(1) My STEP Signature Project was attending OSU’s program studying Pre-Law at the University of Oxford. I, alongside other OSU undergraduate students, lived at St Anne’s College at the University of Oxford in the UK and attended classes, one of which was with a Moritz College of Law professor and another with a member of Oxford’s faculty. We attended classes every weekday, learning about law in the U.S.A. and International Law, as well as attended field trips around Oxford or London that was relevant to our coursework.

(2) This trip taught me a lot about myself and what I want to do in the future after completing my Undergraduate Degree. Coming into this trip, I had a plan to go to law school after completing my undergrad. The program helped me discover that this may not be the path I want to take. In addition, this trip taught me a lot about who I am. I had previously thought I was shy and was very worried about making friends on the trip. However, how the trip is organized made it very easy to form connections with others and I found I was not as introverted as I previously thought.

This program also changed my view and assumptions about the world. Going into this program, I was under the assumption that when I went to the UK, life would be drastically different. I thought that people must live better, freer lives and that, in comparison to the U.S., people must be happier with their government. This was not the case. I realized that there were a lot of similarities between the U.K. and the U.S. and that it is not as different as I previously thought.

(3) A lot of our classes were centered around analyzing laws or treaties and then applying them to scenarios. We worked together to study cases, apply the CREXAC method, and defend our ideas. We practiced with small domestic cases, as well as ones concerning international law. We also visited many sites that have significance to the development of the legal system. On these trips, we often had speakers lecture about their jobs or their personal knowledge of law. For example, we visited the Japanese Embassy and attended a lecture regarding what the embassy focuses on and the operations it conducts. In addition, every weeknight, lectures were offered about various topics regarding international law from various professionals. With this surplus of information regarding law and its various fields, as well as lots of activities that try to replicate what lawyers do, I realized that I might not be as interested in pursuing a law degree as I previously thought I was. I enjoyed the activities and educational experiences of this trip, but now understand it is not something I am interested in doing for the rest of my life.

Going into this trip, I did not fully understand just how much time I would spend with other students from OSU. I figured we would see each other during classes and that would be it. I was very nervous about trying to find a place in such a small group of people. After the first day, this worry disappeared. There were about 20 students in the Pre-Law program. We spent every meal and every class together, as well as usually all explored Oxford together when our class day was over or we had breaks. In fact, most of us even decided to travel together outside of Oxford on the weekends. The structure of the program made it easy to make friends and connections with everyone in the group. I usually find it hard to make friends in groups like that, but I felt that by the end of the trip, I was close with everyone.

While we were kept very busy during the week, we had most weekends completely off, of which allowed us to travel. We would buy train or plane tickets, split a hostile, explore for the whole weekend, and be back Sunday night in time for classes Monday. We traveled to Bath, London, and Dublin. When exploring these cities, I found it interesting to see how different people live and how the cities operate. One thing I found surprising was the number of posters, graffiti, etc., around cities that address political injustice. Specifically, I noticed posters around London and Dublin addressing trans rights. While I realized England and Ireland were not perfect places, information I had previously seen online had made it seem like they do not deal with the same political issues that we deal with in the U.S. I now realize that citizens there are fighting for the same things we are. In addition, I had spoken to an

English person who told us about their personal experience with the wealth inequality in England. Again, I realized before that England was not a perfect place void of problems we had in the U.S., but American media makes it seem like life there is much easier and that citizens do not experience the injustice Americans do. This is a false narrative.

(4) These transformations in my understanding of myself and the world are important, because they allow me to better plan for my future. I know now that I do not want to go to law school, but instead go on to get my master’s in social work. I also now know, after visiting many large cities, that I would prefer to live in a rural area. Furthermore, I know that, while life may be better in a lot of other ways in the UK, people still experience a lot of inequality on the basis of wealth or gender/sexuality. This has altered the way that I view the U.S. in relation to other wealthy nations.