to Quebec City to learn French. I did that, but I also learned so much more about the world. Next time I travel abroad, I will have more language tools at my disposal, and a much broader respect and appreciation for other nations and the opportunities and people they possess.

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.

Both French fluency and comfort in foreign cultures will be valuable in my future and professional endeavors, in both the Marine Corps and environmental industry.

In the Marine Corps, speaking French would broaden the regions where I could have a strong impact on international diplomacy and relations. North-western Africa, for example, contains many francophone countries. The region is undergoing terrible violence and is becoming increasingly critical for US operations relating to China. Speaking French would let me become a more valuable tool for international communications in the region, and the appreciation for cultural differences that I gained from living in Quebec would help me to be more open-minded and patient.

After the Marine Corps, I would like to work in wildlife conservation or forestry.  Because the US and Canada are so geographically and politically similar, we share many similar environmental issues.

Living in Quebec City and studying at Universite Lava helped me become familiar with Canadian culture, which will help me to work alongside Canadians in solving congruent problems. Speaking French will also enhance my ability to communicate and work with Canadians.

In addition to aiding in my career aspirations, speaking a second language will broaden my horizons and perspectives during personal travel abroad, interactions with diverse individuals, and everyday life.