Throughout my undergraduate career at UF and within the International Scholars Program, I can confidently say that I have thoroughly cultivated my passion for international engagement, understanding, and expression. Through my international coursework and global lectures, I have thought academically about world structures, systemic inequities, and cultural differences. By studying abroad in Berlin, Germany, I became conscious of alternative lived experiences from the culture I was raised in. Finally, by seeking professional internships and other cultural experiences in my community, I have identified myself more richly and deeply as a citizen of the world. While I certainly will carry these lessons from the ISP into each aspect of my life, I feel that the way I relate to myself, others, and the world around me has matured the most over the past four years.

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In my international coursework, I studied topics from the formation of the European Union, to the colonialist history of the Caribbean, to the efficacy of developing foreign aid programs in Western Africa. I have been asked to consider wealth disparities, power struggles, and race and racism in numerous contexts around the world. I have learned to place my own identity — White, first-generation American, cisgender woman — within the intersectional framework of my own country and others. I am naturally an open-minded, tolerant, and curious thinker — academically challenging myself in these ways is a major strength that I have only refined through the ISP. As an aspiring documentarian, I have made it a great priority to be endlessly inquisitive and critical about the humans around me. By making this quest an integral part of my education at UF, the ISP has prepared me to be a professional storyteller, question-seeker, and communicator. 

In keeping with these traits, I took a leap of faith when I decided to study abroad in Berlin, Germany, after my freshman year at UF. I wanted to learn how others lived and explore a European identity as it related to myself. At times, I experienced great challenges — figuring out how to interview a local Berliner in English, or navigating the train system outside of the city into rural areas — but at other times, I found great comforts — leaning into Berlin's fantastic culinary cultures, and connecting with the city through its art, architecture, and museums. Navigating this experience as a green 18-year-old student taught me a great deal about my ability to take risks, creatively solve problems, and adapt to new situations. By studying abroad, the ISP helped me gain significant confidence in my strengths, abilities, and unknowns; but it also kickstarted my development as a visual artist through the exercise of photographing, recording, and living in a different country.

Finally, the ISP has consistently encouraged me to seek cultural communities, events, and opportunities to develop myself as a human or my work as a communicator. I am pursuing an oral history project with Estonian-Americans as part of a professional internship with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. I have become involved with The Estonian Society of Central Florida and am already learning recipes, words, and stories from the homeland. I attended the 2025 Nowruz and International Festival and connected with the local Iranian community through song and dance. I have learned how to put myself into the context of the larger culture, be brave about admitting what I don't know, and seek discomfort when it might enhance my experience of life. These traits are certainly helpful for my post-graduation goals, but most importantly, these develop me as a human being who is interested in living a colorful, creative, meaningful life.

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If I were to meet myself four years ago, I would be astonished at the incredible consciousness, confidence, and capability that I have developed in that time. While I still have much to learn, I feel that I stand stronger on my two feet with the lessons I have gathered in this time. I have learned about how the place, family, and time you are born into drastically impact the person you become; I have learned about the massive interdependency of the peoples of the world and the lives they live; I have learned about the power of seeking connection and challenge outside of one's circumstances (and, of course, of the great privileges and limitations one can experience in trying to do so); and I have learned about the many, many dimensions of my own identity. If I could sum up the greatest thing I will carry with me after four years of the ISP, it is this: perspective.