On Monday, 01 September 2014, Dr. Dennis Eckart (pictured above with other KSU Florence students), a member of the KSU Board of Trustees traveled to Florence, with his wife, to speak with us on the goals that Kent State's new President, Beverly Warren, and he have in mind for the growth of the program. Dr. Eckart spoke of their desire to expand the study abroad program and eventually have every student study abroad during their Kent State studies. He spoke of how the workforce is moving towards the desire to hire students who have studied abroad and how the experience is becoming more and more of a necessity in order to succeed in the workplace.
I have to say, I completely support their plan for the growth of study abroad and I wish that all colleges in the United States were developing similar initiatives. I honestly feel that even if students were unable to afford a trip to another country, that even an exchange program across the country, would be beneficial as it takes a student out of their comfort zone and puts them in a completely different atmosphere that they then have to adjust to. These are the experiences that change how you think, feel, and act. They don’t have to take place thousands of miles away, as not every student can handle being so far from what they know, but they do need to take place.
I knew that I needed to travel and study outside of the country, but I never imagined how exactly the experience would go. I have only been here three weeks, but it honestly feels like I have been here for so much longer. While I still have three months to go, I cannot imagine being anywhere else right now, nor do I wish to be.
It is difficult being so far from the place you call home, but you create a new home and you learn to survive in a place so very different from your origins. These actions, I believe, make you stronger, more flexible, and able to handle a vast majority of things in the future. This is what the workforce is looking for now which makes study abroad students all the more desired in the workplace. For this reason, many students are looking to study abroad to improve their appeal to employers. While this desire does take one out of their comfort zone, I do not feel that this reason for studying abroad is the reason that will be the most beneficial. It is my honest belief that in order to make the most of this experience you have to want it for yourself, not for the jobs it will help you to get, but for the strength it will provide to you while teaching you more about yourself than you ever expected.
I do not think that I will ever feel as out of place while in the United States again, there is no worse feeling than people knowing instantly where you come from and judging you solely based on that. There is a high level of misbelief of who and what Americans are here in Italy, they can tell you are American immediately, and many of them turn up their nose and think of you as a lesser compared to them in certain places throughout the country. These experiences can happen anywhere and anytime, and I can only hope that my experiences here this semester will help me to be a stronger human being who looks beyond the surface of a being for the rest of my life and who does not let false judgments bring me down.
I feel that all of these things should be experienced by everyone at some point in their life, but that college is the ideal time for this knowledge to be gained. In college, one is finally free to come into their own and find out who they are and who they want to be. This learning experience needs to be continuous, and it needs to improve the individual and make them more aware of the world around them. While studying abroad may not be critical in everyone’s journey to self-discovery, I definitely think that some sort of culture altering experience is necessary to fully discover one’s place in life and who they want to be. And by a culture altering experience, I do not mean going away to college because many students go through that same transition. When I say culture altering, I mean leaving one’s newfound college culture and experiencing something drastically different, this means that freshman year is finding out who one is with other college students, and that only once one has discovered who they are with these other people can they fully embrace the true culture altering experience that I am proposing all students have.
I am grateful for the experience I am currently undergoing and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I encourage all people, and especially all college students, to challenge themselves to learn the ability to adapt to a completely different culture. It will change you, and who knows you may like the person you become on this experience. Take the chance, I promise you won’t regret the experiences you make for yourself. After all, you only regret the things you did not have the courage to do. Keep encouraging this movement Dr. Eckart and President Warren, I’m gladly behind it. I cannot wait to experience even more than I already have and let this cultural adaption change me for the better. I have been waiting for this experience since high school, and I am so glad that I am currently immersed in it.
Ciao!
I have to say, I completely support their plan for the growth of study abroad and I wish that all colleges in the United States were developing similar initiatives. I honestly feel that even if students were unable to afford a trip to another country, that even an exchange program across the country, would be beneficial as it takes a student out of their comfort zone and puts them in a completely different atmosphere that they then have to adjust to. These are the experiences that change how you think, feel, and act. They don’t have to take place thousands of miles away, as not every student can handle being so far from what they know, but they do need to take place.
I knew that I needed to travel and study outside of the country, but I never imagined how exactly the experience would go. I have only been here three weeks, but it honestly feels like I have been here for so much longer. While I still have three months to go, I cannot imagine being anywhere else right now, nor do I wish to be.
It is difficult being so far from the place you call home, but you create a new home and you learn to survive in a place so very different from your origins. These actions, I believe, make you stronger, more flexible, and able to handle a vast majority of things in the future. This is what the workforce is looking for now which makes study abroad students all the more desired in the workplace. For this reason, many students are looking to study abroad to improve their appeal to employers. While this desire does take one out of their comfort zone, I do not feel that this reason for studying abroad is the reason that will be the most beneficial. It is my honest belief that in order to make the most of this experience you have to want it for yourself, not for the jobs it will help you to get, but for the strength it will provide to you while teaching you more about yourself than you ever expected.
I do not think that I will ever feel as out of place while in the United States again, there is no worse feeling than people knowing instantly where you come from and judging you solely based on that. There is a high level of misbelief of who and what Americans are here in Italy, they can tell you are American immediately, and many of them turn up their nose and think of you as a lesser compared to them in certain places throughout the country. These experiences can happen anywhere and anytime, and I can only hope that my experiences here this semester will help me to be a stronger human being who looks beyond the surface of a being for the rest of my life and who does not let false judgments bring me down.
I feel that all of these things should be experienced by everyone at some point in their life, but that college is the ideal time for this knowledge to be gained. In college, one is finally free to come into their own and find out who they are and who they want to be. This learning experience needs to be continuous, and it needs to improve the individual and make them more aware of the world around them. While studying abroad may not be critical in everyone’s journey to self-discovery, I definitely think that some sort of culture altering experience is necessary to fully discover one’s place in life and who they want to be. And by a culture altering experience, I do not mean going away to college because many students go through that same transition. When I say culture altering, I mean leaving one’s newfound college culture and experiencing something drastically different, this means that freshman year is finding out who one is with other college students, and that only once one has discovered who they are with these other people can they fully embrace the true culture altering experience that I am proposing all students have.
I am grateful for the experience I am currently undergoing and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I encourage all people, and especially all college students, to challenge themselves to learn the ability to adapt to a completely different culture. It will change you, and who knows you may like the person you become on this experience. Take the chance, I promise you won’t regret the experiences you make for yourself. After all, you only regret the things you did not have the courage to do. Keep encouraging this movement Dr. Eckart and President Warren, I’m gladly behind it. I cannot wait to experience even more than I already have and let this cultural adaption change me for the better. I have been waiting for this experience since high school, and I am so glad that I am currently immersed in it.
Ciao!