Over my years at UF, even while pursuing my short films and photography, I have spent countless afternoons annotating readings and preparing debate topic points for classes in the Center for Latin American Studies, Center for European Studies, Center for African Studies, Food and Resource Economics, Sustainability Studies... the list goes on.

In EUS2003 with Professor Asli Baysal, we spent the semester debating and analyzing the core of a European identity. What is Europe? Where is Europe? What makes one European? Who gets to decide who is "in" and "out" of Europe? We drew from geographical, economic, political, and even linguistic disciplines to explore these defining questions. We traveled through a comprehensive history of the European identity, ultimately ending with the establishment of the European Union (EU). Through this course, I came to understand the consequences of assuming one, singular European identity and developed a deeper understanding of the processes of ethnic, cultural, and patriotic identity formation.

In AEB4283 with Professor Connor Mullally, we dove into the field of international development. We learned about the driving principles of country development, with a focus on the Global South; regional dynamics between the givers and receivers of foreign aid; aspects of providing sustainable development initiatives; and how to measure and verify the efficacy of development programs. In this course, I discovered so much I didn't know about the field of trying to solve the global problems I learned about in previous courses: what works (or doesn't) and why, what the limitations and possibilities are, and what it looks like to be a practitioner in this line of work. While I ultimately came to understand that working in international development wasn't for me, I certainly developed a far deeper understanding of the role of inter-governmental organizations and issues within foreign affairs.