My STEP signature project was Fisher Global Consulting (FCG) for a nonprofit. FCG for a nonprofit gives students the opportunity to travel abroad and work for a nonprofit company through consulting. This program has four respective country locations, with my project taking place in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
While in Argentina, I worked with a team of four other Ohio State students for a nonprofit that focused on sustainability. We worked over two weeks with the nonprofit where we worked both in collaboration and individually. At the end of the two weeks, we presented our project to the nonprofit we worked for in hopes they will take our recommendation for them.
One understanding of myself that changed during my project was my capability to travel abroad with my own self-sufficiency. Prior to my project, I hadn’t traveled outside the United States in almost eight years. I was incredibly nervous to leave the country without any family members. I knew I had support from Ohio State and my in-country travel partner, but there will still a lot of pre-departure fear.
Both during and after completing my project, I found myself being able to adapt and adjust to being in a new country without too many difficulties. I realized this came with my ability to understand the significance of cultural differences and language barrier when being in a new country and learn from the experiences I had when I first arrived in the country.
An activity that led to my aforementioned change was using public transportation in Buenos Aires. This was something I found myself to be afraid of before actually using it as I worried about not using public transit correctly. With my group, however, we were able to rely on resources both within our group like our own devices and outside of our group thanks to the people of Buenos Aires providing us advice when asked. The information provided to us from others showed me the significance of not being afraid to ask for help and showed me to not be overly cautious of all people.
Another activity that led to my change is ordering food at cafes and restaurants. Part of why doing something that seems this simple comes from the language barrier being in Argentina. I knew very little Spanish before traveling to Argentina, which made taking orders at restaurants feel like a true challenge. When I eventually had to do this, it took a lot confidence to know how to pronounce words and I was able to notice my ability to order food become easier as my time in Argentina increased. To me, ordering food showed me my adaptability the most because of my improvement towards it.
One interaction that also led to this change was meeting with the company I consulted with for the first time. We had only met with them twice online prior to arriving in Buenos Aires. I wanted to make the most out of our project for both myself and for the nonprofit we worked for. When we first met in person, the people who worked at our nonprofit were so welcoming and kind to us students. They were amazing communicators throughout the project and were pleased with our presentation. Their support to us allowed for my team to be productive and successful, which helped me further adapt to the work culture of Argentina to be an effective consultant.
This change that come from my project is incredibly valuable to my life. I know that as I go through life there will be moments where I will need to step out of my comfort zone, and traveling to Argentina was definitely a moment of this. Having experiences like using public transit in a foreign country, ordering food at a restaurant when there is a language barrier, and working with a new organization were all moments of having to adjust from my own social norms. Because of these adjustments, I feel more prepared for moments of stepping out of my comfort zone in the future. I know that because of this project and the transformations I made from it, I feel more confident as a person and know any future success will in part from this project.
