• Provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project

My STEP Signature Project was utilizing the Fisher College of Business Global Education program. Since January 16th, I’ve been blessed with countless opportunities to explore all throughout Europe, while obtaining a fantastic education from my host University in Nantes, France. In my classes, I got the chance to experience a new style of classes with much less of an emphasis on homework and quizzes, with much more of a focus on final projects and exams. I learned about numerous helpful topics, including (but not limited to) skills in project management, customer experience and branding tactics, digital marketing, and the landscape of business in Europe. Outside of my studies, I explored a total of 8 countries in the 4.5 months I spent abroad, allowing me to experience numerous cultures and foods otherwise completely foreign to my American livelihood.

• What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project?

While studying abroad this past semester, my perspective of the world has changed completely. As mentioned in my previous answer, I was blessed with numerous opportunities to visit cities & countries I’ve never been to before. With each place I visited, I encountered a new way of life through various languages, customs, transportation, and food. As this was my first time ever coming to Europe, my main perspective of life has come from that of an American way of living. The culture we’ve created in American society is so much different than that of other countries around the world in a bunch of ways. Namely, we tend to focus our lives on how much work we can get done and how much money we can earn. In Europe, there is much less of a focus on such material things – people tend to just live life on a day to day basis, enjoying the little things like walking around and enjoying a coffee outside while having a conversation with friends/family. Not to mention, the architecture and history all throughout Europe was something I didn’t expect to be so taken-aback about. It’s hard to put into words the feeling you get when walking into a church thats hundreds of years older than America as a country. I felt myself time and time again being humbled by the little amount of time I’ve existed in comparison to the entire history ever present throughout European countries.

• 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?

The relations I created while studying abroad will stick with me for the rest of my life. Just last week, I had to say goodbye to friends I made during my semester at Audencia (my host university) – recognizing that I’ll likely never see most of these people ever again. The exchange program I was apart of was fairly small, only having around 85 total international students participating. I was one of six Americans in the program, which led to creating friendships with people almost exclusively from countries I’d never been to. Although this program was in English, I found myself constantly trying to learn small words and phrases from my closer friends in their native language, out of respect and curiosity to learn about how people exactly like me born in a different part of the world learned to assign different sounds to the same objects I interact with on an everyday basis. I can proudly report that my French has significantly improved since arriving in France, mostly thanks to the hospitality and patience from the French friends I made throughout the term. Other languages that helped expand my cultural horizon were Dutch, Turkish, Greek, and *some* German. I was also fascinated to learn about the slight cultural differences in the countries my friends were from, including a much nicer dress code all throughout Europe compared to the US.

A specific event that led to my perspective of the world changing was while I was traveling with my roommates to a small town in Eastern Italy called Locorotondo. We were about halfway through the first trip we’d go on in the semester, and were still pretty fresh to the culture change, coming from America. We had taken a train then took a short bus ride from Rome to arrive in a nearby town, when I realized that I had incorrectly booked the wrong dates for the Airbnb we were supposed to stay in that night. According to the booking, we weren’t supposed to check in until the next night. Terrified we wouldn’t have somewhere to stay, I texted the host of the property we were supposed to be staying in if he could let us in a day early while on our second bus ride, this time leading us to our destination. Despite the last minute nature of my text, he promptly responded, saying that the place we were supposed to stay in was occupied – but that he had another property open for the night that we could stay in. 

With a sigh of relief, we just had one more problem to overcome before getting to the new location we’d be staying at for the night: how to get there. We got in at around 11pm, and the bus we were taking dropped us off in the downtown area of the little town, with our Airbnb about 3 miles away. There were no uber/lyfts available, and we couldn’t get ahold of any taxi services to help us out. As a last resort, we walked into a small shop and used google translate to try and ask how we should get to our Airbnb. In some stroke of luck, the shop owner offered to leave his store and drive us and our luggage himself, for just 10 euros. When we finally got to the place we were staying, we were greeted by the father of our host – who we fondly called Papa Cosimo (Cosimo was the name of our host) – who only spoke Italian. He gave us a tour of the place we were staying, and offered to be our personal driver for the entirety of our stay in Locorotondo. All in all, the helpfulness and willingness of locals to help complete strangers in need entirely changed my perspective of how people in Europe are. I don’t think we would’ve been so lucky in America.

• Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life?

This change/transformation is significant AND valuable for my life for a bunch of reasons. Namely, this new perspective taught me how the different environments people are raised in greatly affect how someone lives their lives. Having been almost completely exposed to just the American experience for my life up until this semester, I never realized how much different cultures in other countries are in the ways they value things in their lives. For example, one of the key lessons I learned during my time in France was the importance of work-life balance. In the U.S., there’s often a strong emphasis on productivity and career advancement, sometimes at the expense of personal well-being and leisure. However, in France, I observed a cultural norm that values taking time for oneself, enjoying leisurely meals, and prioritizing family and personal relationships. This taught me that a fulfilling life can be found not just through professional success but through a balanced approach to work and personal life.

Additionally, this experience has enhanced my communication skills and cultural sensitivity. Engaging with people from diverse backgrounds, I learned to appreciate different viewpoints and approaches to problem-solving. This will be incredibly valuable in both my personal and professional life, as it has made me more adaptable and empathetic. Whether I’m working in a multicultural team or traveling to new places, I now have the skills to connect with and understand people from different cultures.

Finally, this transformation has fostered a sense of global citizenship within me. I now feel a deeper connection to the world beyond my own country and a responsibility to contribute positively to the global community. This broader perspective encourages me to be more open-minded and considerate in my actions, knowing that they can have far-reaching impacts.

Overall, the expanded cultural awareness I gained from studying abroad has equipped me with invaluable life skills that will help me navigate and appreciate the diversity of the world around me.