For my STEP project, I traveled abroad to Italy and participated in a program called SIS, which was located in Siena. Through the program, I took two classes, which helped me achieve 7 credit hours, and I was able to get a fulfilling cultural experience that I may not have had the opportunity to do without STEP.
To begin with, the entire concept of this project was that it would put me out of my comfort zone, which is what allows you to grow as a person. I have never left North America before, so I was going to an entirely new continent that I have never been to before, experiencing a new culture that I have never experienced before, and speaking a language that I have a limited understanding of to begin with. Given these circumstances, I sought to grow, and I believe that I accomplished that. For instance, I became better adept at talking to new people, something that I really haven’t experienced as much since my freshman year at OSU. At the same time, there was times that I had to stay with myself. I began journaling and exploring my inner thoughts, which is something that I have not done before. In addition, I would say that my worldview was very much based on my experiences in the United States, but that has changed a bit now, as I was able to adapt to a new culture and take some of those ideas back with me, such as the importance of community that I found in Siena. Due to my experience, I also found myself being more aware of the experiences of migrants, which also included the realization as to how insignificant some problems that I previously worried about are in the grand scheme of things.
One of the greatest events that lead to this change in me was my experiences with a program at school called ‘Home for the World’. This was a class that happened throughout the week that I occasionally helped with. This program helped teach a group of migrants that are now residents of Siena, who originally came from areas of West Africa and South Asia, the language of Italian in order to help their transition to life in their new country. Through this program, I got to meet the migrants and hear their stories, which included events such as walking from Pakistan to Italy and their feelings of sadness being so far away from family and unsure if they will ever see them again. This is the experience that lead me to realize the insignificance of a lot of my problems as well as realize my privilege. Through my participation in these classes as well as my newfound friendships with these migrants and hearing their stories, I now feel like I can empathize with migrants in the United States in a way that I could not before.
Another experience that lead to my transformations was the process of staying with a host family. I have only ever lived with family or friends/ people my age, so staying with strangers was an uncomfortable experience for me originally. However, this quickly became a comfortable experience because of how welcoming and accommodating my host family was. Through their hospitality, they were able to teach me some of their values, such as the importance of family and building relationships through food. They were also able to experience to me anything about their culture that I did not understand, such as why no one has a dryer. One thing about them was that they did not speak English, and as I have said before, my Italian is far from great. However, through my limited knowledge, hand movements, and the occasional use of translate, we were able to understand each other anyways. The difficulties in communicating were part of the reason for me feeling lonely at the start, but like I said, this time alone was important for my growth. Again, their kindness helped me tremendously to become more immersed in a culture that I did not understand, which I appreciate.
Other events that lead to my transformations varied, but all are similar. Every experience that I had was uncomfortable for me at first, but forced me to adapt and learn to appreciate the growth before I felt comfortable again. Italian culture, which is even more different than the Italian-American culture that I am familiar with, was something that took me a bit to appreciate. However, it is now a culture that I love and cannot wait to experience again. Italian culture, such as my participation through the program in a contrada party, taught me the importance of community. The need to discover and figure out the train and bus systems helped me to learn to use my resources and adapt to things that I am unfamiliar with. My time alone forced me to become comfortable with my thoughts and appreciate my time with myself. All of these experiences and so much more made me grow, which in itself made it an incredibly valuable experience.
These changes are important in my life for a variety of reasons. The credit hours that I achieved through this experience help me towards my goal of finishing my Italian minor and my strategies that I used to study Italian can be used to help me study anything from now on. I also helped to teach some of the migrants Italian, which in turn helped me learn it better myself. I want to become a doctor in the future, so it is very important that I became more aware and empathetic to the world around me and accepting of other lifestyles and views, and I feel like I learned both of these things abroad. In addition, medicine is an ever-evolving field, so the ability to let go of previous assumptions or ideas when confronted with other reasonable ideas is important, and this is a skill that I learned in Italy. Finally, from a personal standpoint, I became comfortable being uncomfortable. I became more aware of my thoughts and insecurities, which has helped with my mental health since I took this trip. I learned how to interact with strangers, which is always a useful skill. In addition, I now feel more connected to the culture of my ancestors and became better at Italian, which helps with my future goal to become fluent. This program helped me in so many ways and I am very grateful to STEP for helping me experience everything.
.
