My mother tried to talk me out of doing a semester abroad. What pushed me towards putting myself in debt for the first time in my life and over school was being with people my age in new and different environments and being open minded enough to not only embrace, but ask for change and adversity. Being a student both within the classroom and outside of the classroom for the last 15 years of my consciousness has taught me that I learn in different and inconvenient ways. Knowing this, I entered my higher education already having deferred my freshman year at Hawai’i Pacific University to travel, study and live in India. While learning more about my major, International Studies, I was teased because of the world’s inability to travel during a global pandemic that has killed millions and continues to further deepen world crises.
In the last four years I have been transforming and can begin to recognize those differences within myself, my perception and why I do what I do. After my first semester at HPU, I knew that I was interested in knowing more about the world through people and their movement, and had grown a curiosity for why disparities happen and continue on.
I had already dreamed of studying abroad during my higher education having only heard good things. After starting at HPU, and reviewing the program requirements at the time (pre-Covid), I noticed that it was a part of my degree plan for my international studies track! I was excited to see this, and would not only go through with it but would also be expected to! Once I had found out about SIT, I didn’t think to look at other programs, especially because a friend was sent back during her semester abroad because of Covid by the other popular offered program. The program I chose is taught by the School for International Training, and the program I completed is called the International Honors Program, Cities in the 21st Century, or SIT IHP for short. From the time I applied and was accepted to when I actually went abroad, two years had passed. Due to the pandemic, I had deferred my acceptance four times and would be the first cohort to go on my program since the global lockdown.
My semester abroad was essentially 3.5 months of learning while traveling. The courses I took with SIT perfectly satisfied my concentration on anthropology, development, and sustainability. The biggest “pro” to the program I chose was spending a month in three new continents (four weeks in Latin America, four weeks in Europe, and four weeks in Africa… Unless you’re me, who spent an extra two weeks in Cape Town). At the beginning of the semester, we had the choice to focus on one of four subjects: Housing, Economy, Monuments, or Transportation, and were expected to create a research project stemming from individual interests to influences from our time on the field with or without the program, our host families, and from readings that were required throughout the semester.
Now-a-days being in school in general is hard for me because I have varying interests that have been changing ever since I graduated from high school. I say this because had I been fully invested in my studying career, I would have taken different advantages these last few years instead of being a somewhat passive student. From the conception of my time with SIT I would say I carried myself in a reserved way, because I didn’t want to be someone who was unaware of the space they took and was generally being conscious of how my actions may affect those around me (and myself). The intention behind my study abroad was to learn about (and immerse myself) in different cultures, meeting individuals from all walks of life, and spreading my music and brand across all four continents! Having hindsight, as I write this reflection, I can recognize that the program I was a part of for the Fall semester of 2022 tested me, forced me to grow mentally, and had me questioning everything. The structure of it all (itinerary-wise) helped minimize my anxiety that I got from traveling during Covid. All we had to do as students while traveling from city to city, or to cite visits and to the classroom, was say our number during headcount (I was number 7 :)) and make sure our travel groups were all together and with their luggage whenever we arrived in each city. I’m also appreciative that I can’t talk about my experience during my study abroad without getting political because of the program I was a part of and the topics that were highlighted during our travels. By the time it came for me to leave home in Massachusetts and the United States, I felt as if I had manifested the three countries that we ended up in.
New York City: 26th of August - September, 2022.
During the entirety of the trip I was pleasantly surprised— while I was leaving my comfort zone, I was also being supported. At the beginning of the semester we talked about research/ethics, expectations (of the program and one another), and learned about New York City’s development by getting around via public transportation/walking and meeting with leaders of nonprofit programs. Additionally, our first 10 days of the program were hosted in New York not only as a meeting point (my classmates were from all over North America) but also to introduce us to how the program curriculum would function in practice. Essentially, as small groups, we would split up and visit different sites and attend seminars hosted by community members, scholars, and educators alike. We were expected to summarize and present our experiences because not everyone is able to go to every established visit, and not every student learned or picked up on the same things. It was imperative to our research as well to engage and be a part of what stories and history were being passed onto us foreigners to the area and its people.
The team that we were introduced to in NYC were angels on earth and was only a glimpse at what kind of genuine people were involved with SIT.
In each country we were paired with a roommate (of same gender) and shared a room or in some cases had separate ones, depending on the home of the host families.
As for my academics, it was mostly reading work and discussion during the day as well as presentations from my classmates or hired educators and locals alike. Every month was unique because each country had a different team who would all play similar roles but coordinate in respect to the program’s intentions and what we would be learning from their cities.
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