1. The purpose of the HAI Ireland study abroad is to compare human-animal interactions in Ireland and the States. Students visited various animal facilities, such as a donkey sanctuary and the Dublin zoo, in order to learn how humans in Ireland interacted with various species of animals.

2. After this study abroad, I have gained social awareness and a deeper appreciation for Irish culture. Before travelling to Ireland, I have never fully immersed myself into another culture before nor have I traveled to a different country. While in Ireland, I was out of my comfort zone due to being immersed in a different country that functions differently than I am used to in the States, however I challenged myself to have an open mind and to have patience as I am adjusting to a new culture. Before this trip, I wasn’t aware of how much culture Ireland has. I got to learn about the history of Ireland and its folklore, which helped me gain a deeper appreciation for Ireland and my roots.

3. One experience on this study abroad that helped me gain a deeper appreciation for Irish culture was having an evening of folklore in Stag’s Head. There was a story teller that explained Ireland’s folklore and told stories that have been passed down though centuries. Most of Ireland’s folklore takes place in the fairy realm and acted as a karmic deity for humans in order to help them make good decisions. Most of the stories that were told to us were fables, in which the stories conveyed a moral. Learning about Celtic mythology has opened to my eyes to how deep the Irish culture runs and how it influences Ireland.

Another experience that helped me gain social awareness is visiting the seal rescue in Dublin. The seal rescue rehabilitates seal pups that have been injured or orphaned and releases them once they are healed. Touring this facility and learning more about the seal rescue demonstrated how selfless Irish society is. The seal rescue has 900 volunteers all across Ireland who are trained to help injured seal pups if they are beached on the shore and help transport them to the facility. The collaboration between many volunteers who strive to help injured seal pups showed me how compassionate Irish people are. This experience helped me gain social awareness because I was able to witness a culture that is different from my own come together as a community and collaborate to help injured seal pups.

One final experience that has helped me gain social awareness is visiting the FOTA Wildlife Park in Cork. At the wildlife park, I was able to witness different exotic and wildlife exhibits. One aspect of this experience that stood out to me is how many free range animals there were at the park. There were free range lemurs, wallabies, and peacocks that were roaming public areas. I was surprised to see this because free range animals aren’t seen at zoos in the States. Because of how many free range animals there are in Ireland’s wildlife zoos and parks, this demonstrates to me that Irish people have a high respect for wildlife and watch their boundaries, while in the States, people would try to go up to those animals and violate their boundaries by trying to feed them or other harmful tactics.

4. Learning about social awareness is valuable for my life because it helps me understand the perspectives of others who are different from me. During this trip, I learned to better understand the perspectives of Irish people, who belong to a culture that is different than mine. If I get the opportunity to immerse myself in other countries, I will already have the skills of social awareness that I learned from this trip. Building social awareness has allowed me to become a more open-minded individual and helped build positive relationships with the people I encountered on this trip. I have also been able to better appreciate Irish culture, which is part of my ancestry.

My STEP Signature Project was taking part in the Humanitarian Engineering and Culture in Guyana service-learning experience. In this experience, I participated in the course through the autumn and then implemented 10 small-scale photovoltaic systems to connect households with solar energy. From this course and experience, I learned about Guyanese culture; socio-economic, political, and environmental challenges; and the application of humanitarian engineering in the real world. 

My project experience started in August and ended in late December, so my transformation has been an ongoing process for many months. From the course itself, my worldview has expanded and evolved to understand more about the world and the various interactions between nations and communities. For example, I didn’t know much, if anything, about Guyana other than it is a country in South America, but now I know traditional dishes, some frequently-used words/phrases, present political issues, and more. From this experience, I found a deep interest and appreciation in humanitarian engineering. I’ve solidified my belief that engineering not only includes a bunch of math and numbers or tests, but also the people and interpersonal relationships that are involved in them. Without pairing the two, the solution isn’t guaranteed to work. I have found more interest in renewable energy, especially having a little more experience in solar. As a part of the course, we discussed solar energy and how its impact can not only aid as an additional power source, but also in a sense of autonomy from the main city grid’s power. 

My understanding of myself has increased in what I’m interested in doing as I have found a stronger desire of practicing humanitarian engineering and including the community that is being affected as much as possible. From the implementation of the solar systems and working directly with the families impacted, I realized how much this means and it’s not just a school project. To go from the engineering classroom to implementing brings out original assumptions, biases, or thoughts. While I spent time in the classroom to understand and learn about Guyanese culture and solar energy, implementing the systems and spending time with the community taught me lessons that can’t be taught in the classroom. 

The actual implementation phase of the experience took place over 4 days of the time in Guyana (we spend 8 full days in Guyana). The two coastal communities we worked with were Aliki and Lower Bonasika. At the very start, we had to adapt our design to the house as we didn’t have the toolboxes as we had in our original design. This showed how adaptable engineering has to be in order to best fit the community. The first day was mainly figuring out how to adapt the system for the first house, the leader of the community as a pilot setup. 

Although we had a slow start, we were able to spend time with the community, specifically 2 families in Aliki. This unplanned experience really brought to light how important it was to include the community that is being impacted. With them, we conducted water tests and learned more about them and their daily life. For example, we learned a little about their schooling system, farming life, and community. These interactions brought to light some of their perspectives of the experience for them as well as giving us more familiarity and understanding of our similarities and differences. 

After finalizing the design and installing a pilot setup, we spent the next day gathering supplies for the rest of the setups in Aliki and Lower Bonasika. Some of these supplies included batteries, power strips to plug in devices, and wire to connect components together. The rest of the supplies were left with one of the leaders of the communities when we brought them from the States. Being an active part of the project really made a difference in my own perspective, as it further engaged me in the process. I was able to talk and explain the system to one of the recipients of the project which brought them into the process as well. 

During the last workday, we were working in Lower Bonasika, another community off the Essequibo River. We were able to build the systems faster as we all had familiarity with each component. The leader of the Aliki community also helped set up the systems as he installed the solar panels on the roofs. He became remarkably familiar with the setups and was eager to help us put the systems together. Knowing this affirms that he and others in the community will be able to take care of and help troubleshoot if there are any system issues. These experiences have helped me widen my worldview and encouraged me to practice and learn more about the implementation of humanitarian engineering. 

This transformation is valuable for my life as I continue on my engineering journey. This field pairs my passion for social justice with my passion for engineering. My goals going into this experience were having a better understanding of the engineering design process with real- world applications, create connections with others in the course and community, help others and make the world more equitable, project management and development, and collaboration experiences. While reflecting on my overall transformation and growth, I’ve found that in academic, personal, and professional goals have all been obtained in some sort of experience between the course and implementation of the project. As mentioned above by working with the communities, learning more about the social aspects which can affect the engineering which goes into projects, and working in collaboration with other students and faculty, I’ve found growth in multiple areas to increase human-centered engineering designs and processes. This transformation and experience are and will continue to be a part of me. My future plans are unclear, but I hope to continue to work with communities in some sort of fashion to better their living conditions in a sustainable, equitable way.  

My STEP project encompassed a 9-day study abroad trip to Ireland to evaluate, understand, and discuss as a group the ways in which humans and animals interact. The various opportunities I experienced taught me about the animals of Ireland and helped me make comparisons about human-animal interactions in the U.S. vs Ireland. The most intriguing animal encounters from this trip included wildlife parks and zoos, rescue centers for donkeys, birds of prey, and seals, a dog shelter, and a food research center.

A big change I saw in myself, interestingly, had nothing to do with animals. I expected myself to remain fairly quiet and prioritize learning on this trip rather than making friends. Going into this experience I did not know anyone and a younger, more shy version of myself may have kept it that way. However, I surprised myself by being confident and putting myself out there in order to make friends. Before we even left the country I was already feeling welcomed and I quickly found my people. This was such a huge contrast to how I typically feel in my Animal Science classes that I came back to the U.S. feeling excited to return to school with peers I relate to and trust. Lots of people say you make lifelong friends going abroad and they are not lying.

My views on human-animal interactions also changed quite a bit and I developed some new opinions on the interactions we have in the U.S. The biggest realization was that Ireland as a whole has massive respect for wildlife and they are quite proud of their contribution to sustainable living. Facilities with animals also place more trust in their visitors to make good decisions and don’t require as much enforcement or warning as we do in the U.S. The U.S. is largely commercial with a wide range of environments so legislation and conservation for animal welfare is often overlooked. Ireland relies heavily on tourism of the natural landscape and locally produced animal products, so it is a bigger priority to protect the wildlife there. The citizens themselves also place a lot of concern on animal welfare, with greater support for shelters and food industry facilities. Overall, it seems that Ireland has many more positive interactions with animals than in the United States.

Returning to my personal growth and transformation, the key aspect was ultimately the relationships I developed with the group. Entering this experience with no prior friendships allowed me to equally get to know everyone without being tied to one or two people. Throughout the trip I found myself surrounded by new people everyday and talking to someone different every meal. I found things in common with many and learned a lot about their interests and passions. By the end of the trip, there were a handful of people that really made me feel welcome and I know this trip was not the end of our friendships.

Diving further into my opinions on Ireland’s animal interactions, I wanted to highlight a few experiences that stuck with me. The FOTA wildlife park is similar to a zoo, with a greater focus on conservation and education about the endangerment status of many of the animals. The most surprising aspect was their decision to let certain animals—such as wallabies, kangaroos, lemurs, and many birds—roam free throughout the park. The animals still had enclosures to retreat to at will, but this freedom for the animals is only possible because of the collective respect that Ireland places on wildlife. If the U.S. could ensure a widespread change in attitude towards animals, it would allow zoos and wildlife facilities to grant more freedom to the animals to exhibit natural behaviors.

While learning about swine production at a food research center, I discovered that Ireland places a lot of emphasis on utilizing local farms for protein sources and rarely importing meat products from other countries. Ireland has many small, family run farms across the country, meaning that policy change for animal welfare can be enacted quickly and with little difficulty. The U.S., on the other hand, has large, commercial facilities that would lose too much revenue if big changes were to be made. Concerns for animal welfare, therefore, are not taken as seriously because it may hurt the economy.

Similar to farmers’ support of animal welfare, Dublin’s Dog Trust shelter showed me how the general public’s opinion of dog shelters is much different than the U.S. Ireland’s dog shelters receive so many donations that the facility can run smoothly without any government help, and rarely relies on volunteers. The facilities themselves also feel strongly about dog training and behavior evaluation before rehoming a dog in order to minimize the chance a dog is returned. However, Ireland and other European countries ban certain breeds and/or require muzzle training for puppies as a preventative measure to aggressive behavior. This type of attitude is much different than the U.S., where there is a lot of awareness spreading about rescuing and rehoming misunderstood breeds.

Both the transformation of myself and my views on human-animal interactions have influence in my current and future endeavors. Coming back from this trip with more confidence about my ability to make friends and put myself out there, I’m now determined to connect more with my peers back at school. Professionally, I wish to protect endangered species through conservation research and management. After seeing how another country approaches animal conservation, I want to utilize that perspective to improve some aspects of how the U.S. views conservation. Most importantly, I hope to make an impact on educating the public about respecting wildlife and actively help change the public’s opinion on animal welfare and freedom.

1. My STEP signature project was traveling to Panama with the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences to look at Panama’s sustainable agricultural practices. During this time, we meet up with local farmers and toured their farms, we went to a variety of plant and animal farms (most were a combination) and asked the farmers about their operations.
2. During my STEP Signature Project, my assumptions of how farmers farm completely flipped on its head. I am a member of the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences, so it is safe to say I have a good understanding of what it means to be a farmer. In America, we usually have one crop in a certain section and another crop in a completely separate section, a practiced deemed “monoculture” is one we all know too well. In Panama, it is the complete opposite, there’s an abundance of crops and plants all growing together in a harmonious mixture, the farmers know every plants spot and how each plant can help benefit the people or animals using the land. Watching every plant you could think of working together on the land they were given was utterly refreshing. When we parted each farm, the farmers heeded us with a word of advice, we have to leave the world better than we found it, and the only way we can do that is by starting from the ground up with sustainable farming.

My favorite part of this trip was being able to tour each of the farmers properties, eat the fruit (or check out the animals) and ask them about their day to day lives in Panama. I loved being able to individualize each place we went to, the tours we took were truly one of a kind, the farmers weren’t used to having tours, let alone students, so the experiences we had were raw and unscripted. I don’t know if I would have it any other way. We drove up to a hill top range and ate the freshest pineapples I’ve ever had, we went into the mountains and had coffee from plants our farmer pointed out on our tour, I bought my parents salsa and turmeric straight from the source, it truly doesn’t get any more farm to table than that. The events and interactions help reinforce my feelings towards Panama: this is a place that truly cares about going good by the earth.

While also in Panama, I grew very close with the group of 10 other students that came, we were all in a class that meet twice a week a whole semester before the trip, but we never got to truly know each other. As soon as we set foot in Panama we immediately became an inseparable group, by the end of the trip we were bringing tables together so we could all eat as a group for dinner. On our final day, we all took turns sharing what our favorite part of the trip was and what we learned from our time here. Listening to what everyone else thought of Panama rang similar to what I thought, the farmers cared so much for the land they had and were committed to doing better, they created a strong community among each other and wanted each other to succeed instead of dragging each other down.

Finally, we wrote journals at the end of each day to reflect on our experience of the farms and how we felt about them. The prompts were very basic and didn’t change from day to day, but having extra time to process all of what we have done helped to solidify the day. I wrote about how I felt doing a certain activity for the day, how it made me uncomfortable or challenged and how I overcame these feelings, and a lesson I learned from the day, simple tasks with big implications. Being able to reiterate and remember what I had done and how it made me feel also helped me to further develop my contradictions between United States agriculture versus Panamanian agriculture. And to realize how in tune the Panamanian farmers are with the land around it and how to use it to its fullest potential.

4.

As an animal science major, this transformation was valuable to me because of its application. Seeing how the farmers wanted to plant fruits and veggies to boost the cows diet and nutritional content was new to me. In America, we fill the diet full of minerals and vitamins in a powder and feed it with grain to ensure the animals get all of their nutrients. In Panama, we met a farmer who is making “living fences” meaning that in between each fence post she is planting some type of fruit or nut tree, not for her own benefit but for the cows, who will eventually eat the fallen fruits and nuts for their own enrichment and nutritional needs. We Americans feel the need to fence off or tear down every tree in the pasture and we tend to see them as a nuisance not an aid. Learning about this has provided me the opportunity to educate more animal scientists and farmers alike that there are benefits besides shade to having trees on your land, I feel like we tend to have a more selfish point of view as trees equal more work.

As a regular American consumer, this transformation was valuable because of my new found experiences with farm to table. When we say farm to table in America it usually means picking some veggies from the garden and making them into your next salad, which don’t get me wrong I love doing that, but this is no where near on the scale of what we saw in Panama. Their farm to table included full and intricate meals, every ingredient came from their land. We met a chicken farmer and had San Cocho (traditional Panamanian soup) and the farmer even used one of his own chickens in the soup for us, In America, a chicken farmer would most likely consider that to be too much of an economic loss for someone to do that for us. They have a more laid back community approach to everything, they will go so far out of their way to help us learn and engage.

What is reflection?  Based on the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, reflection can mean a lot of things.  For example, reflection can be the production of an image by or as if by mirror.  However, this is not the kind of reflection that I am being asked of.  Instead, I am being asked to reflect on my experience as a study abroad student.  This kind of reflection is a consideration of some subject matter, idea, or purpose (also another definition of reflection).  It is my pleasure to write about and reflect on my experiences that I had while I study abroad.  It was life-changing to say the least.

For my STEP Signature Project, I had to wonderful opportunity to study abroad with my fellow peers to Ireland.  While in Ireland, not only did we get to see the beautiful cities and the rolling green landscape of the country sides, but we also got to immerse ourselves in the different forms of human-and-animal interactions (HAI) that can be seen across multiple different species that we can interact with.  Our main activities were going to different animal-related organizations (i.e., dog shelter, Dublin Zoo, Seal Rescue, etc.), where we got to not only learn about what they do, but also the types of interactions that they have with animals: from the way they handle these animals, enrichment, positive/negative reinforcements, consideration of animal welfare, etc.  Being able to see the other side of these different organizations, really opens your eyes to how integral our interactions are with animals.

Being raised in a world where I have interactions with animals, it did not come as a surprise humans and animals do interact with one another.  For example, a lot of people in this world have a pet (already a form of a close and individualize HAI).  However, I did not realize the depth and details that came with all these different HAIs.  Before going on this trip and taking an HAI class, I thought of human-and-animal interaction at its simplest form: humans interacting with animals.  However, after this study abroad trip, I learned that there is so much that goes into our human-and-animal interactions.  A great example was when I visited the Dublin Zoo and our tour guide talked about the Asian Elephant enclosure that they made.  First off, it was made to mimic/replicate the elephant’s natural habitat (incorporation of native plants and food sources that these elephants might consume).  Not only that, but the enclosure provided more than enough space for many elephants to roam around.  On top of that, the enclosure was built for the elephants to have the choice on whether they wanted to interact with the public or not (giving them the freedom of choice in their environment, an important concept in animal welfare).  Lastly, the zoo staff works on providing different forms of enrichment for these elephants (watering hole where they can swim, balls for them to play with, etc.) to eliminate any stereotypical behavior (typically negative behavior) from occurring.

After my trip to the Dublin Zoo, it really opened my eye to the depth and details that humans take when it comes to interacting with animals.  It’s more than just seeing an animal or feeding them, but rather understanding the animal’s wants and needs and considering how to improve their welfare through our acts of interactions.  This attention to HAI was not only see at the Dublin Zoo, but also at a lot of other animal-related organizations that we visited.  In each of their own ways, they utilized different forms of HAI to help work on their mission as an organization.  Seeing how each organization uses different forms of HAI, really opened my eyes to how our interactions not only affect us, but also the animals we are handling.

One good example of how our interactions can affect both humans and animals were when we visited the Seal Rescue, their forms of HAI were completely different from the forms of HAI that we saw at the Dublin Zoo.  A goal of the Seal Rescue is to rehabilitate and release the seals back out in to the wild.  To be able to release them back out in to the wild, these seals need to stay as wild as they can.  That means they cannot become habitual to increase forms of human interactions.  Due to this, the interactions that we see between workers and seals are less personalize and close to make sure that these seals stay wild as possible (i.e., lack of positive reinforcement, little/no enrichment, etc.).  This is unlike what we would see at the Dublin Zoo.  While these animals are still considered wild because they will not be release back out into the wild, workers are able to provide a closer form of HAI with these animals.

A future goal of mine is to be a vet and work with animals.  So, this change/transformation that I underwent after going on my study abroad trip is significant because it opened my eyes to the changing nature or our working relationship between that we have with animals.  This trip showed me the power that HAI has in affecting our lives and the lives of animals.  Not only that, but it also showed me how we are also still improving in our interactions with animals (especially when it comes to an animal’s welfare).  This relates to my academic goals, because I think this will make me a better student when it comes to working with animals, because now I have a better understanding of how important HAI is when it comes to connecting the bridge between humans and animals.  Not only does it relate to my academic goals, but it also relates to my professional goals.  Since I want to be a vet one day, I believe that I will be a better vet because I have this newfound knowledge and understanding or our working relationship different forms of animal species.  I hope that I can take this knowledge that I gained and put it into my life’s work to help educate others about the importance of HAI and how different forms of it can affect not only us but our animals and the relationship we have with them.  When it comes to my personal goals, I hope that I can use this knowledge to help advocate for animals that I might not work with in a close capacity.  For example, I plan on becoming a mix-animal vet and will be working with mainly large and small animals.  However, I still want to be an ally for other animals that need help (i.e., exotic animals).  The vet community is one that always help one another, so I want to take what I have learned and apply it not only to my career but to help other vets in our life’s goal of helping animals.

During my STEP Signature Project I went to Ireland for the Human and Animal Interaction study abroad. During this we focused on viewing different settings with human and animals interacting such as zoos, swine facilities, and much more. By attending different activities and places around the country I can now compare and contrast the differences in human and animal interaction I have seen in Ireland from the ones in the United States. 

One understanding that was learned through traveling on my study abroad was there are so many people in the world who have different cultures, activities, and lifestyles. I knew this before leaving however, only when I came to Ireland did I truly understand the scope of what those words actually meant. Ireland is a large place for immigration and emigration, so it was very interesting to see/talk to all the different people from around the world here. This is the same as the United States, but Ireland is much smaller and thus you’re more observant of all the people around you. 

One other viewpoint that has changed is I think the culture and society values around human and animal interactions especially in zoo settings need to change. This is because when in Ireland at the FOTA Wildlife Center and the Dublin Zoo I noticed the treatment and care the animals received was exceptional compared to the United States. The animals were allowed to choose if they wanted to be on display, they had an enormous amount of enrichment activities, displayed natural and wild behaviors, and their habitats were comparable to what you would naturally find them in. Also, the animals looked happier and were more active which was a good change to see. 

Relating back to my understanding of culture and lifestyle of the Irish is due to all the activities that we encountered. For example, the first activity related to human and animal interaction was visiting the Dublin Dog Trust. This was a dog shelter and they took in a lot of animals. When you first walk in they do not have any large breed dogs which fits because everyone here lives in small apartments and would not be suitable for large dogs. Also, they have a ban on certain breed dogs, usually the larger breeds. I also noticed the amount of people they had was much larger than the United States. Along with the time they emphasize each dog’s needs. The Irish culture and lifestyle can be very easily understood by simply looking at these small differences through human and animal interactions. 

Another large impact that changed my understanding was through attending the immigration museum. This museum focused on explaining Irish history from its beginning until its current history. We walked through different rooms and had live videos explaining exactly what happened in each time period. By walking through rooms with each time period it put into perspective how much Ireland has gone through and still is today. Particularly it grew my understanding of how much immigration and emigration occurred and still goes on today. The amount of impact the Irish have around the world is very large including their impact on heritages. This is the reason my understanding for the culture and their lifestyle has changed to a better viewpoint than before. 

Especially when looking back to the reason for my viewpoint changing around how zoo animals should be treated comes down to two main interactions. One is through the FOTA wildlife center. These animals have exceptional care through many staff members looking after them. Specific formulated diets every single day based on what they require. Their housing was catered to what they need/want. For example the giraffes had access to their house in the winter to get out of the cold because naturally they are from a warmer climate. In the summer they are put into a large pasture with many other animals that they get along with. This allowed them to exhibit their wild behaviors and keep a positive human and animal interaction with the public that come and visit. Then when we went to the Dublin zoo I noticed all the animals again were very lively and in correct enclosures that promoted natural behaviors. By doing positive human and animal interactions and providing exceptional care the animals were much more active and happy to be where they are. This all changed the way I think United States zoos should change their enclosures to be less of a display for animals and more of a conservation effort and protect the wild instincts of all the animals. This in the end will create a better living space and social life for all the animals in zoos and wildlife centers. 

By expanding on different cultures, lifestyles, human and animal interactions, etc I have been giving a new lens to look through in many situations I may face in the future. As a person who wants to become a veterinarian experiencing different societies and human and animal interactions allows me to have an open mind. More importantly I have seen different ways of accomplishing the same thing. This can allow me to make new suggestions to improve welfare among all different types of animals. One day this experience may lead to me to find a solution because I’ve seen it work here in Ireland. Overall, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to explore, experience new things, and gain knowledge that will lead me to excel professionally and academically.  

For my STEP Signature Project, I participated in an OSU-approved study abroad program. For the Autumn 2023 semester, I was in Nantes, France for a French immersion language and area studies program. There, I lived with a host family, took courses in different subjects in French, and met both other Americans studying French as well as other French students. 

Going into this program, I was feeling very unsure. While studying abroad was always something that I had planned to do, I was suddenly aware that I was going to another country where I would know no one and would be speaking only my second language. My self-confidence was somewhat low when I arrived. However, when I left this last week, I realized something. I was elected class president for the program within the first month, my host family became a second family to me, and I made dozens of friends – both French and American. These are feats in themselves but the grand realization came when I realized I did all of that in French. Not only had I accomplished all the things I wanted to while abroad, I accomplished them with the added difficulty of doing it all in French. Thus, both my language skills and my social skills and self-confidence truly transformed. I realized that I was far more capable than I gave myself credit for.

So much happened that I’m not sure where to even start, but I suppose the best place is with my host family. My host family is who I lived and spoke with the entire time I was in Nantes. I lived with them, my host parents, and their three daughters for nearly four months. While it is not a given that students become close to their host families, it was the case for me. I ate dinners with them, shared sleepy coffees on the kitchen island before leaving for class, played with their cats, learned how to bake French treats, and came to my play for my theater class, flowers in hand. It was with them that my French language skills really improved because I spoke with them about everything I would with my family at home in English. I spoke with them about who was in love with whom in the program, what I learned in my history class, the French friends I’d made – everything. The consistent speaking with them fast-tracked my French skills. For my self-confidence, they also had an effect. I was unsure of how I would be able to comport myself and get across my happy, eager-to-learn personality to a group of total strangers, but my host family truly took me in, accepting me and being proud of the things I was accomplishing. They consistently reminded me that learning French is hard and that they were seeing progress. They made me realize I was always doing better than I thought I was and not to put so much pressure on myself to be perfect at French and to take breaks from my busy schedule. 

The actual classes and program of IES Abroad deeply transformed my self-confidence and my language skills as well. We quickly became a tight-knit group of 43 Americans, 5 French staff members, and 4 French tutors. Being forced to speak French in our IES Center created a safe space to make mistakes and truly try to improve our skills. The staff was so patient and so proud of our progress, always generous with their time allowing us to figure out exactly how to say what we were attempting to say. This was also a huge tool for improving my French, I finally had a place to practice with native speakers as well as others trying to learn. Within the first month, we had elections for student body president. At the last minute, I was convinced by my peers to run. I was still unsure of myself and where I fit in socially with the other Americans, all of us coming from different universities. My friends that I had made assured me that others would vote for me as I had already bonded with many of the other students. I won by a landslide, making me realize that maybe I should be more sure of myself and not worry so much about what others think of me because being myself was enough. After all, over 30 people trusted me enough to be the go-between for staff and students for the semester. 

Lastly, I want to touch on how taking a course at the local university transformed my self-confidence and my French skills. I took a course called Traduction (translation for publishing between French and English) at Nantes Université. The challenge here was not only that it would be a course taught in French, but a course where I would be one of the only non-French students. This meant new social challenges of making friends and succeeding in class with a language barrier. I was nervous, but I forced myself to speak, usually starting with “Hi, I’m American, my French isn’t great!” To my surprise, I could speak well, communicating my interests and my background to interested French students my own age, resulting in lots of new friends I plan to keep in touch with. Overall, through everything I experienced, I realized I was capable of so much more (in French or otherwise) than I knew, making me so glad I took the leap to move to another country. 

If I had never gone to Nantes, my French skills would’ve been stagnant for a long time. Forcing myself into a French-only environment where I would have to use French to go through my daily life was the only way I could move forward in my skills. My confidence in French never would’ve changed and I would’ve continued to stay quiet instead of trying to speak knowing I’d make mistakes. Taking the jump to go to another country meant that I realized I could do hard and uncomfortable things. This will only help me in my French classes back at OSU where I hope to become fully fluent so I can potentially become an interpreter for refugees from Francophone countries. Professionally, this has always been a goal of mine but fluency in another language has always been a personal goal as well, making this experience truly invaluable to me. 

For my STEP Signature Project, I completed a semester abroad in Stockholm, Sweden, where I focused on Gender and Sexuality Studies. Some other classes that I took this past semester included Swedish Language and Culture, and a class about how television affects culture and vice versa. My program included trips to Oslo and Berlin, and I travelled with friends independently to Copenhagen and Amsterdam.

In a larger sense, in my travels to Sweden I realized that no country is perfect. I have a lot of issues with how the United States functions as a country and had viewed Sweden as sort of a progressive utopia. It is, in many ways, better than the United States, but there are still issues with racism, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ rights within the country. Although Sweden isn’t perfect, it also helped me realize just how messed up the United States is. The infrastructure of the United States, specifically public transportation, is really horrible. In Stockholm, the tunnelbana, or metro, and buses are almost always on time. They go anywhere and everywhere that you need to go, all with one relatively low-cost card. In addition, Sweden does not have issues with random gun violence. Yes, there are still guns in Sweden, but the gun-related crimes are 99% percent of the time related to gang activity. In Stockholm, I could walk in the park late at night alone without feeling threatened or scared that I was going to get shot. I was able to sit in a movie theater completely relaxed, something I can’t do in the United States. Now, Sweden is a more homogenous country in relation to the United States, but it was eye-opening to realize that the United States does not have to be the way that it is.

On a more personal level, I think that I became more independent and confident in myself over the course of the trip. I had to navigate an entirely new city, in an entirely different language, with entirely new people, and I was able to do so successfully. It felt so freeing to be able to take the metro across the city alone, running errands and meeting friends. Also, with the Swedish work culture, I felt that I was able to find a healthier balance between work and social life, something that I believe many Americans struggle with.

There were several times throughout the semester where I felt overwhelmed and decided that to fix this I should take a walk. And so, I bundled up, put my headphones on, and headed out into the dark Swedish night alone. All at once, it hit me that at no point did I feel in danger. If I was in the United States, I would not have felt comfortable at all walking around alone at night, especially in a park, due to the general random violence that occurs in the United States. It was so, so lovely to be able to navigate through this city without feeling threatened at any point, and I really wish that the United States was a place that I could feel that same way. But, with the legislation that’s in place, I feel that that is impossible.

In terms of finding a work-life balance, I had around 12 credit hours of courses during the week. Swedes put a heavy emphasis on taking a coffee break, or fika, to break up the work day and allow for relaxation. In the United States, I feel like the culture for work is like a hamster running on a wheel. Even this semester back at Ohio State, I am taking 18 credit hours, and must work two jobs in order to afford my rent and groceries. In Sweden, students are given a monthly stipend to lessen financial stress. Their tuition is also free. The Swedish university courses are tough, that is for sure, but they are encouraged by their institutions to live a life outside of their studies, and provide resources to make that happen. When I return to the United States, I want to take this idea of maintaining a work-life balance with me. It is not healthy to be focused on school at all times, and it is important to me to maintain a healthy social life going forward.

In addition to studying in Stockholm, I did some extracurricular travelling to Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Two of these trips were academic, but two of them were just for fun. I had never really felt a strong urge to travel around before, and going to Sweden was my first time leaving the United States. However, getting a taste of Europe has made me want to see more. I hope to travel more in the future, even perhaps pursuing a master’s degree abroad. But my urge to travel is not relegated to Europe. The world is so big, and there are so many places to see. It was especially special to be able to live in another country for a short time, and while I do not see myself permanently moving to Europe any time soon, I think that it is an experience I will never forget and yearn after for a long, long time.

These experiences that I had in Sweden (and Europe in general) are important to me, because I think that it made me a more well-rounded person. I was able to learn to rely more heavily on myself, and know that I can do hard things. I know now that I am able to adapt to new situations, and can make happiness wherever I am. I made new friends for life. There are pieces from the Swedish culture that I am going to take home with me, that will make life in the United States one million times better. My time abroad has left me with many stories, many questions, and many answers, and it is something that I would not trade the world for.